Legendary by Stephanie Garber (Review #208)

 WARNING: SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU HAVE NOT GOTTEN THIS FAR IN THE CARAVAL TRILOGY, STOP NOW. DO NOT READ. THIS IS BOOK 2. CHECK OUT CARAVAL FOR THE REVIEW OF BOOK 1!

"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."

Review:

To be quite frank, I was very hesitant to start this. The first book was not as amazing as I thought it was going to be and I had a few issues with it. And more importantly, I wasn’t willing to continue this tale I hadn’t liked to begin with, only to change POVs in this one. But, against the wishes of that nagging voice, I pressed on. 

And thank goodness I did. Tella was not who I thought she was going to be. Scarlett saw her sister as this wild and carefree thing, and while that is true, it is her fearlessness that makes her who she is. She made for a much more enticing MC than her sister that’s for sure. And Dante???? He was one of my favorite characters in the last book and this one was no exception, I had heart eyes every time he made an appearance. We also have a new character, Jacks. I will say the spelling made me cringe. He’s one person why is his name plural??? It’s either Jack or Jax. He was so unexpected in complexity and I thoroughly enjoyed him as well. 

I also appreciated a more in depth look at the magic of this world. I said in the last book that the how of the magic was convoluted at best, so this book not only tackled that problem, but made it the central plot of the story. This sequel is also completely different from its predecessor, with tangibility. In the first book, nothing was real; in this one, everything is real. That was such a relief for me.

This book was definitely better than the first, there’s no denying it, but there were still some continued issues I had as I was reading that I do feel I need to follow up on. The game continues to be a mess to me. I don’t understand why the man who puts these games together just ends up rigging the results? I get that it’s a celebration and a chance for normal people to go on an adventure, but I wish that Tella had some real player adversaries. The stakes are just never high for us readers because we know who’s going to win, no one else we spend time with are even CONTENDERS! And it absolutely astounded me that one of the performers actually said to Tella that the clues aren’t really all that important. 

This installment was a bit more predictable than the last one; after the switcharoo in the last book, I think it was really easy to figure out who Legend was. And also, our main character, just like the last, is spoon-fed the answers to all the clues, go figure.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with this addition and I am glad I got out of my own way and read this! I’m cautiously optimistic on what the Finale has in store. 

As always, let me know your own thoughts and feels down below in the comments!