Review: Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr

Carnival of Souls
By Melissa Marr
Publisher: HarperCollins

To Sum It Up:

Although she lives in the human world, away from a city inhabited by daimons, Mallory is still in danger. Daimons and witches are mortal enemies, and both want to use Mallory as a pawn in their war against each other. Kaleb is the daimon who’s been sent to find her. Back in The City, Kaleb is also a contestant in a fight-to-the-death tournament that could mean escape from his low-caste status if he wins. First, though, he’ll have to defeat fierce competitors like Aya, for whom the tournament represents the only way for her to obtain a voice in The City’s council. Both Aya and Kaleb desperately want to emerge victorious, but their connection goes beyond being rivals in the tournament. The two daimons are also connected by Mallory and the plots centered around her that both the witches and the daimons are planning in order to eliminate one another.

Review:

After finding Wicked Lovely, the first book in Melissa Marr’s fey series of the same name, on the underwhelming side, I was iffy about reading Carnival of Souls. Curiosity, prompted in large part by the dramatic cover, got the better of me, though, so I decided to give it a try. I wasn’t sorry; Carnival of Souls turned out to be quite a compelling read about daimons locked in a battle against witches, and in one plotline, against each other.

The book focuses on three main characters: Aya, Kaleb, and Mallory. Their plotlines intertwine, and I was impressed with how Marr brought them together. I found Aya and Kaleb’s stories thoroughly absorbing. Kaleb is a low-caste daimon hoping that victory in the tournament held by the The City’s ruler, Marchosias, will elevate his social status. Aya was born into daimon nobility, but all a highborn female has to look forward to is marriage and children. She actually wants to improve life for her kind, and for her, winning the tournament is the only way to gain a seat on The City’s council and a say in its affairs. I really liked seeing things through the eyes of two characters from opposite backgrounds; it was very effective in conveying the determination that both characters shared despite how vastly different their castes were.

To me, the weakest storyline in the book was Mallory’s. I thought that she was the least developed of the three main characters, but it was mostly due to the circumstances surrounding her upbringing. Adam, her adoptive father and a witch, has only told Mallory enough about daimons so that she knows how to defend herself against them. For the most part, Mallory is ignorant of the world that her daimon mother fled and has been sheltered from the world in general by Adam. Mallory is rather naïve, and her personality contrasts quite a lot with that of the fiery Aya, but I don’t fault Mallory for that considering how she has been raised in such a protective bubble.

One area of the novel that I found lacking was the world-building. I had the same problem with Wicked Lovely, the feeling that I’d joined the story in progress. With both books, I wouldn’t have minded some additional exposition to give me a clearer picture of the worlds. I’m still puzzling over what exactly a Watcher is in Carnival of Souls and why some of the daimons in The City wear masks. Some sketchy details here and there didn’t lose me completely, but I couldn’t help but think that had they been filled in, they would have nudged this book’s rating up to a solid four stars.

On the whole, I’m glad that I took a chance on reading this. Aya and Kaleb really drew me into their stories, and I would definitely read a continuation of them.

All in All:

This was a pretty thrilling read, with a significant amount of conspiring and backdoor dealing going on, not to mention the vicious fighting taking place in the arena during the daimon tournament matches. While it occasionally seemed like the specifics of the world had been glossed over, the main story lines didn’t suffer because of it and were tightly focused.

Review: Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

Wicked Lovely (Wicked Lovely #1)
By Melissa Marr
Publisher: HarperTeen

To Sum It Up: The ability to see faeries has always been part of Aislinn Foy’s life. Raised by her grandmother, Aislinn has been taught to never acknowledge or attract the attention of these dangerous creatures. Aislinn has done her best to live by these rules, but they are of no help to her when the fey’s Summer King, Keenan, decides to make her his queen. He believes that Aislinn can help him restore his power and prevent his sadistic mother, the Winter Queen, from making summer disappear forever. Even after learning what’s at stake, Aislinn still isn’t sure that she’s willing to sacrifice everything about her mortal life, especially her friend Seth, to become part of the very world that she’s always feared.

Review: Meh. Wicked Lovely started out interesting enough, with a scene depicting the consequences of not being the girl who’s destined to be the Summer Queen. Several chapters later, though, I was still trying to sort out how the whole Winter Girl/Summer Queen/Winter Staff thing worked. Choppy exposition and characters who floated along without leaving much of an impact made this a mediocre read for me.

As a heroine, Aislinn isn’t anything special. Whereas the Summer Queen test is explained in dribs and drabs, it’s blatantly clear that Aislinn wants nothing to do with the fey world. Consequently, once she finds out that Keenan is pursuing her to be his queen, Aislinn spends a lot of time fleeing from him. The following cycle develops: encounter Keenan, run away. Encounter Keenan, run away. Repeat a few times more. What really got me about Aislinn, though, was when she accepted a drink from a faery. For someone who’s so afraid of faeries and constantly reminds herself of the rules to avoid trouble with them, you’d think that she’d know a lot better than to eat or drink anything that they offer. She doesn’t.

Fortunately for Aislinn, her best friend Seth is there to comfort her when she’s had a rough day being chased by Keenan and other faeries. When the relationship headed for let’s-be-more-than-friends territory, I really got frustrated with the book. I did not buy Aislinn and Seth as a couple. At all. He’s a good listener and a supportive friend, but nothing really stands out about him.

Keenan wasn’t that much more appealing as a romantic interest, although I felt a bit sorry for him because his mother, Beira, is such a witch to him (and everyone in general). For me, the best scenes/dialogue in the book were between these two characters. If the interactions between other characters had crackled this much, the book would have held my attention better.

The character who I became most invested in was Donia, the last girl who failed the Summer Queen test and must remain the Winter Girl until someone else attempts the test. Her story was both absorbing and sad, and I thought that she was the best written character. Personally, I would have preferred it if Wicked Lovely had focused on Keenan’s courtship of Donia and how she became Winter Girl (with a few guest appearances by Beira for comic relief). Unlike Aislinn and Seth, Donia and Keenan definitely had chemistry between them.

All in All: I don't like giving up on a series, even when the first book doesn’t blow me away. The only series that I’ve abandoned so far is The Vampire Diaries, and that was after the third book. Maybe it’s because I always hope that the next book will be an improvement, and if I quit before reading it, I’ll regret it. Wicked Lovely had a solid hook but just didn’t deliver fully. I’m curious to see if the follow-up does, so I’ll hang in there for at least one more book.