Caraval
Hello, all. I hope you are enjoying your first week of autumn.
Today’s book is a case of happy coincidences. A few months ago, I had an idea for a Young Adult Fantasy story with a Romance subplot. As mentioned in my review of Blood Heir, it has been a while since I read any considerable amount of YA, so some market research is in order before I really engage with this project. However, I didn’t know where to start. What sources could I rely upon to point me towards well-received, well-written YA Fantasy?
In July, I encountered the author Stephanie Garber on Twitter, and we ended up as mutual followers. Her profile banner advertised her book series, the Caraval Series. It seemed like a good place to start. I did some digging, saw that it was well-reviewed, and purchased the e-book for the first novel (the eponymous Caraval).
In hindsight, this was probably not the best starting point I could have picked.
STATS
Title: Caraval
Series: Caraval Series (Book 1)
Author(s): Stephanie Garber
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy (Romantasy)
First Printing: 2017
Publisher: Flatiron Books
SPOILER WARNING
Mild spoilers will be included throughout this review, through I will keep the first paragraph of each section as spoiler-free as possible. Heavy spoilers will be confined to clearly labelled sections.
PREMISE
From the Barnes & Noble product page:
Scarlett has never left the tiny island where she and her beloved sister, Tella, live with their powerful and cruel father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval, the far-away, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show, are over.
But this year, Scarlett's long-dreamt-of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to attend. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season's Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.
Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. But whether Caraval is real or not, she must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over, and her sister disappears forever.
Also, I think it’s worth mentioning that the listed age range for this book is “13 - 17 Years”.
Reaction
This is a very accurate premise. The first two paragraphs summarize the setup that is established for the reader within the first handful of chapters, while the last accurately sums up the plot. The one nitpick I would make is that Caraval is presented as and referred to as a “game” for the bulk of the narrative (hence the “winner” part), not as a performance, but this is a distinction that doesn’t fundamentally change the story from what is described here. If you are seeking YA with this premise, this book will probably satisfy you.
(Also, regarding that nitpick, I will be referring to Caraval as a “game” for the remainder of this review.)
A very important detail that is easily missed is “whether Caraval is real or not.” This is a core aspect of the narrative - one of its strongest points, I would argue. Scarlett often finds herself questioning what aspects of the game are or aren’t real, especially as she uncovers new information about Legend. With how the story is written, it is very hard for the audience to tell what is or isn’t real, either. This uncertainty enhances the story on a first blind read. (Until I reread it, I can’t comment on how it affects a second read.)
RATING: 7 / 10 (YA audience)
As mentioned above, Caraval was the wrong choice for me to dive back into YA. It was very hard for me to gauge which of its flaws were objective ones and which were merely my subjective disconnect. I ultimately had to compare it to Blood Heir (which was also YA) and The City of Brass (which was written as YA and then marketed to adult audiences) to settle on a score.
My conclusion? It’s fine.
Much like the Eisenhorn books, Caraval is honest with its audience about what it is. Even without Barnes & Noble’s helpful age demographic note, this Romantasy is very clearly targeted towards teenaged girls in middle and high school. Part of this comes down to the writing style, the details focused upon, and the amount of time spent exploring internal monologue and emotions. I remember reading a lot of stuff like this when I was in middle and high school. However, it is also evident in the inclusion and execution of its sexual themes. This book is making an active effort to engage with girls experiencing sexual attraction and adolescent romance for the first time.
As mentioned above, the uncertainty of what is and isn’t real within the game helps to increase tension and, therefore, investment. It would have been very easy for Garber to mess this up and have her story be incoherent nonsense where nothing matters because we don’t understand where the actual danger lies. Garber resolves this by having Scarlett be fully invested in the game. Scarlett believes it is real, despite others telling her that it is not. Therefore, whenever she does consider the possibility of everything being fake, the tension spikes. If she takes this leap of faith and stops treating everything as real, will she succeed? Or will she suffer consequences? We don’t really know, and that makes things more exciting.
This is also one of those books that feeds well into theory-crafting. If you are the type of person who keeps an eye out for foreshadowing and enjoys guessing how the story will end, this story provides plenty of fodder for that. Legend is an actor, and Caraval is where he and his troupe perform. I found myself second-guessing nearly every character in this story, trying to figure out who was genuinely playing the game against Scarlett versus merely playing a part to guide her along.
There were points in this book where I considered a higher rating … but there is one problem that I couldn’t ignore. At a couple of pivotal points within the story, the narrative of Caraval takes the less interesting path available to it. The narrative is still functional. I also understand that the path taken was probably the safe one. It’s just that I feel like Garber had the potential to tell a far more interesting story than the one that she ultimately chose to tell.
CONTENT WARNING
Violence
Caraval features limited violence in the form of stabbings, beatings, and general manhandling. There’s copious blood, though it’s handled in a manner that is tasteful and effective, not gratuitous. Death is also present and likewise used in effective moderation.
That being said, there are two important issues that need to be acknowledged.
Child Abuse
Scarlett’s “powerful and cruel” father beats her and Tella to ensure their obedience. He couples this with psychological manipulation: he punishes the disobedient daughter by beating her sister. Scarlett is eager to accept the marriage her father arranged for her because she hopes that her new husband will shield her and Tella from their father. This abuse and its psychological scars echo throughout the story.
Much like the second torture scene in Iron Flame, I feel like Garber engaged with this topic to the proper degree to support her narrative. Caraval is not, in and of itself, an exploration of abuse. She provides us with enough insight for us to understand Scarlett’s character without wallowing in it.
Suicide (Heavy Spoilers)
There are two suicides within Caraval. Much like with the blood and death, I don’t feel like either of these are gratuitous, but I can see how they might bother people with relevant experiences.
Years prior to the start of the story, one of the players in the Caraval game died. We later learn that she committed suicide in response to heartbreak.
In the climax of the book, Tella threatens and then commits suicide by leaping off a balcony. She does this in an attempt to punish her and Scarlett’s father. Her logic is that, with her death, their father will lose any leverage over Scarlett.
Sexuality (Heavy Spoilers)
Caraval does not feature any sex scenes. The threat of rape is used to drive up the tension at least once, though even in this instance, sex is not overtly mentioned. However, what Caraval does feature is a detailed account of a teenaged girl’s sexual awakening.
That’s lot of focus on touching, physical proximity, and sexually attractive features.
A lot of detail put into the kiss scenes.
Scarlett is constantly aware of when her clothing is revealing.
There is a situation where Scarlett concludes that she would have had sex with her Bad Boy Love Interest if he’d asked it of her. Again, sex is not overtly mentioned, but it’s impossible to miss.
In the climax, when Scarlett rejects her arranged marriage and choses Bad Boy Love Interest, it reads as though she is motivated purely by sexual attraction.
Outside of potential conclusions that might be drawn from that last point, I can’t say that any of this is would have been at all shocking for a YA book when I was in high school, let alone now.
GENRE
Much like The Empyrean, Caraval is classified as a Romantasy. Unlike The Empyrean, Caraval actually puts focus on the Romance, and it actually manages to do both Romance and Fantasy properly.
Romance
While the Romance angle is not clearly advertised in the book’s premise, it is front and center from the very start. Scarlett is originally very invested in her arranged marriage. It serves as a countdown: she needs to rescue Tella before the Caraval game ends so that they’ll have time to get home before her wedding day. Along the way, she becomes attracted to Bad Boy Love Interest (the “mysterious sailor” mentioned in Premise), and their relationship becomes the focus. The moment in which Scarlett finally stands up to her father and rejects her arranged marriage isn’t a decision to choose Bad Boy Love Interest, but it is her deciding that she can’t be happy with an arranged marriage after experiencing genuine attraction.
This story is not complicated. However, it works far better than what we got in The Empyrean. We aren’t trapped in the head of a morally and psychologically depraved individual who mistreats the men in both her platonic and sexual relationships while she chases her next orgasm. This is the tale of a sheltered and abused girl finally having a positive relationship with a member of the opposite sex. The conflicts that arise in the process aren’t contrived and come to natural resolutions.
Fantasy
Caraval is set within a secondary world. Within this world, nearly all established magic is attached to Legend and to Caraval itself. People play the game to experience that magic, and the prize granted to the winner is a wish (the limits of which are not specified).
I would not classify this as a deep and immersive fantasy world. However, as we will get into down below, the narrative itself doesn’t need deep worldbuilding to function. Garber isn’t juggling multiple factions or putting weight upon specific mechanics of the magic system. Thus, while Caraval is arguably more shallow as a Fantasy than even Notorious Sorcerer was, it still has adequate depth to maintain audience immersion within the setting.
VOICE
Point of View
Caraval is a curious story. It is written in a 3rd Person Limited POV, with Scarlett serving as the POV for every chapter except the epilogue (and arguably Chapter 1, which is a collection of letters). However, I wonder if maybe Garber originally wrote this in 1st Person Limited and then changed it just before publication. A lot of focus given over to Scarlett’s inner monologue (more on that below), with elements repeating themselves in a manner that makes little sense for the reader experience but far more for a character who’s spinning her wheels as she tries to assimilate new information. This isn’t a flaw in and of itself. It’s just something that jumped out at me.
Internal Monologue
Scarlett’s internal monologues in this book sometimes stretch for half a page at the time. They do more than just describe her thoughts in the moment - they’ll rehash plot beats and character details that were already very clearly established by both the events of the narrative and by past stretches of internal monologue. It sometimes feels like Garber didn’t trust her audience to remember information from more that one chapter earlier. A lot of subtlety is also lost by doing this. Scarlett’s emotions and thought processes are loudly advertised rather than coming through via her actions and previously established characterization.
I personally didn’t like this … but unlike with the lack of subtlety in The Empyrean, I think this actually makes some sense. This book is, after all, aimed at younger audiences. I remember a time when I didn’t mind being bluntly provided such information and actually enjoyed reading the POV character’s thought processes. What’s more, the way the prose is written makes it feel like things that Scarlett is actively thinking in the moment. Her repeating established information reads like she is reflecting upon that information, not that the author wants to remind the audience about things we already know.
Colors
Given that Chapter 1 of this book is effectively a prologue, taking the form of a collection of letters, I consider the start of Chapter 2 to be the true opening of the book. It also introduces the only element in this book that I’m unconditionally critical of, without any leniency for the target audience.
Scarlett’s feelings came in colors even brighter than usual. The urgent red of burning coals. The eager green of new grass buds. The frenzied yellow of a flapping bird’s feathers.
It is unclear in the moment if this is meant to be literal (that Scarlett has a form of chromesthesia or a magical power that produces a similar effect) or purely metaphorical. It isn’t until five pages later that we get confirmation that it is indeed literal.
Scarlett always saw flashes of color attached to her strongest emotions, and for an instant goldenrod desire lit up inside her.
Garber will go on to apply this chromesthesia to emotional moments throughout the book.
In concept, I do like this. It’s a running element that allows for a lot of vivid metaphor. It could really spice up the book. Unfortunately, there are two issues that cause this to detract from the experience rather than enhancing it.
First, the element is not applied consistently. There are periods of multiple chapters where it doesn’t come up. At least twice, I found myself wondering why Garber bothering introducing this element if she was going to drop is, only for it to suddenly reappear When it does appear, it oversaturates the text, making it a chore to get through rather than enhancing the experience.
Second, a lot of time when colors are whipped out this way, Garber tells us the associated emotion anyway. I could understand this the first couple of times as a means to acclimate the audience, but she does it late into the book, too. Why not go all the way and replace the all emotions with colors? Continuing to tell us the emotions while adding in the colors just makes the colors into dead weight.
PLOT
The Mystery
The game that Scarlett needs to win to find Tella is a scavenger hunt. She (along with the other participants in the game) is presented with a riddle describing five sequential clues that will ultimately lead to Tella’s location. Scarlet needs to decipher both the lines of the riddle pertaining to each clue and the new information she uncovers with the previous clue. Along the way, she is offered magical bargains by the various actors in Caraval, who offer her various forms of help in exchange for secrets or payments of a magical nature (like giving up her voice or losing days of her life).
Purely as a mystery, I do not think that this plot is good. The riddles for the individual clues are so ambiguous that it’s very difficult to figure out what they mean before Scarlett finds the answer (often by guessing). When she does uncover the clues, the moment is so understated that it’s easy to miss. I actually missed that she’d found Clue #3; it wasn’t until she hit Clue #4 and identified it as such that I realized she’d already solved Clue #3.
That being said, I don’t think this is terrible, at least not for the story being told. This story is about Scarlett coming into her own and discovering what she wants in for herself. The meat of the narrative is the decisions she makes to try to find the clues, not the clues themselves.
The Least Interesting Answers (Heavy Spoilers)
Caraval is a game filled with actors. Legend’s acting abilities are described as so magical that it’s heavily implied that he can shapeshift. Many of the payments that Scarlett needs to make to acquire help within the game are secrets about her greatest desires and her fears. Furthermore, it is repeatedly emphasized throughout the game that it is all just a game, and that it can only hurt the players if they accept it as reality. This all feeds into the uncertainty element that was mentioned above. Nothing that Scarlett encounters can be taken for granted.
Unfortunately, when we do get answers about what is real, the answers aren’t interesting. I don’t think they’re objectively bad; I don’t think that they damage the narrative. It’s just that the payoffs feel like letdowns compared to their setups.
The Love Interest
Chapter 1 of this book is a series of letters that Scarlett sends to Legend over the years, asking him to come to her home city to host his game there. It isn’t until she is about to be married that he answers her, inviting her to come to his island to play the game there. At this same time, Scarlett is receiving letters from her fiancé, a man whom she has never met and whose name her father is withholding from her.
Oh. So Legend is her fiancé, right?
But wait - right when Scarlett gets this reply from Legend, she discovers Tella making out with Julian, the character who quickly becomes Scarlett’s Bad Boy Love Interest. We quickly learn that he has played in the Caraval game before. When the game starts, he also is able to bend the rules of the game quite considerably.
Oh! Julien is Legend, right?
Maybe he and the fiancé are the same person?
Nope.
The fiancé is just … some bland piece of toast who is complicit in the abuses that Scarlett’s father inflicts. Julian is one of the actors working for Legend … but since the actors apparently can’t act like different people than they are in real life (which really doesn’t say much for their acting abilities), that means he is still Bad Boy Love Interest Scarlett fell for.
Again, this is perfectly fine. It just feels like Garber went out of her way to set up a mystery that never pays off.
The Father and the Fiancé
About halfway through the book, Scarlett’s father shows up on Caraval. Soon after, she encounters her fiancé too.
Oh! So these are actors, right? This is part of the game. Around this time, we’re introduced to some illusion magic that plays on fears. Surely, these are just magically disguised actors introduced into the game to push Scarlett’s buttons, right?
Nope. It’s really them. We learn after the climax that Tella orchestrated the game with Legend to punish Scarlett’s father and break Scarlett’s engagement. Again, it’s functional, but it’s a missed opportunity to properly engage with the unreality of the game.
Conquences
Caraval is only a game, but it can hurt people who accept it as real. An element established early on is that Legend moved his operation to a private island, rather than traveling around, because he was no longer welcome in cities once a woman died from the game. As a result, even if one assumes that everything in the game is false, that literally everyone Scarlett encounters is an actor, that nothing bad can happen to her unless she loses track of what’s real, there is a sense of danger. There is fear that Scarlet could misstep and could get hurt.
This comes to a head in the climax. First, Legend stabs Julian, who proceeds to bleed out in Scarlett’s arms. Then we get the scene where Tella commits suicide. These are both treated as severe and permanent events that Scarlett cannot reverse.
And then Tella quite literally walks back into the story and tells Scarlett that death is not permanent in Caraval. People who die while the game is in effect simply come back to life when the game ends. The woman who died permanently committed suicide after the game, meaning she was unprotected. Scarlett and Tella then attend a party which includes Julian and another character who died during the game.
This is a twist that makes sense. Going back to that mention I made earlier about paying a price in days of one’s life, the person paying the price “dies” for the number of days following the payment, satisfying the payment by losing time in the game. Scarlett gets tricked into such a deal and loses a day as a result. It’s just that, once more, this is the last interesting option. I also suspect that this will kill the stakes and tension on a reread. There simply isn’t any genuine danger for Scarlett here.
CHARACTERS
The characters of Caraval are … not shallow, as that has more negative connotations than what I feel is necessary … minimalistic. They have the bare minimum of characterization needed to facilitate their mechanical roles within the plot. Consequently, they are also the weakest aspect of the book, which isn’t great when the story is driven by the emotional journey of the main character.
I think that this is a function of the narrative being told. The audience is meant to project themselves onto Scarlett and to fill in the blanks for other characters based upon their own experiences. This isn’t abnormal for YA. If you are swept up in Scarlett’s emotional journey, the story works fine regardless. It’s just I don’t see how readers who aren’t swept along on this journey are supposed to connection with the characters.
Scarlett Dragna
Scarlett Dragna is the protagonist of Caraval as well as the POV character for every chapter except Chapter 1 and the Epilogue. She is an introverted, inexperienced, socially conservative, and easily frightened young woman who gradually gains courage and experiences the aforementioned sexual awakening throughout the book. The climax sees her denounce her abusive father and reject the arranged marriage that she previously desired.
Scarlett’s motivations revolve entirely around Tella. She loves Tella more than anyone else, and she feels guilty that her attraction from Julian pulls her in another direction. Tella is also part of the reason why Scarlett looks forward to her arranged marriage. Moving out of her father’s home and into her husband’s potentially means that she can take Tella with her.
Outside of this motivation, though, Scarlett is very much a blank slate. In all honesty, I’m not sure whether the traits I previously mentioned are actually defined traits. It’s just that it’s very clear early on what her arc for the book is going to be, so it’s easy to color in traits based upon the typical starting and end points of such an arc.
Donatella “Tella” Dragna
Tella is both Scarlett’s sister and her foil, being outgoing, reckless, vivacious, and sexually adventurous. She is someone Scarlett seems to admire while simultaneously wanting to rein in for Tella’s own protection.
Much like Scarlett, Tella’s characterization feels less like meaningful traits and more like something functional to support the plot. She’s a MacGuffin for the bulk of the book. The one time that we get something close to a fleshed-out trait is somewhat contradictory.
Tella’s recklessness is established early on. She has brought Julian down into the wine cellar of her and Scarlett’s home, with the implication being that it is for sex. This is a place where there father can easily discover the indiscretion (hence why he does so by the end of the chapter). When their father is decided who to beat, the girls blame each other for Julian’s presence. This is later revealed to be a selfless act. Since their father will punish the guilty party by beating the innocent, blaming the other sister means offering oneself up to be beaten.
Here’s the problem: by this logic, Tella’s reckless behavior constantly endangers Scarlett. She cannot guarantee that she’ll pin the blame on Scarlett, and thereby soak up the punishment herself, every time she does these things. What’s more, she is aware that the consequences of her actions will not affect her and Scarlett alone. Early on, we learn that their father once drowned a boy who tried to help them run away from home. Tella is fully aware of the dire consequences that can result from her actions. So when Garber tries to frame Tella as being as selfless in her love of Scarlett as Scarlett is in her love of Tella, it just doesn’t work. Tella is, simply put, an incredibly selfish person.
(The twists discussed under the Heavy Spoilers in Plot do not redeem this. Even if Tella had carefully planned out her actions, it is made very clear to the audience that recklessness is standard for her. She’s still on the hook for all of the implied indiscretions that form Scarlett’s opinion of her.)
Governor Dragna
Governor Dragna is Scarlett and Tella’s father. He is a physically and psychologically abusive man who is obsessed with his image and building his power. For Scarlett, helping Tella and escaping him are one and the same.
The governor is a bland, predictable, and yet perfectly functional antagonist. He is more a manifestation of abuse than an actual character. As mentioned above, that’s not very interesting, but it does work for this narrative.
Julian
Julian is the Bad Boy Love Interest who facilitates Scarlett’s sexual awakening by being hot, throwing around innuendos, and always finding himself in situations that necessitate a lot of touching. Most of the other details of his character are covered until the Heavy Spoilers in Plot.
Again, Julian is very bland, but he is functional. He certainly works better for the Romance than Xaden does in Fourth Wing. At least Julian isn’t set up for an Enemies to Lovers arc that instantly melts into naked sexual tension (though he does also do the nickname thing, calling Scarlett “Crimson”). He is just some guy who goes on an adventure with Scarlett and excites her while doing so. This flows more smoothly in general and fits perfectly within the story being told.
Other Characters
Most of the other characters are one-note NPCs (quite literally, in the cases of those who turn out to be actors working for Legend). Scarlett’s grandmother gets brought up occasionally as a source for exposition about Caraval. I wish I had something meaningful to say about Legend, but he just sorts of exists in the background as a godlike trickster who pushes the climax along.
WORLDBUILDING
Minimalism
The worldbuilding of Caraval is as minimalistic as the characters.. We get some mentions about a bunch of maritime empires and how Scarlett is from one of the Conquered Isles. The only magic we see is on Caraval and is part of Legend’s show, but he originally got the power from a witch, so clearly there is magic elsewhere in the world. On Caraval itself, the magic is pretty basic stuff one would associate with the Fae: random bits of whimsy, magical bargains that demand seemingly innocuous things but can have big consequences, illusions, fluid time, etc.
Here’s the thing, though: minimalistic worldbuilding is what best serves the story being told.
This isn’t an epic set in a war-torn world, a tale of political intrigue, or a story where a magical and mysterious city is the main draw. We don’t need to understand the world to make sense of what’s going on here. This is a story about characters with clearly understood emotions and motivations in an environment that is acknowledged within the world to be mysterious and artificial. The magic is literal set dressing for the drama of the characters.
Scarlett is coming into this environment with barely any understanding of how anything works. She understands as much as we understand, and thus, we are able to experience things with more or less the same perspective that she possesses. Furthermore, what information we do get about the world also doesn’t undermine her decisions. Whether she is being rational or emotional, Scarlet always behaves in a way that makes sense for the her current understanding (and, thus, our current understanding) of any given situation. Ironically enough, by not fully immersing the audience within the world, Garber has enhanced immersion into the POV character’s perspective.
The Dress
One element of the world that I did like is a dress that Scarlett acquires early in the story. It changes its style and color based upon her mood or the situation she’s in. Sometimes it adopts a look she’s comfortable with, but other times it becomes revealing or betrays her mood in a moment when she’s trying to hide her emotions. This does a lot more to build atmosphere for the scene than her chromesthesia does. Eventually, Scarlett grows tired of dealing with this dress and tries to acquire new dresses, eventually leading to a situation where she finds a clue. While I feel like removing it from the story was a bit of a loss, I like how its removal is the result of a character-based decision that then moves the plot forward.
Fluid Time
Once the actual Caraval game begins, time starts to flow in a manner that is dictated entirely by narrative convenience. However, I think this is actually an asset to the story.
For context, all of the events of the day take place at night. The game effectively shuts down during daylight hours, and players who are outside when this happens are automatically disqualified. The nights themselves are very short, with the events described often sounded as if they couldn’t take up more than a couple of hours.
The reason this is an asset rather than a flaw is that the mechanic is both acknowledged and justified within the world. The short duration of the nights is acknowledged by Scarlett from the very start of the game. What’s more, the entire game is set inside of a giant magical theater that Legend controls. He has both the means and the motive to mess with the clocks so as to enhance the game for the players.
By setting up and justifying the fluid time within the narrative, Garber gives herself a lot of leeway to make each night in Caraval last exactly as long as is convenient for her narrative, without it ever feels artificial. Yes, someone like me who likes to dissect such things can see the hand of the author in this, but while actually reading the book, I never had a moment where I thought, “Oh, the night is ending really quick because the author wants to force Scarlett to go back to her inn.”
For an interesting point of comparison, this is something that is a pet peeve of mine when reading the Harry Potter books. Rowling will describe describe periods of several minutes or even hours passing without selling the idea that the characters are actually experiencing that time. This is at ts worst when she actually describes the actions that are filling this voids. The example that jumps to mind most readily is the Astronomy OWL from Order of the Phoenix, when Umbridge and some Aurors try to arrest Hagrid while Harry and his classmates watch from the Astronomy Tower. We are meant to think that the fight between Hagrid, Umbridge, and Umbridge’s enforcers - which, as described, fills maybe 30 seconds - lasts four whole minutes before McGonagall arrives. We are then expected to think that McGonagall immediately being mowed down by Stunning Spells and Hagrid fleeing into the night (another 30 seconds, at most) takes another ten minutes. It honestly feels like either wizards have a different definition for “minute” than Muggles do or else that the entire action scene is trapped in some bubble of slow-moving time while Harry is watching the events from outside the bubble.
CONCLUSION
Caraval is another one of those books that is honest about what it is and who is it written for. As far as objective literary analysis goes, I think that’s fine. I didn’t enjoy myself, but everything holds together and makes sense, so I understand why the target audience might like it.
There are a lot of elements in this book that I have harshly criticized in previous books, particularly in The Empyrean, The City of Brass, and Notorious Sorcerer. The target audience makes a huge difference here. Those other books were marketed to adult audiences while demonstrating an extreme lack of intellectual and emotional maturity. Here, this book is marketed to and written for teenagers. Any place where I might argue that it’s lacking intellectually is really just a matter of the narrative putting emphasis on specific elements or opting for simplicity; any emotional immaturity is easily explained by the fact that this story is written for an audience that is still maturing. Caraval knows who its audience is and how to connect with that audience. Things aren’t half-assed; they are purposefully configured to meet the needs of the book’s intended readers.
I’m honestly not sure if I’ll go on to read the other books in the series: Legendary (the sequel), the fittingly titled Finale, or that holiday novella that Garber is releasing in October. However, if you are looking for a YA Romantasy, I’d say that Caraval is worth your time.
