Review: Carnival of Souls (Carnival of Souls #1) by Melissa Marr

 

Author: Melissa Marr

Series: Carnival of Souls

Pages: 306

Genre: YA

Publisher: Harper Collins

Amazon: Carnival of Souls

Carnival of Souls Website : Blog : Twitter : Goodreads

Synopsis. (Goodreads)

In a city of daimons, rigid class lines separate the powerful from the power-hungry. And at the heart of The City is the Carnival of Souls, where both murder and pleasure are offered up for sale. Once in a generation, the carnival hosts a deadly competition that allows every daimon a chance to join the ruling elite. Without the competition, Aya and Kaleb would both face bleak futures--if for different reasons. For each of them, fighting to the death is the only way to try to live.

All Mallory knows of The City is that her father--and every other witch there--fled it for a life in exile in the human world. Instead of a typical teenage life full of friends and maybe even a little romance, Mallory scans quiet streets for threats, hides herself away, and trains to be lethal. She knows it's only a matter of time until a daimon finds her and her father, so she readies herself for the inevitable. While Mallory possesses little knowledge of The City, every inhabitant of The City knows of her. There are plans for Mallory, and soon she, too, will be drawn into the decadence and danger that is the Carnival of Souls.

From Melissa Marr, bestselling author of the Wicked Lovely series and "Graveminder," comes a brand-new tale of lush secrets, dark love, and the struggle to forge one's own destiny.

Review: 4 ½ out of 5 stars

Carnival of Souls is the first book I have read by Melissa Marr and I was immersed in this story right from the very beginning.

Mallory, Kaleb and Aya are the main narrators and each have a fascinating life and story to tell. The story is rich in detail and magical intrigue.

17 year-old Mallory believes she is a human, having been adopted and raised by a powerful witch living in the human world she has no idea of who or what she is but she does know The City and Daimons do exist so spends her time training for if and when she does eventually come across one.

Kaleb and Aya, both daimons are from The City but both from different castes and participating in the carnival for differing reasons. Kaleb is a Cur and is hired in “black mask” work, fighting and killing to make his living; his latest job was to locate Mallory but he didn't expect to have feelings for her. Aya has entered the competition to avoid marriage and breeding, her way of preventing the secret she is hiding from being revealed.

The carnival is hosted by the ruler, Marchosias and is a fight to the death competition which allows every daimon a chance to join the ruling elite, but this time around the rules are about to change.

I connected with each of the characters but I felt Mallory as our main heroine was the most bland and we don’t get much emotion or feeling from her initially but she evolves as the story progresses, I was really intrigued by Kaleb and Aya’s lives and how each would benefit by winning the competition, it was an enjoyable plot which kept me riveted.

We get two romances in this book, Kaleb and Mallory which I felt was a bit rushed but was also believable because of their natures and Belias and Aya who I was really cheering on but the secret which was keeping them apart and Aya’s ruthlessness and ambition wasn’t making it easy for them.

I really enjoyed the secondary characters; especially Kevi, Kaleb’s pack-mate and Adam, Mallory’s adoptive father. Evelyn, head of the Council of Witches was also a fascinating character and Belias and his protectiveness when it came to Aya was really noble.

The world building is brilliant, the scene is set perfectly with vivid imagery and the journey we are taken on is exhilarating, I was completely engrossed in Ms Marr’s storytelling, the vibrant characters and her amazing writing.

Carnival of Souls was complex and had a lot of depth; there were many secrets to unravel with quite a few twists and turns, The City was a realm that was brutal as well as beautiful and I was so eager to learn more.

Carnival of Souls is a fascinating concept that had me mesmerized as I was reading along; it was a dark, gruesome and compelling story which leaves us with so many unanswered questions that I am eager to see answered in the sequel.