Let's Bust a Recap : Stephanie Garber

Well, hey there. Long time, no see. Let's take stock, real quick: I managed one post at the tail end of March and then completely missed April. I think we're about twenty books behind in this blogging endeavor, but today I'm planning to cover major ground and offer you a five-for-the-price-of-one post because for all of April, I fell down a Stephanie Garber sized hole and read all the books she's had published to date. Were any of these books on my list for the year? Absolutely not. Are they even on my never-ending unread shelf? Also no. Have I already placed a hold at the library for her upcoming release in October later this year? Yes. Yes I have. Let's do a quick paragraph on each of her five books, and then we'll wrap it up with some of my overall impressions. And yes, we'll probably be delving into some spoiler-y territory since we'll be talking about a series of books. Reader beware. 

First up: Caraval. This was Garber's debut novel published in 2017. All of her novels to date are fantasies marketed to the Young Adult crowd. They're all set in the same world so Caraval is our introduction to that world, and of all five that I've read, this one still stands as my favorite. In it, we meet teenage sisters Scarlett and Donatella Dragna who have had a Hard Life because of their abusive dad. Scarlett is set to be married in a few weeks and is determined that the marriage will fix all of her and Tella's problems because they'll be able to get off their tiny island and away from their jerkweed dad. But then she finally receives an invitation to Caraval, the legendary, once-a-year performance where the audience gets to participate in a magical game of epic proportions. She's been writing to the Caraval master for years, hoping to be invited, and now, just weeks from her wedding, she's finally gotten the much-coveted invitation. She has no intentions of doing anything that could possibly hinder her wedding, but once Tella finds out about the chance to go to Caraval, she employs the help of a young sailor to basically kidnap Scarlett, and take them all to Caraval. Once there, however, Scarlett gets separated from Tella. She then finds out that Tella has been taken by the Caraval Master, Legend, who has made finding Tella the objective of this year's Caraval. Scarlett gets swept up in the treacherous game and must discern between what is real and what is just an elaborate performance in order to save her sister. 

The second book, Legendary, was published in 2018 and picks up right where Caraval leaves off. Caraval was from Scarlett's perspective, but in Legendary, we follow Tella on the next Caraval adventure. Shortly after the completion of Caraval, Scarlett and Tella learn that there will be another Caraval performance almost immediately, in honor the Empress Elantine's birthday. (Or something. I can't exactly remember if it was her birthday or her Golden Jubilee or what. But they're having another Caraval because of the empress.) Tella has made a secret deal with a mysterious criminal. But in order to get the information she needs, she has to win Caraval. However, this Caraval performance seems to be more than just a game. Tella learns that the fabled Fates she grew up reading about are real and starting to escape from an enchanted deck of cards. Tella has to decide if fulfilling her bargain with the Prince of Hearts and finally being reunited with her long-lost mother is worth risking the Fates going free and destroying Caraval forever. 

In the conclusion to the Caraval trilogy, we get dual perspectives from Scarlett and Tella. Finale was published in 2019, and picks up a couple months after the end of Legendary. In this one, Tella is in the middle of a love triangle with Legend and Jacks. Scarlett is in her own weird love triangle with Julian and her former finacé. And their mother is back in their lives, but bedridden because she got released from the magical deck of cards from the last book that she's been trapped in for years so she has to regain her strength. Yes, the Fates got released and are wreaking havoc, but no, Scarlett's and Tella's mom is not a Fate. In this "final" installment, Tella and Scarlett have to work together to overcome a power-hungry Fate who wants to take over the Elantine Empire and reduce every human in the world to a mere object for his sadistic entertainment. It's a whole mess, but never fear: it all works out flawlessly in the end. 

Next up, we have Once Upon a Broken Heart published in 2021. Even though the Caraval trilogy was concluded in Finale, Once Upon a Broken Heart picks up shortly after Scarlett's coronation as empress. In this first installment of Garber's second trilogy, we are introduced to Evangeline Fox who makes a deal with the Prince of Hearts to stop the wedding of her one true love. But, of course, making a deal with a Fate is never as straightforward as it seems and Evangeline, naturally, finds herself in a mess. Scarlett and Tella decide to send Evangeline to the Magical North to participate in the coronation of the prince. This is actually less of a coronation and more of a bachelor-style ball where the prince has to find a wife before being crowned king. Enter love spells and vampires and a whole lot of drama with Jacks. Apparently, Evangeline is the key to a magical arch that either contains something really good or really bad. Should she try to open it?

Lastly, we have Garber's fifth offering The Ballad of Never After published just last year in 2022. In this one, the love spell has been broken but now Evangeline has been cursed and the only way to break the curse is probably to open that enchanted arch from the last book. So even though she has promised herself she will never trust Jacks again, she finds herself working with him and Chaos (the OG vampire) to find the magical stones that will allow her to open the mysterious arch. And MAJOR SPOILER: at the end of this book, the prince (who is legally Evangeline's husband in case I forgot to mention that, and who's name I cannot for the life of me remember at this moment) steals all Evangeline's memories. ALL OF THEM. 

So yeah. It's a lot of drama. 

The poet W.H. Auden had a theory about the five stages of mature reading. According to him, "For an adult reader, the possible verdicts [we can pass on a book] are five: I can see this is good and I like it; I can see this is good but I don't like it; I can see this is good, and, though at present I don't like it, I believe with perseverance I shall come to like it; I can see that this is trash but I like it; I can see that this is trash and I don't like it." 

Stephanie Garber's books fall squarely into the "I Can See That This Is Trash But I Like It" category. 

Is her writing good? Objectively: a resounding no. You can spot her influences a mile away and her prose reads like a heartsick middle schooler wrote it. She herself has said that she spends most of her time thinking about how to torture her characters or make them kiss. Every resolution is impossibly convenient—even for a fantasy—and the end of each book is a hot mess that somehow comes to a pretty tidy conclusion. Her writing, sadly, does not improve throughout her books. (And I have to add, her use of similes and metaphors is downright cringeworthy.)

But could I stop reading them? Also: a resounding no. These are total popcorn books. No nutritional value, usually gets stuck in your teeth, but highly addictive. 

Would I recommend this series? Eh, probably not. But will I be reading A Curse for True Love when it comes out in October? As soon as the library has it. Stay tuned.