Book two of the Caraval series was a wild ride of magic, mystery and love.
Originally I didn’t intend to read the Caraval books back to back. That was until I fell head over heels in love with book one and realised I had to do the entire trilogy. Caraval completely captivated me and I highly suggest checking my review out for that book first. As soon as I had finished with it, I moved straight on to Legendary hoping that it would be just as good.
I had a lot of thoughts while reading this and even though I had so much fun with it, I wasn’t sure what my rating for it would be until right at the very end when it all came together then I just knew it was going to be another perfect five-star rating.
What is Legendary About?
Legendary picks up right where Caraval left off only this time we’re getting this from Dontella’s point of view.
Caraval is over and Donatella Dragna has got everything she wanted. Or so it appears. She’s free from her controlling father and she’s stopped her sister entering into an arranged marriage. But Tella made a deal with a mysterious criminal, a deal that has allowed all of her dreams to true and now he wants his payment. But Tella owes him something that no one has ever been able to give him: Legend’s true name.
To fulfil her end of the bargain Tella has no choice but to play Caraval and win then she can finally be free. Feeling confident after having watched her sister play, Tella assumes she has the upper hand. But playing Caraval is never simple and Tella must determine what is real and what is just a game. She finds herself rubbing shoulders with the murderous heir to the throne, entering into a love story that can only end in heartbreak and trying to unravel the secrets her sister is keeping from her.
Through Caraval, Tella discovers more about the magic that inhabits her world and how not all of it is good, secrets about her family and she unlocks something she didn’t think was possible. Love. But in a world of mystery and intrigue can love exist and can Tella save everything and everyone she cares about?
This time Caraval is more than just a game. If she doesn’t win and doesn’t uphold her end of the bargain then she’ll lose everything including her life. However, if she wins Caraval and Legend will be destroyed forever.
Book Review for Legendary
I loved that the story picked up straight from where Caraval left off and it made me glad that I had decided to read the trilogy back to back rather than taking a break like I originally planned. It was much better to go into this book with the memories of Caraval still fresh in my mind.
Where Caraval was all told from Scarlett’s point of view, Legendary is all from Donatella’s side. I wasn’t sure how I felt about this at first as I absolutely adored Scarlett in the first book whereas Tella felt a little childish and reckless at times. I will say that Tella did bring more grit and feistiness to the world of Caraval however I did find that even in Legendary she still had quite a childish perspective of some things which made her foolish. As the book went on though, I did find myself warming to her more.
The theme of trying to work out who Legend is continued throughout Legendary but thankfully it was revealed near the end who he is. By that point, I was pretty sure I knew who it was and my guess was right so I’m glad that storyline wasn’t dragged out into the third book. It was fun to keep guessing but the reveal didn’t need to continue any longer, it came at the right time for me.
Personally, I felt like you could tell Stephanie Garber’s writing had matured here. Caraval is beautifully written and I found myself picking out some beautiful quotes from the first book. However, it really gets turned up a notch in Legendary and you can tell there’s an improvement. Some of the imagery is just stunning and there’s a lot more world-building in this book too which was an aspect I liked. The capital city—Valenda had a magical feel to it that we previously hadn’t seen outside of the game of Caraval so this definitely added more depth to the book.
I cannot write a review for Legendary without mentioning my absolute favourite part of the book which is the introduction of Jacks. I liked the Prince of Hearts far more than I should and found myself someone rooting for the villain. He definitely gave off those misunderstood guy vibes! His character was just so intriguing and his dynamic with Tella was brilliant. It was nice to read in the notes at the end that Jacks was one of Stephanie’s favourite characters to write and I’m excited to see more of him in Finale!
The ending to Legendary stopped me in my tracks and cemented my thoughts on how I would ultimately rate this book. The ending contains the one and only use of the word “legendary” throughout the book and I won’t spoil it for anyone but it was such a bad-ass ending!
Ultimately, I absolutely loved Legendary. I just couldn’t put it down. It was the perfect middle book in the series building up the world more, introducing more of the magic system and packing in all those twists and turns that I loved in Caraval.
I can’t wait to see how this trilogy concludes with Finale but I also kind of don’t ever want to leave the world of Caraval!
Don’t forget to check out my other Caraval trilogy reviews:
Caraval Book Review
and
Finale Book Review
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