Sam Reviews "Caraval" by Stephanie Garber

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I was recommended it based on my rating of The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and I feel like this was a great next book. I loved so much about this book, and once I got into the thick of it, it was hard for me to put it down. There was a YA feel and a few moments where the magic / fantasy aspect made some conflicts easier to overcome than they could have been, but it didn't take too much away from the story. I highly recommend this book for people who appreciate fantasy, magic, and mystery.

While skimming through the "About the Author" section, I noticed the phrase "[She] wanted to be an explorer until she realized most of the world had already been discovered".  I remember almost this exact sentence being in "Miss Peregrine's School for Peculiar Children" but I'm also positive it's been stated other places, too.  But, already, this book is feeling familiar (in a good and welcoming way).

I really appreciated the passive mentioning of the main character being able to "feel colors" so I went out of my pay to pull out those sentences, but I'm going to list them separately from the rest of the "quotes":

• Shimmery gold, the color of magic and wishes and promises
• Dull shades of gray disappointment
• Goldenrod desire
• Plum - the shade of dark bruises and power
• Rich cerise - the color of seduction and secrets
• Sage-shaded colors of suspicion
• Brilliant gold-blue sparks, the color of childhood dreams
• Panicked vermilion
• She felt as if she could taste the red of the curtains. Chocolate cake drenched in wine.
• Silver rush of excitement
• Icy-blue nervous hum
• Smoky-ginger prickle of discomfort
• Five different shades of berry-colored foolish
• Periwinkle curiosity
• A fearful rush of anise and lavender and something akin to rotted plums.
• Dreary yellow hopelessness
• Peach embarrassment
• Gray smoke...the color of things better left unsaid
• Light brown, the color of caramel and liquid amber lust
• Disappointment - it came in shades of forget-me-not blue, which wrapped around her like evening fog.
• Perilous shades of silky black
• Sour shades of yellow-green made her stomach roil with trepidation
• Gowns in every material and shade. The color if late-night laughter, early-morning sunshine, and waves crashing around ankles.
• Champagne and pale-orchid - the colors of infatuation
• Surge of panic.  It came in shades of hemlock green - the color of poison and terror.
• Scarlett's horror spiked, turning shades of quicksilver.
• Death was the color purple
• The color of dark fairy tales - black ice covered with tarnished gold script
• The gray of everyone's grief
• The sting of her rejection in shades of stormy blue, ghosting over her heart like sad mourning mist
• Flat black, the color of failure and funerals
• Emerald green premonition
• Threads of violet panic
• Ochre shades of uneasy
• The color gold felt hopeful and magical
• Shades of brilliant orange-red - the color of bravery
• He tasted like midnight and wind, and shades of rich brown and light blue.  Colors that made her feel safe and guarded
• Periwinkle - the color of sweet dreams and happy endings
• Bitter yellow puddle of dread in her stomach
• Hazel eyes met hers, as sad as fresh-cut wood
• Shades of rich ruby love
• Hues of deep indigo hurt

Part One:  The Isle of Trisda

Quite a passive bombshell writing "I know you didn't commit murder" in the opening pages of the book, if I wasn't intrigued already, I certainly am now.

Of course the smooth-talking guy is named Julien...

"When [Julian] had swaggered off his shop, tall and handsome, with golden-brown skin, he'd drawn almost every woman's eye.  Even Scarlett's head had turned briefly, but she'd known better than to look any longer."

"Scarlett's sister had always like beautiful things, like the young man waiting for her behind the barrels.  Often, if Scarlett lost one of her prettier possessions, she could find it tucked away in her younger sister's room."

"Thick lashes lined his light brown eyes, just made for convincing girls to lift their skirts and open their arms."

"A beautiful, ridiculous, fantasy."

"...the lie had already buried itself inside of Scarlett, as lies told to children often do.  It didn't matter how many other people confirmed the truth."

"It was the kind of night where she could smell the moon, thick candle wax dancing with the salty scent of the ocean, full and glowing."

"He moved with the practiced ease of someone Scarlett felt it would be unwise to trust."

"There's more to life than staying safe."

"But [the witch] also warned that wishes come with costs, and the more he performed, the more he would transform into whatever roles he played.  If he acted the part of villain, he'd become one in truth."

"She'd disappeared like a broken star, leaving the world untouched, save for the bits of missing light that no one would ever see again."

"Her father would never have let her wear something so eye-catching, and even though he wasn't there, attention was still not a thing she craved."

"Scarlett wondered if she'd found a way to escape her father's deadly games on Trisda, only to become a well-costumed piece on a new game board."

"Dreams that come true can be beautiful, but they can also turn into nightmares when people don't wake up."

Part Two:  The Night of Caraval Eve

"The sky was black, the moon visiting some other part of the world."

"Every window shimmered with buttery illumination, turning the flower boxes below into cradles full of stardust."

"...lying for him had been a mistake, and there were always consequences for that.  Her entire life was evidence of thus."

"Scarlett knew she shouldn't have been upset, they were nothing to each other, but she despised being deceived; she'd had enough of that to last a lifetime."

"Scarlett knew he was trying to manipulate her. She'd had enough experience to recognize the signs. Unfortunately, despite her lengthy history of being used by her father, or perhaps because of it, she was never good at evading it."

"Julien's smile turned seductive, all shameless curves and immoral promises.  An invitation to places that proper young ladies didn't think about, let alone visit.  Scarlett didn't want to imagine what sorts of things that smile had convinced other girls to do."

"She knew better than to assume any type of game came without a cost."

"Flashing her a look made of lies and other sinful things."

"Scarlett imagined this was the sort of place a person could be lost and never found."

"The sailor looked haunted, as if those moments outside had cost him something valuable.  She could feel the night still hovering around him.  The tips of his dark hair were damp with it."

"Smelled like the end of the night, swear and fading fire smoke mixed with lingering breath from words whose ghosts still haunted the air."

"He used people.  His use of her had been mutually beneficial, but he'd used her all the same.  She remembered her first impression of him, tall, roughly handsome, and dangerous, like poison dressed up in an attractive bottle."

"I didn't say we were in love - I only said we were engaged."

"A square teal door with a green glass handle that looked a bit like a gemstone. Gaudy and magnificent. Perfect for Tella."

"While Scarlett often feared men, Tella was the opposite, always chasing after the wrong ones, hoping one might give her the love their father withheld."

"He had the sort of profile meant for sculptors and painters. Full lips, strong jaw, coal-dark eyes sheltered by thick, dark brows."

"She studied him again in the lamplight, eyes falling on the black rose inked on the backside of his hand, elegant and lovely and a little bit sorrowful.  Scarlett didn't know why, but she felt as if that tattoo somehow defined him. The elegant and lovely part might have scared her away - she had learned that this too often disguised other things - but the sad part drew her in."

"He continued to smile at Scarlett, the way Scarlett always hoped a boy would, as if he wasn't just attracted to her, but he wanted to protect and take care of her."

"A gaze full of wayward intent."

Part Three:  Night One of Caraval

"Even years later, Paloma's disappearance clung to Scarlett like a shadow that no amount of brightness could erase."

"...reminded of all the greedy eyes and hands grabbing at Tella's possessions, as if they were segments of a puzzle rather than pieces of a person."

"I know he's a count, which means he's a noble, and no one holds a position like that and manages to stay honest."

"Scarlett was not fond of fate.  She liked to believe that if she were good, good things would happen.  Fate left her feeling powerless and hopeless, and with an overwhelming feeling of lessness.  To her, fate seemed ... [to be] stealing her choices and controlling her life without any regard for her feelings.  Fate meant nothing she did mattered."

"Every person has the power to change their fate if they are brave enough to for what they desire more than anything."

"...her need for pleasure to help her forget the wounds she liked to ignore."

"No one is truly honest, even if we don't lie to others, we often lie to ourselves."

"Tincture of Forgetting and Extract of Lost Tomorrows."

"Someone screamed.  As hot and bright as fire."

"She wanted to trust him, but a lifetime of mistrust made it impossible."

Part Four: Night Two of Caraval

"Maybe distrust should not always be her first response."

"[She was] as pretty as a watercolor"

"This girl was that hot sunny day in the middle of the Cold Season, either unaware or uncaring that she did not belong."

"The young man held his young bride's hand with the care of a man not used to holding such an important thing."

"Some things are worth pursuit regardless of the cost."

"Something acidic and moldy and burnt bubbled up through Scarlett's throat - the taste of death."

"Her words came out garbled, as if she'd bitten them into pieces before spitting them out."

"She imagined loving him would feel like falling in love with darkness, frightening and consuming yet utterly beautiful when the stars came out."

Brownish green, the color of forgotten memories, abandoned dreams, and bitter gossip.

"A street lined with hanging lanterns, smelling of flowers and flutes and long lost love."

Part Five:  Day Four of Caraval

"The world tasted like lies and ashes when Scarlett woke."

"Scarlett had learned to temper her feelings, yet Tella was driven by her volatile emotions and desires."

"The [room] still smelled like Tella - sharp molasses and wild dreams."

"Had she begun to believe him because she desperately wanted to, or because Julien really was telling the truth?"

"His hands were clenched, holding his secrets the way Scarlett so often clutched her fear, as if letting go would unravel him."

"For a fragile moment, as thin and long as a stretched-out spider web, there was only the waves in the distance."

"His steady gaze...reached out to the broken parts of her like a caress.  The type of touch that moves through damaged skin, past fractures bones and into a person's wounded soul. ... It was as if all her shame, her guilt, the awful secret memories she tried to bury, were laid out for him to see."

"Evil laughter, a sour sound of nightmares and other foul things."

"It never seemed to scare her that some of the things she lusted for might consume her like a flame."

"There was something seductive about winning the heart of someone who vowed  to never love again."

"Decent people like you always believe other people can be virtuous."

Part Six: Night Four of Caraval

"Her skirt and blouse were silver this time, with eyes and lips painted to match.  Like a teardrop the moon had cried."

"The type of young man someone invited to a party just because he had a way of looking beautiful and intriguing at once."

"Lips designed for dark whispers and straight white teeth perfect for biting into things."

"His green eye stayed on hers.  Vibrant and elegant and poisonous."

"He was more like a starry night: the constellations were always there, constant, magnificent guides against the ever-present black."

"Colors as soft as velvet and as sharp as sparks that turned into stars."

"The count's well-groomed expression had shifted to something cloudy and uncertain."

"Every darkening shade on his visage. Frustration. Embarrassment.  Wounded pride."

"Sinking into a feeling of security she'd never known before."

"Scarlett felt as if she'd stepped into a faded memory. As if the magical town had been abandoned long ago, and she was coming back to find nothing quite as she recalled."

"A hole made of black sky robbed of stars."

"He was made of dashing elegance, laced with intrigue and illusion, set off by a twinkle in his dark eyes."

"Julien's smile turned vicious, the kind made for breaking hearts"

"His brown eyes full of all sorts of unspoken promises."

Part Seven: Night Five the Last Night of Caraval

"Pink lips parting into a smile made of hopes and dreams and other treacherous things."

"Most of what she felt was agony, but she also didn't feel afraid of anything."

Part Eight:  The Day After Caraval

"Scarlett wanted to melt into the night, wink out of existence like a broken star."