Carnival Of Souls by Melissa Marr (original) (raw)

5 of 5 stars

In the center of the City lies the Carnival of Souls, where black masked assassins and red masked pleasure vendors buy, sell, and barter with witches and daimons. This year, the carnival offers not just the usual wares, but also a competition that comes up once every generation, allowing citizens to fight to the death in order to become a member of the ruling class. Among the contenders are Kaleb, an assassin hired to kill the head daimon’s daughter; Aya, a female royal hiding a deadly secret; and Belias, who signed up to keep the love of his life safe…from herself.

Meanwhile, in the human world, Mallory is training to fight daimons every waking hour that she’s not in school. Raised by her stepfather, Adam, Mallory has been brought up in a world where witches are the good guys, and daimons are most definitely not. She lives in fear of the City and its residents, while never knowing the true reason they are being pursued.

But as Mallory draws nearer to her birthday, she learns exactly what her stepfather has been keeping from her, and why she, too, is a part of this dangerous game.

This is Melissa Marr’s best book yet, which is really saying something considering the high caliber of work she usually puts forth. Once again, she uses her incredible world-building skills to develop a realistic yet grotesquely decadent setting for this YA dark fantasy novel.

Marr’s world-building isn’t the only thing this book has going for it, however. Her character development is also amazingly done. It’s nearly impossible to pick a favorite character. Every time I thought I knew who I was rooting for, the perspective would switch to a different character, allowing the reader a glimpse of the motivation behind the choices he or she once thought were unforgivable. In Marr’s books, even the villains are multi-dimensional and often times relatable.

The bottom line is, if you like violent, dark fantasy or the Wicked Lovely series, you’ll love this book. And if not, well, I’m just going to put this out there: James Marsters narrates the audio book. And who doesn’t love James Marsters?

Tags: Aya, Belias, Carnival Of Souls, dark fantasy, James Marsters, Kaleb, Mallory, Melissa Marr, the City, YA