BOOK REVIEWSCARAVAL, THE EDGE OF EVERYTHING, ASOUE 1-4

I've been reading! [Intro] Hello! My name is Kat. Today, we'll be talking about the six books I have recently finished. So, let's just get into it. First up, I have here: The Edge of Everything by Jeff Giles.

And this was the Booksplosion book of the month for February, we were working with Bloomsbury on this one. This is the first book in a new series that I guess, I would categorize as Urban Fantasy. It's kind of hard to label this because the main female character, Zoe is from our modern world and her struggles feel very contemporary then we have the main male character, who is known as X and he is a bounty hunter from the underworld so his storyline and the whole setting of the underworld has a very fantasy feel. The sort of 200 mashup was actually one of? My favorite aspects of this book.

Like, we just got everything. Like, I love Zoe dealing with her father's death and her family dynamics and I loved X. Dealing with the politics of Hell and this whole Underworld society. A basic setup of this book is that we have X, who is a bounty hunter from Hell and when he's up in the world hunting for a bounty, he ends up saving Zoe's life and their world just collide and the story goes from there.

I really enjoyed this book, it was so easy and fun to just fly through. There's plenty of action and excitement and I also, especially, loved the characterization. Like, not only do I. Feel like, I got a really good grasp of our two main characters but many of the secondary characters I found, so vivid and like, present on the page and just well drawn.

I did feel like the pacing was a little bit off at times, like, it did get kind of slow in the middle, though I. Feel like that was more noticeable because the beginning and the ending were so, like, explosive and jam-packed. Also, I wasn't super feeling the romance aspect. I didn't just like the relationship and there were definitely some cute moments but I felt like it just happened too fast, for me to be like, really emotionally invested.

I was just so much more invested in the, like, individual personal journeys that the main characters were experiencing rather than their relationship together. Overall, though again, I did still really enjoy this. I thought it was a solid start to a new series and I'm definitely going to be continuing it when book two comes out. If you're looking for a fun, fast read with the well-drawn characters that has both fantasy and contemporary vibes.

You want to check one out, you're gonna... You're going to want to give it a go and if you've already read this book and you want to know some more splintery opinions, I will link the Booksplosion live show down below and you can check that out. Next up, I have here: Caraval by Stephanie Garver This book follows a girl named Scarlett, who has always wanted to attend Caraval, which, is this interactive performance / festival / game that has just drenched in magic and mystery. A week before her arranged marriage, she finally gets tickets to Caraval and she wants to take her sister, Tella.

However, their father is very abusive and controlling and he's not going to let them go. So, they end up kind of running away to this island where Caraval is held but once, Scarlett and Tella get there, they are separated and Scarlett has always been the more responsible one who, like, looks out for her more wild sister so she is determined to find Tella and like, look out for her and make sure she doesn't get into any trouble. But Scarlett learns that Tella has become sort of the objective of the game this year. And the first person to find her gets the prize of having their wish granted.

So, now Scarlett has to get involved and play the game to get her sister back and she has to do this while navigating all the magic and manipulation and mysteries of Caraval, where nothing is as it seems. I've been seeing so much hype surrounding this book since BEA of last year, like, last May. People were buzzed about this book and it definitely had me intrigued but also apprehensive because hype can lead to inflated expectations. So, I went into this book with sort of tapered expectations and I ended up really enjoying it.

Like, it wasn't perfect, I understand the critical reviews but I personally got so swept up into the story and the mystery. I found it very immersive and fascinating and I never knew what to expect or who to trust and that mystery and tension just kept me so hooked. I'd say that the main thing that didn't work for me, though was the ending. It felt a little info dumpy.

Like, the solution to this mystery was explained to Scarlett rather than her like, experiencing it and discovering it and part of that I feel is because the magic system and the rules of this world weren't very well defined. The fantasy elements in this book are much more whimsical and atmospheric rather than like, a magic system. Again, I did love that magical atmosphere but it wasn't like a grounded magic system so the ending didn't quite pack the punch that it could have if I'd like, understood more about the rules of magic if that make sense. Overall, though I thought this was a fantastic book.

I loved how vivid and mysterious it was. I also loved that the story had a full art like, this could almost be a standalone. There's just a little hint of like, what's to come at the end, which I am very excited for. I'm definitely going to be reading book two.

If you are looking for a book that has mystery and romance and a magical atmosphere then you might want to check this one out. And then I read the first four books in A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. And I read these on my Kindle because I do not own physical copies. I did mislead you guys slightly in the thumbnail, I held up Spiderwick Chronicles as a stand-in for A Series of Unfortunate Events.

'Cause I want you guys to tell from the thumbnail that I read six books this month. I want the credit for that. Now, I didn't read these books growing up. So, I don't have like, any nostalgic connection to the series.

I was like, 12, 13 years old when the series was like, first starting and getting popular and I think at that age, I was reaching more for YA books and I just... I missed out on this series and I really regret that because after reading these first four books, I know that I. Would have enjoyed these much more when I was younger. Like, objectively, I would rate these books higher than what I.

Would raise them for my own personal enjoyment. Though, I did really warm up on the series more as I progressed and also as I started watching the Netflix show. My approach was to read a book and then watch the two corresponding Netflix episodes and I had a great time doing that. Like, I enjoyed the books all right but I loved the show.

This Netflix show is so good and it got me so much more invested into the story, especially in regards to Lemony Snicket, who in the show is an actual character and I just... I love how they did that in the shell. It made me care so much more about Lemony Snicket and made me like, get on his side and connect with him and get that much more invested into the series. Of the the author, Lemony Snicket / Daniel Handler is working on the show and he is just doing a brilliant job of adapting his own work to a new medium.

It's a very faithful adaptation like, it's the same story, it's the same feeling, but because of the different format and the potentially wider audience, there's more depth in the shell. Like, there's a plot line that runs through the show that isn't in the books at all and that plot line like, got me more invested in the books, which is weird but that's how it works. So, yeah overall, I do still wish that I'd read these books when I was younger because my personal enjoyment would have been higher but I am still enjoying them and I'm loving the show. I just...

I can't wait for more. All right, there you have it, those are my thoughts on the books I read in the last month or so and that's going to be it for this video. Thank you so much for watching. I hope you enjoyed this video.

I hope you have a great night and I will have another video soon so I will see you then. Goodbyeeee!.