Rating
In order to help escape from her father and get Scarlett into Caraval, Donatella made a deal with her “friend”. Her task, to find Legend’s true identity. To do this, she must throw herself back into the world of Caraval, this time as a participant. If Tella can’t deliver, she will lose everything. If she can, Caraval may be destroyed.
This book was better than the first. Legendary vastly expands the world outside of Caraval, which helped me become immersed and invested in the book. This book follows Scarlett’s sister, Donatella. I find Donatella to be a much more interesting character than her sister, however I disagree with most of the actions she makes, which made it difficult to read. I feel like there is more plot to this book besides there being one goal and it being the only thing that really occurs; there are multiple facets to the plot that add depth to the story.
“Legends were supposed to be better than the truth.”
— Stephanie Garber
However, one of the weakest points of this book is it doesn’t feel as connected to the first book. It feels like the events of the first book were almost isolated, and the stories don’t flow into each other well. Scarlett is almost sidelined in this book and we don’t get to see much of anything that happens with her. I think that it’s most enjoyable to read if you don’t think too hard, and just follow where the story takes you.
*Spoiler Warning*
One thing that I think the book did well was anticipation. The entire book, I was reading mostly for the purpose of finding out who Legend was. While Donatella having two love interests wasn’t my favorite thing, I very much enjoyed Jacks as a character. I found Dante and Tella’s love to be boring and dry.
As for Jacks, I think that Tella being his one true love is interesting, and could be a good plot driver for the third book. Jack’s story is interesting and makes me more interested in the fates that are trapped in Tella’s mothers deck of cards, adding in the story with Tella’s mother made me more interested and invested in the story. Instead of simply being about paying back a debt, Legendary becomes a story that is more interesting with the addition of the fates and Jacks.
