Finale: Caraval Series Book 3

I like the product. It came to me good as i expected.

A couple of years ago I read an ARC of a book called Caraval, it was about a magical game that entranced its players and captivated the audience. It reminded me of Alice in Wonderland, because anything was possible and the magic was both beautiful and terrifying. At the time though, I needed to read something that would allow me to escape and be in a world totally different to my own, it just so happened that nearly three years later, I needed the same thing.Finale was the conclusion this series needed, it was gripping, tense and magical, everything you expect from the writings on Stephanie Garber. I liked the split narrative between Tella and Scarlett, two very different sisters on very different paths. We’re rooting for both characters, but personally, my favourite has always been Scarlett. I love them both, but I feel like I bonded with Scarlett in Caraval and Stephanie Garber has written her characters to feel like friends.We see all new types of magic and fates in this book, be ready for even more nonsense as the realms of reality are twisted and bent. That is what I love about this series, anything can happen. The magic is so beautiful and endless, that you are taken away into a land of possibilities and that is what allows the reader to lose themselves in the story.This third and final book continues on from where we left off in Legendary, I don’t want to overtly spoil that book, but we are met with romantic decisions, family conflicts and the threat of the fates! I loved reading about the dates, I think Garber did an excellent job of bringing this magic to life, with each fate having a different ability. Personally, I enjoyed reading about Poison… it doesn’t take much to guess what he could do.Finale was the conclusion I needed from this series. It had me glued to the pages of the book, willing for my favourite characters to be okay and cheering when certain events happened. Stephanie Garber knows how to spin the web of fantasy and I adored this series, it will always hold a special place in my heart for its creativity, the possibilities it holds and the world it creates in my head.

While I've never been a huge fan of this series, I was still disappointed to find that this was the weakest instalment of the three. The novel had more in common with Legendary than Caraval, yet I still felt the loss of the magical settling more this time around. There is no Caraval this time around - little sense of magic or whimsy. Magic this time is mundane and practical - used to hurt or even torture and not carrying the beauty of the first instalment.The pacing of the novel this time also felt a little off. While a majority of the story was just build up to an admittedly exciting climax, it still felt as though everything was just being too rushed. Tella's investigations frequently got derailed. Although she learned early on where she could discover the Fallen Star's secret, it took her an incredibly long time to actually make an attempt at finding this. Instead, her story was too bogged down with her love triangle with Legend and Jacks - something that feels a little pointless at this stage as the reader is never in any doubt who she will wind up with.Similarly, Scarlett's mission often feels as though it is rushed, shoehorned into the plot between Tella's chapters. We don't really see much of her time as the Fallen Star's prisoner, even though she remains near him for almost more of the story. Almost all of this occurs off-page and so we don't really see much of her learning about the depths of her power or interacting with him at all.The most interesting thing about the story is that we do get to learn more about the Fates. As there is little exposition in the story, most of what we learn is revealed in snippets which give a glimpse of the larger picture, reminding much of how the Tales of the Hinterlands are sparingly used in Melissa Albert's 'The Hazel Wood'. While this doesn't cut as deeply as I would like (we don't even get to see all of the Fates in person), it was intriguing to learn more about them and I did appreciate some of the creativity of their design, such as the Maiden Death's cage of pearls.Yet the rushed plot lead to an unsatisfactory ending, in which everything fell into place far too easily and the villain basically defeated himself. At this stage, the conveniently happy ending for all characters felt unsatisfying. Given the bittersweet nature of the stories to date - and the emphasis that there would not be a happy ending - it felt almost unnatural that every major character wound up with exactly who they wanted.The love triangles also really impacted my enjoyment of the story. I toyed between whether to give this book 1 or 2 stars but these are really what dragged the score down for me. I love Scarlett and Tella. They are strong characters that still retain their femininity in different ways and use it to their advantage. Scarlett is quiet, thoughtful and emphatic while Tella is fiery, strong-willed and passionate. Both learn from each other's strengths and grow as the story progresses.However, the overt focus on love triangles - or love in general - really overshadows their personal growth. Both characters are engaged in fierce love triangles which largely are not based around love. Indeed, Tella is aware that neither of her suitors actually can love her, yet still has trouble "choosing between them" as the story progresses, forgiving Jacks again and again even when he almost kills her. Tella's romantic subplot completely overshadows Scarlett's story, especially towards the climax when too much focus is put on Tella's "sacrifice" over Scarlett's arguably more important role. Indeed, Tella only actually does one important thing in the story. Scarlett risks her life (mostly off page) over and over.So, that about covers everything. While Caraval is a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine, the series has unfortunately gone downhill since there. Ultimately, I like the idea of this series a lot more than I do the execution.

BE WARNED SPOILERS AHEAD!This may be an unpopular opinion so read only if it won’t put you off the series. Make up your own mind for this is only my opinion.Ok, here it goes. So, I didn’t enjoy Finale as much as the first two books. Maybe it was because the end was fairly easy to see coming so I wasn’t on the edge of my seat. Maybe it was the hype over the book that meant I was let down. Maybe there wasn’t enough Scarlett and Julian. Maybe because there was no Caraval? I can’t put my finger on it exactly but there was just something that wasn’t there for me.I have seen other people raving about the last instalment and feel like I have missed something? What is it? Can you tell me? Because I feel like I’m the only one.I agree the cover is pretty and reminds me of a firework – but only a reminder of the fantastical read I was expecting but did not get.Don’t get me wrong there were parts I appreciated: I adore Scarlett and Julian and how their story ended so there is that (wish we had seen the wedding! As a whole the end was just super rushed which annoyed me) I also love Jacks! I know, I know, he is a bit of a ‘trickster’ but his character is written perfectly … wicked and deviant. I just wanted more. More of his story. More of his power. And more of him being a Fate. Actually, I craved more Fate stories as these moments were my favourite. As Stephanie Garber writes ‘Every good story needs a villain. But the best villains are the ones you secretly like’ and that is Jacks for me. I absolutely admire the way Stephanie Garber uses words to describe moments and feelings especially where Scarlett is ‘seeing emotion’. It’s just so powerful and allowed me to conjure up vivid images in my mind. Who doesn’t love that in a book?And then that’s really where the enjoyment ends for me. After all the waiting I just hoped for more. I am finding it difficult to write this review as I don’t want to be negative but it was just ‘meh’. What is so annoying is that Caraval is one of my favourite books and I feel let down by the ending to that story.Then there were the grievances: There were too many love triangles – Tella, Jacks and Legendary – we all know who she was going to pick so why keep it up the WHOLE book! Then we have Scarlett, Julian and the Count D’arcy – like seriously what was the point in that arc. Then we have Paradise/Paloma, the Fallen Star and Marcello Dragna – not really a ‘love’ triangle but still. I found it odd that Paradise/Paloma was bought into the story just to die and feel it was only done to introduce the idea of Scarlett being the daughter of a Fate – where did that come from as well? A less Finale specific point but still relevant – I don’t know what it is with YA books but there always seems to be some type of ‘abusive’ relationship, whether emotional or physical. And boy was Tella a victim of emotional abuse in Finale. Firstly, although I love Jacks as a character, he is awful to Tella. I mean forced/unknown marriage, steals her emotions and threatens to kill her for power, just a few examples. Legend, well he treats her like trash the whole time then BAM he changes his mind at the very end. I just kept yelling at Tella whilst reading shouting ‘NO, DON’T DO IT’. As such a strong character I just don’t believe she would take that kind of behaviour from a man and as a book for young readers feel like this type of relationship shouldn’t be romanticised. And on a Tella note, I don’t know why but I cannot get on with Tella. She just annoys me. And that is that.Thinking about it, maybe it’s because I’m an adult reading a story based at a much younger audience. *cough**adult who likes reading YA**cough*And Finale, (see what I did there), it is a shame as I loved Caraval so much and still remember reading it for the first time. It led me on a path of circus themed books and magical entities and I just hate that I didn’t love it

Absolutely AMAZING! I raced through this book and couldn't stop - I had no idea what would happen between all of the main characters and the tension I felt as I was reading Finale was palpable, but I now just feel sheer relief following that true ending.Caraval is a series that has just got better as it's gone on I think, though I would wager perhaps Legendary was my favourite overall. The one thing I hated about Finale was the amount of indecision! God I loved and hated Legend as I was reading it but I wanted to shout at him to just GET A GRIP - he is an infuriating character yet so intriguing and probably one of my favourite characters ever.Jacks was a brilliant character and his interaction with Tella in this book was just as captivating as it was in Legendary - he could definitely get his own series. I really liked how even though the sisters were split up a lot in this book as in the previous two, they still care so much for each other, and the emphasis on love being the reason behind everything was beautiful. It was wonderful to get a true ending for the both of them and that last page was just so darn CUTE! Exactly what I wanted from this series and I feel such happiness for the two sisters and brothers. Gorgeously uplifting.

This was a beautiful ending to the trilogy however my disappointment was with the ending mostly. I felt it was rushed. The first 2 books focus on the love stories between Scarlett and Julian and Donatella and Legend but the ending was so short, I felt there could have been more detail about what happens once the villain has been defeated and life is back to normal. There is a part in the story where Donatella has to find out something in the future from her daughter but this is never mentioned again. There was no point to this so not sure why the author would have written about it in the first place unless there is going to be book no 4?It felt like the author gave up towards the end and rushed to finish it so I was disappointed.