Okay, if this post is super short, please don’t hate me; I’ve had a backlog of book reviews and this is the third one I’m writing today at nine at night. I’m just the tiniest bit tired and this book definitely wasn’t my favorite of the last three I’ve read. However, I have some interesting observations about how this book made me feel to share with you guys.
Legendary is the second book in the Caraval trilogy and I’ve just ordered the third one, Finale, to finish this week or the next. That should be a precursor to my review and evidence of whether I enjoyed the series or not, but I also have more complex details to share. I actually didn’t fully enjoy this book until around 300 or so pages in. I had a similar experience with Caraval, as my enjoyment lagged in the middle and I was super turned around and confused with the complexity of the ending and all the lies. However, because I knew the rules of the game and how much to trust everything, Legendary turned out to surprise me with its sincerity.
I mostly didn’t enjoy the brunt of the book because I didn’t love the fact that it focused on Tella. From reading Caraval, I disliked Tella from the beginning and was always rooting for Scarlett over Tella. This feeling continued into Legendary, but I found it harder to dislike Tella because of the slow changes Stephanie Garber brought to their character. I hate it when authors do that; when they create a side character with obvious characteristics, flaws, descriptions, and ways of acting and then proceed to gaslight readers into thinking that character was never that way when they become the protagonist. It irks me to no end, and Stephanie Garber employed it in Legendary by slowly making Tella seem like less of a brat and less stupid than she actually was in Caraval. I might be okay with that change (especially if Tella’s now the main character I have to deal with) if Stephanie didn’t also change Scarlett into a complete ditz. I was fully angry by the end of the book when Scarlett got back so easily with Julian (snake, I hate him now).
Other than that, I liked the foreshadowing and game played throughout, similar to Caraval, and I always enjoyed never knowing what was coming next. I am officially a Jacks stan to my dying breath (although don’t quote me on that because look what happened to Julian) and I’m thinking of starting his series. I’ve heard it’s pretty good. Thoughts? Comments or concerns?
Genre: Y/A, fantasy, fiction
Age: 11/12+
Rating: 6/10