Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr

Title: Carnival of Souls
Author: Melissa Marr
Publisher:  Harper
Release Date: September 4th, 2012
My Rating: ***** (5 stars)
Pages: 306 pages

"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."- Goodreads

Melissa Marr is a well known author of ya fantasy. I fell in love with her Wicked Lovely series and knew I couldn't miss out on her newest book Carnival of Souls.

 

She's a good author. She usually uses just the right words to describe her story. Carnival of Souls was  no different. The story included a lot of action in it and it was written in such a way that I felt tense for the characters, always wondering what was going to happen next. I'm not going to lie, it was written in more than a few povs. This bothered me for the first 50 pages or so but I soon became enveloped in every character and came to cared for all of them.

 

After reading the first chapter, I knew it was going to be a good book. It didn't disappoint. It was filled with action and some romance. The action was the main part of the book, though. At first I thought there were too many plots wrapped around one little book but I soon realized they all correlated with one another.

 

Like I said, I came to care for all of the character's. They all had their own personalities and most importantly their own problems. Their own secrets. Mallory is almost 17 years old and she goes to high school. But she doesn't live a normal life. She often practices shooting with guns for several hours after school to protect herself from daimons. Her father's a witch, and although I didn't agree with many of his decisions, I know he did the things he did because he loves her. A couple of the other main characters were Aya and Kaleb. They're both participating in a fighting tournament. The goal is to be the last person alive. Because the last person living is awarded with the ultimate goal of many people: power. They both had their own reasons for fighting, and I found myself wanting both of them to win.

 

The setting was dark and mysterious. The Carnival of Souls was a beautiful place. But it was also dangerous at the same time. The lines dividing the classes of people were deeply drawn and seemingly impossible to escape. It might be a terrible place, but there are some very real people that live there.

 

There wasn't much that I didn't like. I guess I'd have to say that maybe the excess of characters was unnecessary. Don't get me wrong, I loved the characters. But I feel like the story would've been better with two or three.

 

The story was fast-paced and therefore a fast read. The story drew me in and I was stuck there until it ended. At a cliffhanger, of course. Which is why I'm desperate for the next book. Melissa Marr write faster! Anyway, I'd recommend this book to fans of fantasy, action, and adventure. If you like paranormals, this is also the book for you because there were witches.

 

 



 

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