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TeenTober 2019 – Legendary by Stephanie Garber

Legendary by Stephanie Garber is the second book in the Caraval trilogy. There will be Caraval spoilers in here so beware but none for Legendary.

While Caraval was written in Scarlett’s perspective and didn’t give us much insight into Tella’s personality, Legendary is entirely narrated by Donatella. For this reason, it took me a while to warm up to the book because obviously, I’d developed a connection to Scarlett in the last one and switching it up so drastically did not endear to me. I came around eventually though I still wasn’t as taken with it as I was Caraval.

In Legendary, Caraval is to perform at Empress Elantine’s 75th birthday and Tella plans to use this chance to find out Legend’s true name and fulfill her part of the promise she made with a “friend”. When Caraval starts though, Tella realizes that this performance is quite a bit different than the previous and that the dangers may no longer be a part of the game but as real as you and me.

I would give Legendary an 8.5/10 because I wasn’t very impressed with the ending… I was expecting a few mindblowing plot twists like Stephanie delivered in Caraval but I was VERY disappointed with the actual results. That said, I did enjoy the story and plotline overall and I’m definitely going to give the final book a read!

Teen Book Review – Caraval by Stephanie Garber

Hey all! How is school life? Hope you’re not being overload

Anyways, I’ve been reading up a storm lately and one of my favourites so far is Caraval by Stephanie Garber.

Caraval is the story of two sisters, Scarlett and Donatella, who have been trapped on their island with their abusive father for their whole lives. Growing up, Scarlett had always dreamt of attending Caraval, an incredible performance given once a year in which the audience participates in the games; however, given that their last attempt at escape had resulted in their father murdering the nice boy who’d been stupid enough to help them, Scarlett had long since dismissed that dream as an impossible wish. Yet, dreams have a knack for coming true, especially if you wish for them enough.

Thoughts: Caraval has been on my To-Be-Read List for so long that it was a such a relief to finally get around to it! It was the perfect blend of mystery and magic, romance and danger. I was hooked through and through. The plot twists were very, very good and the story was told in a way that made me just as confused as the characters (this may sound like a bad thing but it’s actually very good in this case, just let me explain). The audience members that participate in Caraval are thrust into a mystery they need to solve, with performers and a set that makes everything seem super realistic. Therefore, saying I was as confused as the characters means the story was so well written it was hard for me to differentiate between acting and reality. To describe Caraval in one word: Spellbinding; which is which my rating is a 9/10.

Teen Book Review – Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare

Image result for queen of air and darkness

I was originally going to review another book this month but then I remembered that I needed to return this book soon due to others having holds on it. Therefore, I’m writing this review now before I lose the book and can no longer skim through for the details. So, this month I read Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare; aka Book 3 of the Dark Artifices, a spinoff from the Mortal Instruments or better known as the Shadowhunters series.

To start off… This book is ENORMOUS. I couldn’t bring it to school in fear of having my shoulders fully dented by the sheer weight of this thing… I’d say the only other book I’ve read of this size would be Kingdom of Ash, from the Throne of Glass series. I cannot reveal too much of the plot since this is still a pretty recent release but I can say the Emma and Julian (the two main characters) have a lot to deal with in this book and there are actually numerous side plotlines happening throughout which revolve around the Blackthorn siblings as well as the Seelie and Unseelie faerie courts. A few new characters are introduced although not many deaths of old ones. I think I’ll stop here and give a rating: 4/5 stars. Not a perfect rating…BUT I have absolutely nothing against the plotline or characters or even the writing. I just feel as if everything was wrapped up a bit too perfectly to be realistic/believable for me. Other than that, I highly reccommend it :))

Teen SRC 2018 – Fire by Kristin Cashore

FireFire; by Kristin Cashore may not be as well known as Graceling but it is certainly an amazing book as well. Sometimes full-on, rich, fantasy can be a bit hard for me to read but Graceling, Fire, and Bitterblue were very rare exceptions. I have already written a review on Graceling and Fire was the second book I read by Kristin Cashore so I am reviewing it now. Fire is a human monster, just like her dad was. This doesn’t mean she hides under the bed, has scales and sharp teeth though, no! In fact, it means that she is extraordinarily beautiful and possesses the power to manipulate somebody by putting thoughts into their mind. This makes people distrust her, that, and the fact that her father had basically singlehandedly brought her kingdom down to its knees. That was just a little introduction to the story and hopefully it already has you convinced but I will say that this book was one of the best series I’ve ever read, and it is currently on my “Top 30 Books List”, which I’ve mentioned in a few of my other reviews. I really, really, really recommend this book, it has ALL the components needed for a captivating story. Another thing is these three books can probably be read in any order without confusing the reader, however the ideal order to read them, and this is strictly my opinion, would be Graceling, Fire, and finally Bitterblue. Which, luckily, was indeed the order I read them in. So, last note, 75/5 stars, THIS IS AMAZING! Go get a copy IMMEDIATELY.