It's hard not to hear about Caraval in the Young Adult upcoming releases this year with how much people are talking about it. It hasn't even been released yet and it already has almost 700 reviews on Goodreads! There have been a couple carnival/maze type books that seem like this book but actually I don't think you could compare this book to anything else because it was such a fantastic read and none of them could measure up to it. I'm so impressed that this is the first book that Stephanie Garber has had published and that will introduce her to the world because it's a shining star immediately in her career. I hope it does so well and everyone picks it up and reads it because it's amazing. 

I love that this book starts with a collection of letters from Scarlett to the Caraval Master, Legend. She begs him to come to their small island so she and her younger sister can experience the magic they've only heard about in stories from her grandmother when Caraval came to the island before fifty years ago but Caraval never visits the same place twice and Legend never responds to her letters until she writes one last time to tell him she's about to be married so she no longer wishes him to come. Then, finally, he responds with three coveted invitations for herself, her sister and her fiance but Scarlett has no intention of going to the game with only a week until her wedding to a man she's never met before. 

Lucky for us, she manages to end up at the gates of Caraval anyway. She has the plan to go in, find her sister and leave before her wedding but that isn't what is planned for her. All throughout this book Scarlett is told that Caraval is only a game, that everything is setup to be realistic and that some people even go mad throughout it but to remember that it's just a game. At first, that advice is easy to remember but very soon the lines become blurred they are invisible and everything that happens feels like real danger and life or death. Scarlett has to make quick decisions, solves impossible puzzles and even trade her life for an answer to the game. 

Caraval sounds awesome even if I know it would be terrifying to play and I don't think I would want to do it if I had to go through the events Scarlett did but I would love to just be there and watch the game unfold because it sounds like such a magical world to just walk through and experience while all these wild things are taking place all around you. I hope the next book has another big twist to the story like this one did but now I am a little worried that the second book can't top this one because it was so incredible. I really hope she has a big plan for the next one. 

(Full review at https://thebookishkirra.wordpress.com/2017/01/16/book-review-caraval/)

A wonderfully magical and mysterious read that will pull you into the game of Caraval and the deceptions of its performers. But remember, it's only a game...

As her arranged marriage draws nearer, Scarlett fears that she'll never get to experience that magic of Caraval, a magical performance that involves players and watchers. But when tickets for Scarlett and her sister Tella arrive to this year's game, she doesn't want to risk the marriage that will get her off the isle of Trisda and her abusive father. With the help of the  mysterious sailor Julian, Tella manages to get Scarlett and herself onto Master Legend's island and into Caraval, but as the game begins, Tella is kidnapped - she is the what the players must find in order to win the game and the prize of a wish from Legend. Despite being told that everything in Caraval is just a performance, she gets swept up in the illusion, with the help of an unlikely ally, determined to find Tella before the game ends and she loses her forever.

This book has received so much hype that I was both excited and apprehensive going into it. But after a few chapters, I was hooked, and like Scarlett, swept away by the magic and mystery that Caraval performs. In Caraval, nothing is at it seems, and almost everything is a performance, and that's just the same for this story. It was so easy to be sucked into the game, and as the game went on, it became easier to become disillusioned by the characters.

Caraval is such a magically beautiful and mysterious world. Stephanie made even the most simplest items mystical and magical. I loved the descriptions of the world and could read about Caraval all day. Magic seeped from the pages.

There are so many twists and turns in the book that, near the end, I was struggling to understand it all. Everything you think you know about Caraval is completely altered the further you get through the book.

I really enjoyed the ending of this book, and if it hadn't been for the epilogue, I would have been quiet satisfied with it being a standalone. I'm intrigued to see where this story goes in the second book of this duology, and only hope that the magic and mystery of Caraval continues.

I absolutely loved this book and devoured it in a few days. It is fast-paced and will have you hooked. Escape into a world cloaked in magic and mystery and get swept into up in the adventure that is Caraval.

Such a beautiful book, it was beyond my expectations and I can't wait to get this in my hand and read it all over again. I want everyone to read this book

Beautifully written, engaging plot and characters, somewhat disconcerting story line. I loved the interplay between Scarlett and Julian, and the side characters all had their own delightful quirks. The plot moved at a steady pace, sometimes seeming to double-back on itself and take a number of strange and sometimes disturbing twists.