Carnival Of Souls [Hardcover]

I have a funny relationship with Melissa Marr books. It's not love/hate per se, more like the enjoyment of greasy fried rice from the local, that despite knowing it's no good still enjoying from time to time.

Anyway, I was very interested to see Marr's first real break away from the Wicked Lovely universe, and at first I really enjoyed this book.

Marr introduces a pair of worlds, one ruled by daimons, the other our human world. Witches exists as a third species that span the two. Our main protag, Mallory is an adopted daimon, living in the human world under the delusion that she a human being raised by a witch (I think I got that right.)

Aya is a hybrid witch-daimon hoping to successfully gain political power (by competing in the Carnival of Souls) in the demon world - which is ruled by Mallory's birth father. Standing in her way is her lover, who she must either kill or confide her hybrid status and risk her own death.

Rather than come across as convoluted - Marr successfully creates an intriguing world with well rounded characters with 'real' motivations and tension filled relationships.

So why am I crying poor execution?

firstly this book has way too much 'tell.' Now I'm not trying to be authorly and snarky. It's just so much of the world building and some scenes (including what must have been the oddest sex act, described in the most blaise of prose ever.) Was simply stated by the narration rather than being included in the action.

For example two of the characters were curs, or lower caste daimons. Yet very little happened to really make this believable, just we were told this in the narrative.

My other qualm, is that this book was somewhat un-epic in plot. Despite setting up a high tension setting, I felt that was no overarching storyline, which also made the ending feel abrupt and driven more by the need for future books in the series, than an resolution.

I also felt that Carnival of Souls was two novella's combined into one novel. Despite Marr's best 'twist' attempts Aya's and Mallory's stories are only linked by the most contrived circumstance, and could have stood alone as short stories from the same universe.

Overall assessment - I will continue reading this series, but with mixed feelings.

Carnival of Souls was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. I think when I read the blurb I just saw "deadly competition that allows every daimon a chance to join the ruling elite," and made assumptions. I assumed this was going to be an intense action-packed book about this deadly competition that was also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I expected blood, guts, love, loss, heartbreak, crazy heart-wrenching/tear-jerking scenes.. Instead, the book kind of felt flat.

This was one of those stories where the book just felt like words on a page. I didn't get pulled into the story. I didn't feel like I was in the middle of the action. I just didn't care about the characters. And on top of that, I felt like the world building barely existed. For me, the world building is good when I have a perfectly clear picture of everything and feel like I could just slip away and exist in the fantasy world. But in Carnival of Souls there were so many unanswered questions or unexplained parts of the world. What exactly are daimons? They're shapeshifters, but that's basically the only knowledge I came away with.

Even the "deadly competition" just felt... lame. Melissa Marr could have really hyped it up to be scary, intense, and dangerous. But it didn't feel that way at all. At the very beginning of the book, two characters have to face what could have been a really intense fight, but there was no intensity. It was like two people going to work or something.

To make things worse, Carnival of Souls suffers from insta-love. When the story starts, Mallory and Kaleb had apparently already known each other for a while, but it's not clear how long. But they clearly aren't that close because Kaleb had never been to her house before. Then, he comes to her house for the first time, they have one kiss, and suddenly Kaleb is saying stuff like this:

"I don't have a cell phone, but I can get one if you want me to." He took her back into his arms. "I'm yours to command, Mallory."
--Carnival of Souls, Page 109

Yours to command? That's not even romantic. I don't want to command my boyfriend. They only kiss once and he's confessing his undying love, risking his life for her, saying "you're mine"?? Sorry, but this doesn't fly with me.

Furthermore, Mallory's whole situation was annoying. At first I thought she was an awesome strong character because she was running around with guns and training to kill daimons. But then there's all this annoying stuff that I won't go into detail about to avoid spoilers, but it basically makes her look like a weak character. And it felt like every other page she was saying:

Good daughters don't question their fathers.

There was a reason for that, but it just annoyed me. It made her look lame, pathetic, and naive. And the constant repetition of that line had me clawing my eyes out.

Let's be honest, there are a lot of people who love this book, so I don't want to say don't read it. Looking at the reviews, there's a good chance that you might like it. But this book just wasn't for me. It couldn't hold my attention, I was doing a lot of skimming, and was eager to just hurry up and move onto the next book. I haven't read any of Melissa Marr's other works, but it seems like if you enjoy her other books, you might enjoy Carnival of Souls. I'm really bummed that I didn't enjoy this book, but I guess sometimes it just happens. Maybe you'll have better luck!

My First Thoughts:
Well, let me start by saying that I was extremely excited to read this one. The cover is freaking awesome, I loved the title and concept. Plus, I had seen so much promo for this book that I felt as though I had been waiting forever by the time my copy finally arrived on my doorstep! So, was the wait worth it? Absolutely! I liked Carnival of Souls after the prologue, and was in love by chapter 3. It just kept getting better and better with every page I turned!

My Review:
This is one of the most original books I have read in quite a while. The world was absolutely brilliant! The City where the daemons live was crafted so brilliantly that I felt as if it was somewhere I had actually been in real life. The Carnival of Souls is the center of the city. It is where all of the commerce happens. Oh yes, commerce, such as: murder for hire, prostitution, and drugs. See that may make some people think, wow I don't know if this is for me... Well let me just say that all these things made the story that much more real, the characters lives more desolate, and their situations more desperate. It is important to know what is normal for the daemon society, so the reader can understand just how hard it is to change your lot in life in the city.

The characters were written in such a way that even if they were doing something that you would consider to be morally wrong, it is impossible not feel compassion for WHY they were doing it. This is what really made this book brilliant. It was told from alternating perspectives while never being first person narration. I feel this was a brilliant move because it lets you see so many different views of the same world that it is truly opened up into something with many layers. You really get to know each character intimately. This was such a refreshing way to read a story and I honestly feel like I've never read a book with a character focus like this. After reading the book, I feel as though even if I may not LOVE every character in the book, I completely understand them and their motives.

I cannot say enough good things about this book. It was sinfully dark and full of love at the same time. There was such an honesty in even the worst situations that they were always beautiful. This book made me laugh out loud and shed a tear in the same chapter! I truly loved Carnival of Souls and it comes highly recommended from me! Anyone who loves YA Paranormal and is looking for something refreshing and different, this is the one for you!