Review: Carnival of Souls

Title:  Carnival of Souls
Series:  N/A
Author:  Melissa Marr
Publisher:  HarperCollins
Pages:  306
Format:  Hardcover

 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.

  

My Review:  I started Carnival of Souls with absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into.  I hadn't even read the blurb before diving in.  That being said, I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this book.  There was some parts that I enjoyed but at the same time, there were things that really just didn't do it for me.  

I was pretty confused going into the story.  Even after (finally) reading the summary, a couple things were a little cloudy.  It was hard to keep up with what was going on and who was who.  For the longest time, I had no idea what the competition was or why some of the characters were participating in it.  However, that was soon explained but after that I became very distracted with all the different point of views throughout the book.  There was three all together if I remember correctly:  Mallory, Kaleb, and Aya.  I felt like with all the split narrative, it was really difficult to get a grip on any of the characters.  Though we got quite a bit of background information on all of them, I felt like they were under developed when we were reading in the present.    

Another problem I had a bit of a problem with was the inconsistency of our main character, Mallory.  She's been trained her entire life to be able to fight and kill daimons but when attacked, she is virtually helpless.  And one moment she is terrified of Kaleb and the next she and he are together.  I also had a problem with the romance in this book.  It was very sudden.  And the way Kaleb thought and looked at Mallory was a little strange.  He saw her as his possession and it was extremely disturbing when he did the ceremony with her dad and promised to do that thing with her.  Like, really?  I had liked him before that but after he said he would do that, I was very upset with him.  

I did really like the overall concept and the setting that this book was set in.  The world was as terrifying as it was beautiful.  I enjoyed the parts when we were in the daimon world and were fully immersed in the magic and conflict.  And while I wasn't crazy about the characters, they had their moments when I really loved them.  

Unfortunately, this book didn't sit too well with me.  Though the idea and the world had me hooked from the beginning, I wasn't so happy with the characters, the split POVs, and the romance which are all very big parts of a story in my opinion.  Still, I think the second book will be worth the read when it releases.  I suggest you check this book out if you think it would be something you enjoy and give it a chance.  

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