Mini-Review! - Legendary by Stephanie Garber

 ***All Amazon.com links in this post are commission links. This means I earn commission from purchases made in the US*** 

Please do not use my links to make UK purchases.

Title: Legendary


Author: Stephanie Garber

Series: Caraval #2

Genre: YA, Fantasy

Amazon: USA

The Verdict:

I don't think I've ever enjoyed a second book so much when I found the first book so... meh.

Don't get me wrong - Caraval was ok. 

It was an enjoyable enough read. 

I did have some... issues... with it when I reviewed it a few years ago, but overall it was just ok.




Legendary? Is SO much better!

Maybe it's because the majority of the problems from the first book were not present - the Queer coding, for example, is totally gone.




Julian and Dante are still a little too ambiguous, racially, but they are less ambiguous than they were in Caraval. 

At least Garber uses the word Brown to describe their skin more often in this book, instead of relying as much on 'tan' or 'olive' ( - which I've been described as a lot, and I'm White.)





Legendary also has an epic love triangle (both M/F relationships) - I know, I know, a lot of people hear the words 'love triangle' and run for the ever-loving hills - but this one is... interesting.

...This love triangle is... juicy. I don't know how else to describe it. 

It's complex, and no-one trusts anyone else here! They are all keeping sh** from each other!

And it was genuinely great to watch them dance around each other as they developed feelings for people they really didn't want to develop feelings for.





Scarlett still provokes the urge to slap some sense into that girl, but thank the Lord, she's hardly in this book and isn't a POV character.

Instead we get Tella - who I kind of love now.

(In the first book, I wasn't sure I would have bothered saving her - so that's a definite improvement!)

Tella is so much more sympathetic here - seeing things from where she stands makes her actions in the first book make a lot more sense.




The whole thing just seemed to hang together better in this one.

Maybe because it wasn't trying so hard to be 'whimsical' all the time and also wasn't trying so hard to be extravagantly dangerous - real danger doesn't have to keep reminding you it's dangerous.

There's still whimsy here - it's just less grating now! 

(And a lot more like The Night Circus than Caraval, which ironically was marketed as being like The Night Circus, and didn't have that vibe AT ALL.)




Perhaps it's because this book has the game of Caraval as almost background noise.

It's not hinging everything on that one element, an element which varied a lot in its execution, and rarely evoked the imagery expected.




Legendary is stronger for it. 

This book isn't a plot device with some characters sprinkled in.

This book is led by characters who happen to live in, and therefore have to deal with, this world where the impossible can happen.

And that's where the magic happens 😉

Content Warnings:

A couple of things to warn you about here, dearest nerdlets -

- blood (MAJOR WARNING -- blood is a recurring theme)
- serious illness/injury
- domestic abuse in a fantasy context
- references to child abuse and neglect
- references to forced marriage
- violence
- references to murder
- references to suicide/suicide attempts
- grief
- missing people
- abandonment
- abduction





Buy Now USA - Goodreads

Have you read Caraval or Legendary? What did you think?

Have you read a series where the second book is better than the first?

Do you think love triangles are better complex or simple?

Talk to me! 💖💬

You can follow me on Twitter @CeeDoraReads, on Pinterest, and on Dora Reads @ BlogLovin. For more ways to support me, check out the Support Me page

Related Reading:

• Review! - Caraval by Stephanie Garber

• Mini-Review! - Switched by Amanda Hocking

• Review Time! - Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova

Sharing on social media or leaving a comment makes the world more sparkly! 😊

← Previous Post