Legendary finally became available to me at the library, and I was so happy to be able to read it. It is the second book in Stephanie Garber’s Caraval series. Finale will be out next year.
After Caraval, Tella and Scarlett end up going to another Caraval. Usually, there is only one a year, but this year, there is another one in only a few more days, held in honor of Empress Elantine’s seventy-fifth birthday.
Legendary is told from Tella’s perspective. Tella discovers that her mom is still alive. With the help of her “friend”, she’s trying to find out where her mom is and to save her. In order to save her mom, she needs to find out who Legend is, which means she has to participate in and win Caraval.
It’s not all that easy.
A few complications occur along the way. First, Tella is forced to fake an engagement with the Empress’s heir. Then, the stakes are raised even higher: if she doesn’t win Caraval, she discovers that both she and her mom will die. And then she falls in love. To make matters worse, if she saves her own life and that of her mom’s, she might just hurt the boy she loves. The decisions seem impossible.
We don’t see a lot of Scarlett in this story. While Caraval focused a lot on the relationship between siblings, Legendary focused on Tella’s feelings about her mother. Scarlett is away for much of the time, trying to sort out the things going on in her life (I don’t want to give away spoilers here, so I’m not saying what).
Legendary kept me wanting to read from the beginning until the very end. Like Caraval, Legendary is full of magic and mystery. I love how we got to see more of Tella’s character. She’s much more impressive once you get to know her. I love the decisions that she makes, and I wish the best for her. I will definitely be reading Finale once it comes out next year.
Sadly, I still have to read this one (though I loved the first book). My co-blogger said it was great too. I wanted to get to know more about Tella, and I am glad she ended up being a worthy character.
There’s always one book or another that we have to read. I’m finally starting on Clockwork Angel either tonight or tomorrow!
Great review! I loved Legendary as well. I actually liked it even more than the first book, mainly because I thought Tella was a more interesting character than Scarlet. I can’t wait to get my hands on Finale!