Series: Carnival of Souls, Book One
Publisher: HarperCollins Children’sBooks
Format: ARC
Published: 4th September 2012
Number of Pages: 336
Book: For Review*
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Magic, Mystery, Thriller-Suspense,
Action-Adventure, Dark Romance, Dystopia, YA
Recommended
Age: 12+
Contains: Violence, Death, Swearing, Mature Themes
No Alcohol, Drug References
Author's
Blog: Melissa Marr
In a city of daimons, the
Carnival of Souls hosts a deadly competition. Once in a generation, every
citizen can fight 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.
In our own world, Mallory knows
that her father—and every other witch—fled the daimons’ city long ago. She
trains to be lethal because it’s only a matter of time until the daimons catch
up with them.
While Mallory possesses little
knowledge of The City, every inhabitant of The City knows of her. There are
plans there for Mallory, and soon she, too, will be drawn into the decadence
that is the Carnival of Souls.
From Melissa Marr, bestselling
author of the Wicked Lovely series, comes a brand-new tale of secrets, love,
and the struggle to forge one’s own destiny.
Review:
“So,
why are you wearing a knife? She
smiled at Kaleb, continuing the imaginary discussion in her mind. In case I need to protect us from
monsters... not that I've had to fight them yet, but, you know, just in case…”
Malloy has spent her entire life on the
run. She knows she's running from the daimons and that her father, a
witch, took something they want, something he refuses to give back. And
she's tired of it all, sick of the endless towns
and blank houses. She wants the chance to stay somewhere and make it a home - and to date Kaleb, the only boy
she’s ever liked.
But with the City after her, Mallory can
trust no one. For in the City
there are daimons who are as far from human as you could possibly be…
And now, in the Carnival of Souls, the
once-in-a-generation competition is beginning. It is a chance for low
caste daimons to rise up the strict caste system and join the ruling
class.
The City is vicious, deadly and violent, a
place where you can get your heart’s desire - at a price. A place where
death and pleasure twine together... It's
no place for humans.
But Mallory... she might not have a
choice...
I love Marr's books, always have.
But Carnival of Souls was
my favourite by far. It's dark and seductive, dangerous and beautiful.
It was just an utterly addictive book that left me absolutely desperate
for more of the world, of the characters. Yes, I love Marr's other books.
But I absolutely, positively adored Carnival of Souls. Please give me
more!
To me, what really shone about this book
was the characters. Sure, I adored the world and the plot and everything,
but I loved the characters
even more! I loved how we slowly got to know them, learning their
secrets, bit by bit, and how they all had faults - they weren't perfect and
came to life even more because of
that. Mallory, for example, was totally kickass, but she had a vulnerable
side too. She was also strong and loving. Aya, meanwhile, was
totally ruthless and deadly, but just wanted to be in control of her own life,
rather than just being used by men. It took a little longer to warm to
her, but I got why she did it all and loved her more for knowing her reasons.
Kaleb... well, I felt his true nature was bluntly revealed, with no real shock-horror! moment. But I loved
him - his protective streak, his passion, how he took care of Zevi...
Plus, he was just really yummy.
Now, Belias obviously really loved Aya. And the fact he
thought the human world was "terrible"
with huge "perversions"
that were caused by the "barbaric
nature of humanity" made me laugh my head off! I also really
loved Adam, Mallory's and I loved Zevi,
who was just the cutest, funniest, weirdest thing ever! I could literally just wrap him up and take him
home with me!
I also really loved the bond between
Mallory and Kaleb. I loved how it was dealt with, explained, made real.
And I could so feel the
chemistry between them!
I loved how we got to read from all the
main character's perspectives. It let us look at everything - the world,
events, people - in so many different ways, something I found pretty darn
magical. Plus, I could see everything in my head - everything! And the plot in this
was amazing, better than any of Marr's others. It was fast, full of
twists, dark, addictive and amazingly seductive. I was always guessing and I loved that Marr found that perfect
balance between non-stop action and the most brilliant word building.
Speaking of, I do love all of Marr's
worlds. This one had all her usual richness and even more of the
violence! I just loved the City - even if it kind of scared the heebie
jeebies out of me! I must say, though, I felt that what demons were
and what they could do wasn't explained too clearly to begin with. I'm
still a little confused about parts. But, nonetheless, I could see the whole world in my head.
It was awesome and so well built up!
While we're on the world, I have to add,
I'm a real feminist, so generally I'd prefer a world ruled by women than one
ruled by men. And when women are repressed and used for breeding, I'm
normally spitting mad. But... I don't know, it just wasn't like that
with Carnival of Souls.
Maybe it was the afore-mentioned brilliant world building or the kickass
female characters, but even the feminist in me was in love with this book.
Miracles exist, people!
Deliciously dark and seductively
sexy, Carnivals of Souls actually
blew me away. I loved it to pieces, gobbled it all up, totally hooked.
I also have like three new
fictional crushes. Yes, this book was way beyond amazing and exceeded all
my expectations. I'm hoping like you wouldn't believe for a second book
in this series. So please,
Ms Marr! Give me a second book! Because I actually, physically,
desperately need to know what happens next! So, please Melissa, please!
Star Rating:
4¾ Out of 5
4¾ Out of 5
Read this
book if you liked:
The Iron Fey by Julie Kagawa
Fire City by Bali Rai
Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Challenges
It's Taking Part In:
Happy Reading
Megan
* This
book was received from HarperCollins in exchange for an honest review
1 comment:
I read this book for a tour and loved it as much as you did! I devoured it form cover to cover!
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