The dashing and dangerous tale Caraval by Stephanie Garber told through the lenses of Scarlett Dragna has sparked life in the minds of its readers. In a world devoid of excitement, there is a private island full of extravagant magic controlled by one mysterious man who goes by the name Legend. Two sisters, Scarlett and Donatella, lived a dull, unfulfilling life alone with their father before being wrapped up in the magical game. The story opens with Scarlett planning on getting married so that she and her sister can leave their father and with a turn of events, she, Donatella, and a stranger are on their way to the island holding the carnival‐like game. Through this game, Scarlett and Donatella are able to escape conflicts going on in their lives.  

Caraval first got popular on social media with the young adult genre readers and instantly got people hooked. However, this book is not a standalone story and has been followed by two more, creating the Caraval trilogy. As an avid reader, Evelyn Fleming was excited to get into the series. “I first saw it on Tiktok and instantly loved the circus theme. When I got into the first book, I fell in love with it all, the whole series quickly became one of my favorite book series,” Fleming said. 

Accompanied by a beautiful cover, the writing and storyline are equally intriguing and created an intricate sequence of events that had readers addicted. The pace of the plot and character development were some of the audience’s favorite elements. After getting into reading in middle school, sophomore Gracie Botten has explored new genres and found herself enraptured by the trilogy, as well as Stephanie Garbers second series called Once Upon a Broken Heart. “It kept me interested and kept the whole book exciting without making it overwhelming or boring. The plot is very elaborate yet it’s understandable which is awesome because it makes the story interesting and leaves the reader shocked when the plot twist happens,” Botten said. 

Find out how the thrilling story ends by reading Legendary and Finale.