bruna's Reviews > Legendary

★ 2.75 stars

i actually finished this two days ago but for some strange reason i forgot to update here. i don’t even have the energy to spend hours writing a detailed review so this will be short.

first of all, let’s state the obvious: i didn’t like this book that much. it’s something that i wasn’t expecting since i had high hopes after seeing a lot of people saying it was going to be better than the first one, and well... i don’t think it was. it’s not necessarily bad, some things were enjoyable, but Caraval was slightly better.

the story sounded promising at the beginning, but then it became so boring and it wasn’t as captivating as i thought it would be. in my point of view, it had the potential to be a great story but i feel like the execution wasn’t the best. i don’t know... something was missing, and i can’t pinpoint what it was. also, everything was so confusing. if you asked me what the plot is about i wouldn’t know how to explain and i’m not even exaggerating. all the time i was asking myself, “what the heck is going on?” and at some point i’ll admit that i just gave up on trying to understand. i’m aware that the point is to make us confused — but damn, at least make it exciting and not boring. i was almost dying of boredom. and i’m gonna repeat what i said in my Caraval review: Garber’s writing doesn’t help, it’s unnecessarily descriptive. this book is filled with pointless descriptions that were extremely hard to understand. here is an example:

“Dark green kerosene lamps illuminated pale mint-green glass tables, while velvet green settees cushioned people sucking on glowing cubes of green sugar, or sipping vials of vivid lime liquid. Even the floor was covered in tiny emerald tiles, which reminded Tella of mermaid tails.”

seriously, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? dear god. sometimes i felt like the author was trying too hard to make the writing poetic and instead it came off as pretentious. don’t get me wrong, i’m not saying Stephanie Garber is a bad writer, but i can’t say i’m amazed by her writing style.

even though Tella was less annoying here, i couldn’t really love her. i mean, she had a few good moments and there were times where i sympathized with her, but overall she is still meh. an unremarkable character sadly. i’m not that fond of her, i thought this book would make me love her and it obviously didn’t. let’s see if she will be capable of change my mind in Finale (i’m honestly not hopeful). Dante, on the other hand, was a nice character. he’s so swoony and charming! this man won me over. i enjoyed reading his scenes with Tella, the romance was far from perfect and i found it undeveloped, but i think they have good chemistry together and i hope it stays that way in the next book.

as for Jacks... now i understand why you guys are so obsessed with him. look, i get it. he might not be a good guy, he did bad things and yeah, he’s cruel — but who cares? he’s ✨ dreamy ✨ and entertaining. i’m not ashamed to say that he has me already obsessing over him.

the lack of Scarlett & Julian though was disappointing. we didn’t have a lot scenes of them and the ones we got were not that good. that drama the author added for them at the end was so unnecessary... i can comprehend the reasons behind it, but it doesn’t mean i liked it. i hope she doesn’t ruin their relationship in the next book or else i’ll riot.

well, i don’t have more to say so let’s stop here. overall i’m very disappointed with this book. sigh. the best part about reading it is that i had the chance to buddy read it with my bestie and we had a lot of fun. she made my experience a little better and for that i’m grateful! 🫶🏼

i’m curious to read the next book but i’m not excited to be honest and i don’t have high expectations. i just hope it’s not as disappointing as this one.

──── ⋆☆⋆ ────

my ranking of the Caraval series:

1 • Caraval | ★ 3.5 stars
2 • Legendary | ★ 2.75 stars
3 • Finale | TBR

───────────

pre-review:

rhree fantasy books in a row... WHO AM I? i hope this one is better than Caraval 👀

br with my bbyg selin 😚💘