28 Jan 2019

ARC #Review: LEGENDARY by Stephanie Garber

LEGENDARY

Author: Stephanie Garber
Series: Caraval #2
Source: ARC via Publisher
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: May 29, 2018
Overall Rating:
Diversity Rating:


Summary:
A heart to protect. A debt to repay. A game to win.

After being swept up in the magical world of Caraval, Donatella Dragna has finally escaped her father and saved her sister, Scarlett, from a disastrous arranged marriage. The girls should be celebrating, but Tella isn’t yet free. She made a desperate bargain with a mysterious criminal, and what Tella owes him no one has ever been able to deliver: Caraval Master Legend’s true name.

The only chance of uncovering Legend’s identity is to win Caraval, so Tella throws herself into the legendary competition once more—and into the path of the murderous heir to the throne, a doomed love story, and a web of secrets…including her sister's. Caraval has always demanded bravery, cunning, and sacrifice, but now the game is asking for more. If Tella can’t fulfill her bargain and deliver Legend’s name, she’ll lose everything she cares about—maybe even her life. But if she wins, Legend and Caraval will be destroyed forever...

Welcome, welcome to Caraval . . . the games have only just begun.
Purchase:
Amazon | Chapters | TBD
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book and chose to review it. This in no way impacts my opinion.

See my review of CARAVAL!

Wow I'm disappointed. I was hoping for so so so so so much more out of this one but it felt repetitive and boring and took me so long to get through even though I finished it in a couple hours. All of the issues I had with CARAVAL were amplified in LEGENDARY. Nothing about this one felt new, innovative, or even all that fun.

Tella was an interesting narrator but I couldnt have cared less about the rest of the plot at all. Tella was selfish but smart. I thought a lot of the choices she made were interesting but the actual flow of the plot did nothing for me. I felt like I was reading a knock-off of CARAVAL, which, honestly, isn't even that great of a thing because I hated the ending of CARAVAL.

I was hoping for so much more to this one: more intrigue, deception, and twists and turns. But I didn't get any of that. Everything felt pretty predictable and I thought it was pretty telling that this one took me SO long to read because I kept putting it down or not really paying attention while reading. There was too much "world-building" (if you could even call it that) considering we already knew about the world and nothing in this book added to the magic or intrigue of Legend.

There wasn't even really a Caraval game in this one. It was just Tella "following" clues and running into actors who would tell her what to do next. No guessing, no intrigue, no real plot. It was just extremely disappointing. I think I said that a few times in my review but that's all I can think to really say in this!

I think there was a lot of potential to a sequel to Caraval, which had its own issues as well, but this was not it. Now I'm contemplating cancelling my pre-order of Finale....

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