Stephanie Garber's first book Caraval, had a whimsical and fun feel to it, but it seemed that the sequel was lacking that whimsical touch.
This book is told by Tella, sister to the main character in Caraval, Scarlett. We pick immediately after the first book with Tella owning her 'friend' for information he gave her on her mother. I did not find the whole mother lost in the card story-line really grabbing my attention. Then we have Dante, who is Tella's (almost) boyfriend who wasn't very memorable from the first book, as I'd forgotten him.
Tella receives another letter from her 'friend' telling her payment for the information he came give is due and he now wants Legend's true name, which she will know if she wins Caraval, the first person after she wins, will be Legend, also sending her two tickets to Caraval and tells her he will meet her on the first night of Caraval. Tella cannot get into Caraval, for some reason her name is not on the guest list, so Dante comes and lies to the lady saying she is Elantine's Heir's fiancee. Tella is allowed in and put in the prettiest, most exquisite suite. The Heir finds out that she was posing as his fiancee and sends her a dress to wear, which of she does and the Heir sees her asks her to dance. There was so much going on along as listen above, not to mention Tella flirting with Dante and trying to make him jealous. We are introduced to The Fates, who were not mentioned in the first book, which if they were so important, they should have been mentioned in the first book. The Heir turns out to be Jacks, a boy Tella annoyed in a carriage earlier, they dance and Jacks turns out to also be her 'friend' she's been corresponding with. They dance and Jacks tells her she must play the part of his fiancee, and they kiss, and Tella starts to feel ill and it turns out that Jacks is ALSO the Prince of Hearts (one of the Fates we were just introduced to). I felt like that was way too many twists, just for this character and basically in two pages, I feel the Prince of Hearts twist would have been a better twist later in the book. Jacks tells Tella since she did not have his payment, (Legend's real name) and since they kissed she would die at the end of the week if she did not have more then Legend's real name, he now wants the actual person brought to him.
Tella goes exploring trying to find more clues and while exploring she finds a most wanted poster with her mother's face on, she asks Aiko, the worker there about her and finds out her mother is a well-known criminal. After that, she goes to find her sister and Jacks in the tower and finds herself at the hands of another one of the Fates who try to kill her, and she barely escapes, with Dante finding her and after drifting between in and out of consciousness, she hears Dante call Julian his brother. Dante also says she's the best hope of getting the deck of cards that Tella's mother once had in her possession. I was shocked at this part and actually did like the idea of Dante and Julian being brothers, only I don't think that was ever brought up again.
Tella wakes every day in Caraval and listens to heartbeat and each day, it's slower. We later find out that Tella might be Jacks' true love, the only one who can make his heart beat again, which also means his kisses do not kill her, which means her heart could not have been slowing. If Tella is in love with Dante, how could she be Jacks true love?
Tella finds a vault, which she thinks her mother's deck of cards are stored. Her last token of her mother, a ring is the only way to get in, only to find that the color of the ring Tella got from her mother before she left, means her mother (Paradise) owned a debt to the vault owner, to find out what the debt is she sticks her finger into a hole and a memory submerges of her mother saying she'll give her second born child. Dante promises to find a way for Tella to get into the vault without Tella being the payment. Tella goes back and finds out that Dante has made a promise that allows Tella to go into the vault once, and she can bring out any items her mother left. She grabs the cards and somehow she wins Caraval? Is that how you win Caraval? If it really is a game, how would the other players know what to do to win, or have a fair chance of winning?
We also find out the Scarlett has been talking to her fiancee, whom her father picked out for her in the first book before leaving to play in Caraval. She asks Tella not to tell Julian.I about lost my mind at that, because I think Julian and Scarlett are perfect for each other.
Tella did not fully grasp the game of Caraval, it was mostly her getting into stupid situations time after time. She was funny and witty, but not very smart in terms of thinking about what she should do to win Caraval, she just kept wandering around and hoping for something important to happen, that might be a clue.
I'm just so disappointed, by this sequel. I will read the third book Finale, because I do love the world of Caraval. I just think Caraval might have been best as a stand-alone.
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