Finale by Stephanie Garber
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The Dragna sisters return…For One Last Game
I was swept away by the magic of Caraval. The mystery of the game, the man, the myth, the legend behind it. yes it’s YA I’m throwing out puns okay! A mysterious sailor, the crazy sister who wanted more from life, and the quiet heroine who wanted her own life.
The first book was Scarlett’s story.
She the quiet older sister that always did what was right and never really was the adventurous type. I often got annoyed with her as our MC in the first book. She felt more passive and wasn’t a very entertaining POV. I just felt like she wasn’t really trying to play the game.
As the series continued, Scarlett started to develop and embrace the magic of uncertainty that accumulated in this finale
“Scarlett’s feelings were a commotion of colors, swirling around her in garlands of excited aquamarine, nervous marigold, and frustrated gingersnap.”
But there was a distinct difference for me: I read her chapters to find out what HAPPENED, not to enjoy her perspective… which says a lot
The second book introduced the chaos that is Donatella “Tella” Dragna POV
Of the sisters I enjoyed her POV more as the rebellious adventurous sister. This book also emphasized romance more which I never complain about
Since the beginning, I was obsessed with knowing the truth of Legend
“He was still the most beautiful liar she’d ever seen. But Tella wasn’t about to let Legend bewitch her the same way he had during Caraval. She smacked the top hat right off of his pretty head, rocking the tiny vessel beneath them.”
This ongoing plot enthralled me with playing the game, finding out the truth of Paloma their mysterious other, and working to contain the magic of the fates
The Fates were particularly interesting world developing. Think of them as similar to tarot cards with the Deck of Destiny, each of these beings are magical in their own right. And that scares the shit outta Legend. And me.
The structure of the Caraval game and the deck of cards with the Fates illuminated a similarity between our love interest and our villains that absolutely captivated my attention.
Dark, alluring, and danger continued throughout the series as the games became more and more real. And Tella wasn’t sure whether the price of winning was worth it anymore.
My biggest critique was the nonstop last-minute info dump that had great concepts I would’ve enjoyed more throughout the series
Specifically… Jacks
He was a marvelously complex character. I adore morally grey characters and I hated the uncertainty and way he was left behind in the end. I’m hoping that this is indicative that the author might have more for his story
Because I would ABSOLUTELY be interested in continuing in this world but following Jacks, a character from the magic side of things.
While I love our Dragna sisters, I just got kinda sick of the cliche ‘humans helplessly entering the magic world aspect’. I want a power-hungry Jacks ready to manipulate all his knowledge to get the power he wants… just to found out there’s something he needs more
LOVE
ITS FRIGGEN LOVE OKAY, I’M A CLICHE I GET IT
Overall, this series was just enjoyable. While I recognize that the first book was ridiculously overhyped, I enjoyed the second book and was glad that the third book tried to wrap together all the strings while focusing on Tella’s more interesting plotline. If you weren’t WOWED by the first book but enjoyed the worldbuilding and writing style with soooo mucchhhh purple proseeee — then I would definitely recommend giving the rest of the series a shot because I definitely think the series as a whole improved when Tella’s more active dangerous POV became the focus.
Leave a Reply