Imme [trying to crawl out of hiatus] van Gorp's Reviews > Finale

|| 2.0 stars ||

This genuinely bored me to tears. It seems that any semblance of a plot had just vanished in this book, and it didn’t leave much in its wake. Without the presence of Caraval, all the magic and intrigue of this series just drained away…
Instead of a climax, this finale mostly just felt like it dragged the story out into something it never should have been. It transformed the story into something unoriginal, uneventful and uninteresting.
There were still a few twists and turns, but they all felt so anticlimactic and unimportant somehow; it just didn’t hit.

Other than the fact that there was little to no plot left here, the characters and romances gave me nothing of note either.
Everyone and everything felt bland. The romances were so simple, meaningless, forced, and instant.
It’s like… the book tries to convince me there is some sort of conflict going on between the couples, but both Scarlett and Tella do nothing but pine for their lovers who never really give them what they want. The girls don’t know how to stand on business and it makes them both seem really pathetic when they continue to pine for men who don’t know how to behave like true gentlemen who love them; Julian and Legend constantly abandon them or lie straight in their faces, but all is forgiven when the girls look at their handsome faces, leading them to once again turn into a giant puddle of love. Riiiight…
It sucks too because Jacks was actually a lot more interesting, but Tella never gave him the time of day because she was obsessed with Legend for whatever reason, and Scarlett literally strung that poor count, Nicholas, along and destroyed his whole life, and for what?? She knew she wanted Julian. Why mess with the poor guy’s feelings like that? It’s just cruel.

Finally, the sister bond was also just as weak as ever. Tella and Scarlett have no chemistry or genuine love between them; they each seem like they view the other more like a nuisance they cannot get rid of than a true piece of their heart they love more than anything in the world. Meanwhile, the series continues to try to gaslight me into thinking these two care deeply for each other, but they just truly do not. Sorry not sorry…


'Caraval' trilogy:
1. Caraval - 3.5 stars
2. Legendary - 3.5 stars
3. Finale - 2.0 stars

Spin-off 'Once Upon a Broken Heart' trilogy:
1. Once Upon a Broken Heart - 4.5 stars
2. The Ballad of Never After - 3.0 stars
3. A Curse for True Love - 4.0 stars