Book Review: Legendary by Stephanie Garber

Thanksgiving week is always a favorite of mine. My hubby and I are hosting dinner on Thursday for the family, and it’s a real blessing to be able to provide a nice meal and family time for everyone. I look forward to the family gathering on Thursday, and I also look forward to Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, a glorious long weekend with nothing to do but – you guessed it – read! (and eat leftovers of course!)

But before I get cooking, I have a new review to share. Today I’ll be reviewing Legendary, the sequel to Caraval, which propelled me into an unputdownable magical adventure, just what I needed!

I reviewed Caraval by Stephanie Garber in my last post. After I finished reading it, I went out and bought the sequel, Legendary, because I just had to know how the story would continue to unfold. If you missed my review of Caraval, you can go back and read it here to get some background information about the story.

Although Caravel didn’t end on what I’d call a cliffhanger, it definitely left a series of unanswered questions. Legendary revisits the game of Caraval, only this time the focus is on Tella trying to solve the clues and win the game. Caraval gave us a close look at Scarlett, and now Legendary gives us a closer look at her sister, Tella.

Although I enjoyed both books, I’d have to say that Caraval is definitely the stronger of the two novels. Legendary felt a bit wordy and redundant at times. There were periods of telling with no showing that dragged a bit. Instead of moving the story forward and showing us more interesting and magical parts of Caraval, Garber dedicates a significant amount of time to telling us about Tella’s inner feelings such as Tella felt confused, Tella felt angry, Tella had feelings about another character, etc… Those parts dragged a bit for me.

While the ending of Legendary leaves us with another set of unanswered questions which set up the upcoming third book in the series, it is a satisfactory ending nonetheless. Legend’s identity is finally revealed as are some details about the girls’ mother and how and why she disappeared. It’s difficult to dive too deeply into this book in a review without giving away spoilers. Fans of the first novel will surely want to give the second one a read and most likely the third. The world of Caraval is simply addictive that way, wrapping the reader up in a cocoon of magic and mystery with the promise of emerging changed.

I’ve been on a bit of a reading roll lately, and I can’t wait to hopefully keep the streak going. I wish everyone celebrating this week a very Happy Thanksgiving, and I hope you all enjoy time with loved ones. I also hope you get some quiet time to relax and read.