Legendary, by Stephanie Garber (BOOK REVIEW)

 

“Legends were supposed to be better than the truth.”

Summary─୨ৎ────────୨ৎ────────୨ৎ

Donatella and Scarlett Dragna escaped their cruel father and made it out of Caraval alive, but the games aren’t over yet. What Scarlett doesn’t know is that, in order to gain their freedom, Tella made a deal with a mysterious stranger and now it’s time to pay.

Except what Tella owes is something that no one has ever been able to deliver: the true name of Caraval Master Legend. Tella’s only chance at uncovering Legend’s true identity is to enter the dangerous game of Caraval once more, and win. But what will she have to sacrifice to do that?

“Every good story needs a villain. But the best villains are the ones you secretly like.”

Review──୨ৎ────────୨ৎ────────୨ৎ

I'm not really sure where to start. This book gives me a lot of mixed feelings, so I will try to best explain them. But, bear with me, I will most likely be all over the place. 

Let's start with the plot. I liked how this one pretty smoothly picked up from where the first one (Caraval) ended. It was also cool to get Tella's perspective throughout this entire book. I was low-key a little surprised that any of the characters would want to go back to Caraval (don't worry, that's not a spoiler). It was one of those moments that I have a lot, during movies, where the main character decides it's a great idea to open the door to the scary, dark room, where there's obviously danger. I'm always like, "No! Don't go in there!"

Yeah. That's how I felt. It seemed so obvious, but because this book had to have a plot, I get why Garber would do that. 

One thing I did like how Garber continued to tie in some of the previous loose ends of Caraval, into the plot of this book. 

The romance in this book felt all over the place. I was genuinely confused at some points. Like, what are we doing, people?

With Tella it just felt too heated, especially since, in this book she is sixteen. Because of some of the scenes in this book, if I could go back, I probably would have waited to read this book. It seemed like a lot of the time, I would read with my eyes half closed, and once it was over, I would expect that to be it. If it was just one scene that was a little more heated, I don't think it would have bothered me, but because those scenes kept coming up, it got annoying. So yeah, this romance kind of felt like the same stuff in Caraval, but a lot more of it throughout, if that makes sense. Thankfully nothing actually "adult", but definitely borderline. 

I have a controversial opinion surrounding a character in this book: Jacks. I really, really don't get the hype around him. He's weird. I did not like him at all. So, there's that. 

The other characters in this book, were fine. I was really glad that I finally got to find out who Legend was. Gosh. Garber did a really good job of building up the readers curiosity and giving this man a mysterious reputation.

In the first book of this series, the overall vibes were dark, mysterious, which came across to me as very fun, interesting and cozy. I actually really liked the vibe that it brought. 

But with this book, it didn't really give me that same feeling. It felt even darker and more mysterious. I get that, considering it's the middle book to a trilogy and Garber had to deepen the plot and build up the hype, but it still wasn't my favorite. 

The plot seemed to get weirder and we progressed on. All the uses of blood and sacrifice, made sense to the plot, but it was very iffy. I am most definitely able to discern between good and evil, and fiction from reality, but I would really rather read about something that brings glory to God and focuses on what's good. 

The teenagers in this book were just meddling in some crazy stuff. Yes! It was all for the plot of the book. It's a story and authors can do anything they'd like with their book. Books are for exploring different adventures, worlds and characters. I just didn't completely like all of the stuff in this book, which is okay. 

Stephanie Garber's writing is either hit or miss. For me, it just hits every single time. She's so flowery and yet balances it with some really simple sentences. I love the way that she thoroughly explains each location that the characters are in. But I don't like the way that she writes kissing scenes. Like, ew. No. Not for me. Go away. (l0l).

Considering all of these factors, this book itself wasn't necessarily bad, just not completely something I liked and something I wish I read in a couple years. So because of that, I'm just going to wait awhile to read the next book.

Just because I didn't like all of this book, doesn't mean that it didn't have its qualities. For example the ending to this book was amazing. I got chills. Garber is a smart one. 

“Her heart was still a little heavy, but she'd decided carrying it around would only make her stronger.”

I give this book a 6 out of 10 and recommend it to ages 16/17+ (six sevennn ;D)

PRESS HERE to purchase this book.

Happy Reading!

-Ariana