Legendary by Stephanie Garber | Book Review

Title: Legendary

Author: Stephanie Garber

Series: Caraval #2

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, High Fantasy, Romance

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Publication date: May 29th, 2018

Pages: 451

My rating: 

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A heart to protect. A debt to repay. A game to win.

After being swept up in the magical world of Caraval, Donatella Dragna has finally escaped her father and saved her sister Scarlett from a disastrous arranged marriage. The girls should be celebrating, but Tella isn’t yet free. She made a desperate bargain with a mysterious criminal, and what Tella owes him no one has ever been able to deliver: Caraval Master Legend’s true name.

The only chance of uncovering Legend’s identity is to win Caraval, so Tella throws herself into the legendary competition once more—and into the path of the murderous heir to the throne, a doomed love story, and a web of secrets…including her sister’s. Caraval has always demanded bravery, cunning, and sacrifice. But now the game is asking for more. If Tella can’t fulfill her bargain and deliver Legend’s name, she’ll lose everything she cares about—maybe even her life. But if she wins, Legend and Caraval will be destroyed forever.

Welcome, welcome to Caraval…the games have only just begun.

“Be careful. Fortune-tellers aren’t like you and me. They see the world as it could be, and sometimes they try to bring about what they want, rather than what it should be.”

Holy guacamole, this book! I cannot believe how blown away I was by this installment, but I think this series has become a favorite of mine! Even though I really enjoyed Caraval back when I read it last year, I admit I wasn’t blown away by it, so I even though Legendary was part of my most anticipated list of this year, I went not expecting much from it, because I was afraid I would be disappointed.

Turns out, it was the complete opposite. I have a soft spot and a weakness when it comes to books or stories about fates, tarot cards and circuses, so this one was like candy to me. I couldn’t put it down, not I didn’t want to. In fact, I was considering re-reading it after I finished it, which says a lot to me.

And of course this book had its flaws. I admit the world building, even though it was a bit more complex than in Caraval and we knew a bit more of it in this installment, was still quite lacking, and there were things regarding the characters that weren’t the best. But I didn’t care. I was enjoying the story so much that I looked past that and I didn’t feel like I needed that information for me to continued loving the story, so I didn’t particularly care about those problems.

“This was why love was so dangerous. Love turned the world into a garden so beguiling it was easy to forget that rose petals were as ephemeral as feelings, eventually they would wilt and die, leaving nothing but thorns.”

I enjoyed this cast of characters so much more than I liked the ones in Caraval. I think the storyline of this installment was much more intricate and detailed, and there were more things that I was loving. Though I didn’t hate the main characters in Caraval, there was something about it that made me connect with Tella a bit more (despite her being a bit annoying at times and not making the greatest decisions, but what can we do!).

The romance was actually more right up my alley, and I liked how it was done. Though some things regarding her love interest were very predictable in my opinion, I still loved the journey they went through and the interactions between them.

The tarot cards thing was such a interesting and clever idea, and I adored the whimsical and eerie vibe they added to the story. I hope that they will still be a part of the plot in the last book, because I was loving everything related to them in this one.

The book was super addicting and entertaining, and I must say: Stephanie Garber does such an amazing job with magical descriptions and creating that whimsical vibe in her books. I think in this one was more present, but I still noticed that in Caraval, and that’s something that I adore.

Overall, I completely fell in love with the story and the characters, and it took me by surprised how blown away I was. I cannot wait to read the last installment and finally know how everything’s going to end, because in Legendary there were things that caught me off guard and I anticipate Finale will be just like that.

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