---
product_id: 62659425
title: "Caraval"
price: "$16.82"
currency: USD
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 8
url: https://www.desertcart.us/products/62659425-caraval
store_origin: US
region: United States of America
---

# Caraval

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## Description

desertcart.com: Caraval: 9781250095268: Garber, Stephanie: Books

Review: A gorgeously written book! - I waited MONTHS for Caraval to come out, and I was not disappointed! I loved it! Caraval is a game where the audience plays too. Ever since she was young, Scarlett wanted to see Caraval in person with her sister Tella. When the opportunity presents itself to flee from their abusive father, Scarlett and Tella make their way to the island that hosts Caraval, but end up separated. Scarlett’s main goal is to find her sister and get back home in time for her arranged marriage, which she hops will give her a better life away from her father. Caraval rides the line between magic and reality and Scarlett is told again and again that Caraval is just a game, and warned not to get too swept away. That seems feasible…until Tells is kidnapped as part of the game. In order to win, she must find Tella with the help of handsome Julian, the sailor who brought her to the island in the first place. Who can she trust? What’s real and what’s not? Scarlett will soon find out… “Glittering mist swirled around vibrant green mountains – all covered in trees – that rose toward the sky as if they were massive emeralds.” Caraval was such a magical read. It was compared a lot to The Night Circus, which is one of my favorite books, so obviously I knew I needed to read it! I loved Caraval so much that it also made it’s way into my favorite list! It was really beautifully written, and I loved the characters. Scarlett can be naive, but has good intentions and a heart of gold. All she wants to do is protect her sister and create a better life for the two of them. I really loved Julian, and I loved him and Scarlett starting to develop feelings for each other. It was a slow simmering romance, as Scarlett is engaged to someone else (although she’s never met him) and she doesn’t necessarily trust Julian. The way they bantered and worked together was adorable! I just loved it! I still can’t believe that Caraval is more than 400 pages, because I flew though it! The pacing was perfect. Nothing felt slow, and everything I read compelled me to keep reading! If I hadn’t had to work in the morning, I would have finished it in one sitting. It was that good! Finishing the book felt like stepping out of a really pleasant dream, and I was torn between wanting to hug the book (I was emotional, OKAY?!) and start it over again and re-read the entire thing. I really felt swept away by the story and I loved that. I felt like I was at Caraval, and I pictured everything so clearly. Ms. Garber certainly has a way with words! I loved her fantastical imagery, and I really liked that Scarlett associated emotions with colors. I’ve heard that the book has already had rights picked up to be made into a movie, which is amazing. I think Caraval will be so beautiful on the big screen, and I can’t wait to see how that plays out! Overall, I really just can’t rave about the book enough! There was nothing I didn’t like. Every sentence, every twist and turn, every piece of magic was perfect to me, and I really can’t recommend Caraval enough. If you’re a fan of The Night Circus like I am, definitely pick this one up! If you’re looking for an escape from reality – a story you can get completely lost in, this is the book for you! I cannot wait for book two!
Review: A teenage fantasy with beautiful imagery - Overall rating: 3.5/5 Spice: 0/5 Narrator: 4/5 Cliffhanger: 1/5 First off, I want to make it clear I’m an adult woman with teenagers of her own reviewing this book when the intended audience is clearly teenage girls. Once I wrapped my head around that, I enjoyed this series much more. But intended audience or not, good writing is good writing and I do think Stephanie Garder is a talented writer. Almost 17 year-old Scarlett, has spent seven years writing to Legend, the grandmaster of the magical Caraval, asking him to bring his game/performance to her home island. It isn’t until she tells him she is engaged (to a man she’s never met) that Legend sends her, her younger sister, Tella, and her fiancé tickets to Caraval. When she realizes the date is four days before her wedding (which is her and her sister’s only way to escape their abusive father) she decides she can’t go. Wild Tella then teams up with a handsome young sailor to get Scarlett to Caraval. Imagine a magical escape room that lasts five days and takes place in Venice during Carnival circa 1900 and you’ll have an idea of what Caraval is. The imagery is absolutely beautiful in this book. You absolutely feel pulled into these amazing settings. One of the best parts is a sentient dress that changes shapes based on Scarlett’s emotions and its own whims. Scarlett is a great character, completely lovable with great character development and a good role-model for the girls this book is intended for. The romance progresses quickly, but feels very true to a 16 year-old getting carried away. And the subsequent books do address the fact that they don’t know each other very well and work through their issues. My biggest issue with this book was the plot. It’s all about a mystery, which isn’t my favorite, but I was enjoying it until the last 20% or so when things started to be revealed. I thought it was going one way and it went a very different way and that way was far less interesting than the way I thought it was going to go. I was left feeling disappointed. I felt like all the really interesting clues we were given fizzled out or turned out to be red-herrings. Beyond the game and Legend having magic, there isn’t any world building or explanation of the magic system. This does change in the next two books and I enjoyed them far more. Cautions: If you are an adult reading this for yourself, just remember who this is for. For me, I would have preferred these characters be 18 and 19 instead of 15 and 16, but 18 and 19 is wildly old for a 13-year-old and this was written for them and not me. I had to remind myself of the unsupervised adventures and Percy Jackson and Harry Potter and that helped. If you are buying this for your child (or someone else’s), you should be aware that the girls do drink wine in this and there is talk of Tella (the 15 year-old) kissing many boys. Honestly, when I first listened to it, I thought she was sexually active, but that was just my jaded brain. It’s made clear in this and the subsequent books that all she does is kiss. This is definitely appropriate for high school girls, but if you are going to give it to a middle school girl, know your kid, you may need to have a conversation about some of the things Tella does (she is the main character in the next two books). I would absolutely recommend this book for girls 13-16 and down to 11-12 if they are mature. For the rest of us looking for Romantasy, I would still recommend it, but only because you need to read this before her other books and they get better with each book.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #1,444 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #1 in Teen & Young Adult Performing Arts Fiction #2 in Teen & Young Adult Siblings Fiction #3 in Teen & Young Adult Paranormal Romance |
| Book 1 of 4  | Caraval |
| Customer Reviews | 4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars (30,933) |
| Dimensions  | 5.4 x 1.15 x 8.25 inches |
| Edition  | Reprint |
| Grade level  | 7 - 9 |
| ISBN-10  | 1250095263 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-1250095268 |
| Item Weight  | 2.31 pounds |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 448 pages |
| Publication date  | May 1, 2018 |
| Publisher  | Flatiron Books |
| Reading age  | 13 - 18 years |

## Images

![Caraval - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81yApSxM51L.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A gorgeously written book!
*by F***S on April 5, 2017*

I waited MONTHS for Caraval to come out, and I was not disappointed! I loved it! Caraval is a game where the audience plays too. Ever since she was young, Scarlett wanted to see Caraval in person with her sister Tella. When the opportunity presents itself to flee from their abusive father, Scarlett and Tella make their way to the island that hosts Caraval, but end up separated. Scarlett’s main goal is to find her sister and get back home in time for her arranged marriage, which she hops will give her a better life away from her father. Caraval rides the line between magic and reality and Scarlett is told again and again that Caraval is just a game, and warned not to get too swept away. That seems feasible…until Tells is kidnapped as part of the game. In order to win, she must find Tella with the help of handsome Julian, the sailor who brought her to the island in the first place. Who can she trust? What’s real and what’s not? Scarlett will soon find out… “Glittering mist swirled around vibrant green mountains – all covered in trees – that rose toward the sky as if they were massive emeralds.” Caraval was such a magical read. It was compared a lot to The Night Circus, which is one of my favorite books, so obviously I knew I needed to read it! I loved Caraval so much that it also made it’s way into my favorite list! It was really beautifully written, and I loved the characters. Scarlett can be naive, but has good intentions and a heart of gold. All she wants to do is protect her sister and create a better life for the two of them. I really loved Julian, and I loved him and Scarlett starting to develop feelings for each other. It was a slow simmering romance, as Scarlett is engaged to someone else (although she’s never met him) and she doesn’t necessarily trust Julian. The way they bantered and worked together was adorable! I just loved it! I still can’t believe that Caraval is more than 400 pages, because I flew though it! The pacing was perfect. Nothing felt slow, and everything I read compelled me to keep reading! If I hadn’t had to work in the morning, I would have finished it in one sitting. It was that good! Finishing the book felt like stepping out of a really pleasant dream, and I was torn between wanting to hug the book (I was emotional, OKAY?!) and start it over again and re-read the entire thing. I really felt swept away by the story and I loved that. I felt like I was at Caraval, and I pictured everything so clearly. Ms. Garber certainly has a way with words! I loved her fantastical imagery, and I really liked that Scarlett associated emotions with colors. I’ve heard that the book has already had rights picked up to be made into a movie, which is amazing. I think Caraval will be so beautiful on the big screen, and I can’t wait to see how that plays out! Overall, I really just can’t rave about the book enough! There was nothing I didn’t like. Every sentence, every twist and turn, every piece of magic was perfect to me, and I really can’t recommend Caraval enough. If you’re a fan of The Night Circus like I am, definitely pick this one up! If you’re looking for an escape from reality – a story you can get completely lost in, this is the book for you! I cannot wait for book two!

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A teenage fantasy with beautiful imagery
*by S***Y on November 11, 2025*

Overall rating: 3.5/5 Spice: 0/5 Narrator: 4/5 Cliffhanger: 1/5 First off, I want to make it clear I’m an adult woman with teenagers of her own reviewing this book when the intended audience is clearly teenage girls. Once I wrapped my head around that, I enjoyed this series much more. But intended audience or not, good writing is good writing and I do think Stephanie Garder is a talented writer. Almost 17 year-old Scarlett, has spent seven years writing to Legend, the grandmaster of the magical Caraval, asking him to bring his game/performance to her home island. It isn’t until she tells him she is engaged (to a man she’s never met) that Legend sends her, her younger sister, Tella, and her fiancé tickets to Caraval. When she realizes the date is four days before her wedding (which is her and her sister’s only way to escape their abusive father) she decides she can’t go. Wild Tella then teams up with a handsome young sailor to get Scarlett to Caraval. Imagine a magical escape room that lasts five days and takes place in Venice during Carnival circa 1900 and you’ll have an idea of what Caraval is. The imagery is absolutely beautiful in this book. You absolutely feel pulled into these amazing settings. One of the best parts is a sentient dress that changes shapes based on Scarlett’s emotions and its own whims. Scarlett is a great character, completely lovable with great character development and a good role-model for the girls this book is intended for. The romance progresses quickly, but feels very true to a 16 year-old getting carried away. And the subsequent books do address the fact that they don’t know each other very well and work through their issues. My biggest issue with this book was the plot. It’s all about a mystery, which isn’t my favorite, but I was enjoying it until the last 20% or so when things started to be revealed. I thought it was going one way and it went a very different way and that way was far less interesting than the way I thought it was going to go. I was left feeling disappointed. I felt like all the really interesting clues we were given fizzled out or turned out to be red-herrings. Beyond the game and Legend having magic, there isn’t any world building or explanation of the magic system. This does change in the next two books and I enjoyed them far more. Cautions: If you are an adult reading this for yourself, just remember who this is for. For me, I would have preferred these characters be 18 and 19 instead of 15 and 16, but 18 and 19 is wildly old for a 13-year-old and this was written for them and not me. I had to remind myself of the unsupervised adventures and Percy Jackson and Harry Potter and that helped. If you are buying this for your child (or someone else’s), you should be aware that the girls do drink wine in this and there is talk of Tella (the 15 year-old) kissing many boys. Honestly, when I first listened to it, I thought she was sexually active, but that was just my jaded brain. It’s made clear in this and the subsequent books that all she does is kiss. This is definitely appropriate for high school girls, but if you are going to give it to a middle school girl, know your kid, you may need to have a conversation about some of the things Tella does (she is the main character in the next two books). I would absolutely recommend this book for girls 13-16 and down to 11-12 if they are mature. For the rest of us looking for Romantasy, I would still recommend it, but only because you need to read this before her other books and they get better with each book.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Favorite read of the year!!
*by F***S on February 2, 2026*

Caraval is hands down my favorite book of the year. The story is immersive, magical, and centered around a mysterious, high-stakes game where nothing is quite as it seems and reality and illusion blur together. I’ve loved it so much that I’ve gifted it to several people already. The entire series is fantastic, and the follow-up series is just as enjoyable. If you love imaginative, twisty stories with a bit of romance and mystery, this one is absolutely worth reading.

## Frequently Bought Together

- Caraval (Caraval, 1)
- Legendary (Caraval, 2)
- Finale: A Caraval Novel (Caraval, 3)

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*Last updated: 2026-02-21*