To write a review about Caraval, it’s an hard job. I
approached this book with so many expectations and it felt like I was waiting
to read it for ages. I got pushed by a group of lovely bookstagrammers that
decided to organise a group read, and finally, I got my chance to start this
new series. But the journey, didn’t go exactly like planned.
I took up and abandoned this book countless times and I
noticed that my group did the same. It was hard to focus on the story and even
though I really liked the author’s writing style, it didn’t manage to catch my
attention: a few pages of the book, and I felt full-loaded. If I try to
investigate the reasons for this reject, I am not sure. Probably, the book had
all the premises to become a favorite for me - a magical world, an adventurous
plot and a bit of romance – but they were all exploited mediocrely.
The book starts with some letters exchanged between Scarlett
(also, why translate Scarlett into Rossella and leave Donatella as it is?!) and
the Master of Caraval, who after years, finally invites the Dragna sisters to
come to his island. As soon as they landed, I immediately expected all the
magic this book should have contained to run wild, but it actually never did,
or at least, not as fiercely as I thought. Slowly, I started to realize that
Caraval was not imbued with the kind of magic I was hoping for, but more likely
with a dark power that hinted at something awful happening in its lands. Tessa
Dragna, indeed, disappears and becomes the prize for a treasure hunt that
rekindled my spirits, but even there, I was disappointed shortly after.
Scarlett should have followed 4 (or 5, I don’t remember well) clues that she
should have found progressively along her adventure, each clue coming from a
magical trial or something like it… but if I have to be sincere, I can’t
remember accurately how she came to get some of those clues and therefore find
her sister in the end. Basically, I’m saying that what was supposed to be the
main structure of this adventure, all became kind of blurred. I
would have preferred for the author to focus more clearly on this hunt that saw
Scarlett as a protagonist and have more scanned passages about what she was
supposed to do each time to get her clue.
Another thing that I didn’t like particularly, is the fact
that a lot of mysterious hints are given throughout all the book about several
matters – the Master of Caraval’s identity, Julian’s link to him, the
involvement of the Dragna family and the identity of Scarlett’s bethroted –
that all contributed in widening my confusion about the whole novel. I am sure
that all these questions will be answered in the following books, but even the
few answers we receive at the end of this book were rushed up and not very
clear to me.
So it’s a pity that I couldn’t get attached to the plot much,
because the author’s style and intention certainly were great! I loved her
descriptive skills and one thing I noticed and enjoyed is how she associates
colours to emotions. I could clearly picture Caraval with its streets and
castles and balconies and beautiful, magical dresses and that is exactly why I
would have loved to get more of this world who had the fortune of being
pictured by such a talented storyteller.
Today, when I think about Caraval I think about a wide
magical cloud hanging above my head and messing with my judgement: I was not
enthusiastic about it, but I’m not going to give up on the series either. I am
sure that there is more to discover about this world in the next installments
and I’m going to give Stephanie Garber another chance, just not in the
immediate future!
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