Caraval

Welcome, welcome to CARAVAL, Stephanie Garber’s enchanting, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling fantasy debut about two sisters swept up in a mysterious competition filled with magic, heartbreak, and danger

Scarlett has never left the tiny island where she and her beloved sister, Tella, live with their powerful and cruel father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval, the far-away, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show, are over.

But this year, Scarlett's long-dreamt-of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to attend. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season's Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.

Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. But whether Caraval is real or not, she must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over, and her sister disappears forever.

Continue the adventure in Legendary and Finale—out now!

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Published May 1, 2018

448 pages

Average rating: 7.42

784 RATINGS

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Cozy Reads and Tea

Cozy is the theme! We meet every three months to discuss three different cozy reads. We vote after each time to see what the next three are. You can read all three, only one, or none and still have fun! We also brew two different kinds of tea.

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What Bookclubbers are saying about this book

✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI

Readers say *Caraval* is a captivating, fast-paced fantasy that enchants with its magical world-building, mystery, and romance. Many praise Stephanie ...

Bosky

Dec 30, 2025

8/10 stars

3.5 rounded up, even now thinking that should be rounding down to a 3 instead of 4. Second YA in span of a week, and I'm not a YA fan. However, I really enjoyed the concept and understand the feeling grander Garber was trying to convey. It just seemed like the 'players' in Caraval were all one dimensional- rich families. Also, don't feel that you can trust any of the characters... I know that Garber was trying for that, but it was too much.

Enid Cangiano

Dec 29, 2025

10/10 stars

This is unlike most fantasy books I enjoy reading but it was just perfect. The magical aspect of it, the characters the world building of it, honestly it only took me long to read it because of adulting responsibilities, other wise this would have been a day or two max read.

Stephanie Garber knows how to draw you in with not only the characters and in getting to know them but in this wonderful magical world building. I ate it all up. I have been trying to be tougher with my ratings and to be honest I almost gave this just a four star but I can't, it just got me hooked. I might be going off my already set TBR but I am most definitely ready to jump into the next book in this series. It is just so good and so much mystery to it that for once I just went along for the ride instead of trying to guess or figure out what was coming next.

Not feeling predictable to me at all made this whole book so much more enjoyable than I could even begin to express.

✨ Sibling love
✨ lovers to enemies?? twisted elements more so for me.
✨ adventurous
✨intriguing
✨magical
✨ highly recommend

BadRiya Hassan

Oct 16, 2025

10/10 stars

“Welcome, welcome to Caraval! The grandest show on land or by sea. Inside you’ll experience more wonders than most people see in a lifetime. You can sip magic from a cup and buy dreams in a bottle. But before you fully enter into our world, you must remember it’s all a game.” ― Stephanie Garber

swbarry

Sep 25, 2025

6/10 stars

It was really hard to get into for some reason, but I did end up enjoying it. There were lots of tropes that I don't usually like, but they did have some interesting story moments for sure.

SammyBammyyy

Aug 25, 2025

8/10 stars

This book was such a nice read, the magic the characters! I cannot wait to read the others! I need to know more about grandmother and her story!