Welcome, welcome... to the end. Time to say goodbye to one of my favourite series of all time. I'm not crying, you're crying.



A love worth fighting for. A dream worth dying for. An ending worth waiting for.

It’s been two months since the Fates were freed from a deck of cards, two months since Legend claimed the throne for his own, and two months since Tella discovered the boy she fell in love with doesn’t really exist.

With lives, empires, and hearts hanging in the balance, Tella must decide if she’s going to trust Legend or a former enemy. After uncovering a secret that upends her life, Scarlett will need to do the impossible. And Legend has a choice to make that will forever change and define him.

Caraval is over, but perhaps the greatest game of all has begun. There are no spectators this time: only those who will win, and those who will lose everything.

Welcome, welcome to Finale. All games must come to an end…

 

Something that has always amazed me about the Caraval trilogy is the pure magic that is Stephanie Garber's prose. From the first time I opened Caraval, to the opening pages of Finale, I've been under her spell entirely. Not a lot of authors pull me like she has and it's an experience I could never replicate or forget. It became one of my favourite series of all-time instantly.

In spite of my having been a blogger for twelve years, I've never had the privilege of watching a series grow from its early ARC form into its own endgame. Until Caraval; the first for me and ultimately, one of my most cherished moments as a blogger. Stephanie Garber's world is full of so much energy and fantasy, I'll likely always be enamored by it. And honored by the fact that I was amongst some of the first introduced to this world.

For the past few years, we've seen the games heat up. From its beginnings through Scarlett Dragna in Caraval, to her sister Donatella's run in Legendary, so much as happened. Just beyond the realm of its magic and possibility, its romance and its darkness, lay the heart of the story: two sisters. Now, in Finale, we see them beginning to reach for the future and it is one of the most satisfying ends to any series I've loved.

With the revelation of Dante being Legend in the previous book, and the uncertainty of the seemingly romantic bond he has with Donatella, Scarlett's hesitance to commit fully to Julian without meeting Nicolas, Jacks' motives, the return of Paloma and what the Fates have to offer--readers will have a lot on their plates when it comes to this explosive end.

Garber has plenty of tricks up her sleeves and once again leaves readers feeling compelled to read on until the very end. Finale is every bit as fantastical and stunning, all-consuming, as Caraval and Legendary, and ends in such a perfect way. My heart is still racing--and saying goodbye is so, so hard.