Spectacular Review

Book: Spectacular

(Novella in Caraval Series)

Author: Stephanie Garber

Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Spectacular is a holiday novella in the Caraval series by Stephanie Garber. This book takes place AFTER the events of the main series, so this review MAY, and probably WILL, spoil the ending of the Caraval trilogy, so please skip if you haven't read yet and don't want to be spoiled. You have been warned...

I loved this book, and I was disappointed to see that it wasn't getting great reviews.

I think that it's important to remember that this is a novella, not a fourth book in the series. I think quite a few people forgot that, based on the reviews that I've been reading. Is it a great book? No. Does it further the plot much? No. But it wasn't ever supposed to. It was always supposed to be just a quick peak at our beloved characters after the events of the trilogy. And if you can keep that in mind, I think you'll really enoy this book too.

It was great to see all the characters again. The fun little Easter eggs from side characters and symbols from the original trilogy was like an adventure in and of itself to try to spot them all.

It was also a really unique premise to a Holiday novella, but did we expect any different from Mister Caraval Master Legend himself? Of couse it was bound to involve some crazy adventure full of magic where nothing is as it seems.

The novella was meant to be a fun little holiday read, and that's what I got, exactly as advertised. It was a fun adventure, filled with holiday (and Legend's) magic. I do wish that Scarlett and Julian had been more present in it. I loved seeing Tella and Legend again, but I missed our Crimson empress as well, the the few short appearances we got were simply not enough for me. Hopefully we can get another novella someday where she has a more prominent role. (cough, cough, hint, hint Stephanie!)

With all of that being said, there was one thing that kept me from giving it a 5 star rating. Things began to feel very rushed towards the end of the book. The first half was incredible, both the plot and the pacing. But towards the second half, things really took off and it felt more like the author was trying to make cuts to fit a word count, which was really disappointing. It made it harder to fall into the magic that Stephanie Garber is known for creating with her books and left me feeling lacking by the last page.

Overall, I think it's worth the read. I'll probably be rereading it myself around the holidays next year. But as stated before, keep in mind that it is a novella, not a novel. It's not meant to be the next piece of Great American Literature. It's just meant to have fun with.

Enjoy!