Book Review: "Caraval" by Stephanie Garber!! (I apparently write book reviews now?? Is this a parallel universe?? I don't know myself anymore??)

So in a startling turn of events, I have written a book review?? I... Don't... Usually... Write book reviews? I've tried to in the past, but it always sort of failed (don't ask). But I just finished Caraval by Stephanie Garber a couple of days ago, and I had Thoughts that I wanted to write about, so I thought... why not write a review?? What could possibly go wrong?? (Everything. The answer to that is: everything.) So that's what I did! And it turned out okay... I think... I may be wrong... I don't even know what's happening anymore.

I originally posted this on Goodreads, but then I realised that it was long enough to be a full blog post, so I decided to share it here as well. (Also I have no other post ideas sob sob.)

Anyway, enjoy this book review* by Moi!!


*I say "review"... What I really mean is "confusing little ramble that vaguely has something to do with a book I read" but eh, technicalities.

(Cover image copied from Goodreads)

Rating: Four stars 

(I tried to use star emojis but they wouldn't show up I'm crying)

This book was sort of rubbish... and I love it more than my life right now.

Seriously, this book has made me realise how superficial I am?? I mean, do I care that the main character was annoying as hell? No. Do I care that the world-building is pretty much nonexistent? No. Do I care that the writing was pretty flat at times? No. Do I care that there's way too much telling and not enough showing, and that makes it hard to connect to the characters? No.

So what do I care about, then?

I care about the setting: a world where you can't trust anyone and nothing quite makes sense and everything might be a trick and THERE'S MAGIC. It's so aesthetic somehow?? I really loved the descriptions; it was very atmospheric. And I loved all the twists and turns (those last 100 or so pages were wild holy heck. I read most of the ending while sunbathing on a beach; picture me hunched up on a beach towel stress-reading like my life depends on it while everyone else around me is just chilling. Life tip: don't take a book like this on a beach day that's meant to be relaxing.). I WAS ENCHANTED. I read the whole thing in like, five days, which might not sound like much to a faster reader, but I get through books quite slowly... But I couldn't put this book down. I HAD TO KEEP READING AND FIGURE OUT WHAT WAS GOING ON. Seriously, I... loved it so much? I know I probably shouldn't have, but I did?

I guess the most important thing is: this book grabbed my imagination. It had been a while since a book had had that effect on me, but this book really made me dream... It made me feel inspired to come up with my own twisty, magical stories set in twisty, magical worlds, and to actually WRITE THEM. (I swear, it's like I opened the book and half a dozen plot bunnies jumped out from between the pages. I'm not seriously chasing any of them yet b/c I'm currently working on another writing project, but I'm fairly certain there's a winner in there somewhere.) And to me, a writer, that's one of the most important things a book can give me - if anything, it's the whole reason WHY I read; to feed my imagination, to make me feel inspired. This is the main reason I loved this book so much: it made me dream.

(Also, I'm not saying that my future career choice now consists of running a messed-up magical game while screwing with people's minds and making all the pretty girls fall in love with me, but... you know, that's exactly what I'm saying, ok bye *runs*)

All in all, I really liked this book! I was conflicted with the rating - one part of me wanted to rate it five stars because I LOVED IT but the logical part of me was like, "are you KIDDING me this book doesn't deserve that, it deserves like three stars or less". I had a bit of a fight with myself. But after a while, Myself and I made up because we know that fighting is dumb, and decided to compromise and rate it four stars. (Don't worry, I'm only a little bit insane, it's nothing to worry about.) So that's my rating. Yay.

Anyway, this is the first proper book review I've written in like a year so I hope you enjoyed it!! I hope it made sense!! It probably didn't make sense!! I don't mind!! I accept it!! I'm used to it by now!! I embrace the nonsense!!

Talk to me: have you read this book, and if so, what did you think? What's the best book you've read recently? What's the last book that captured your imagination? Tell me the THINGS

Stay wild my friends,

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