Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr

I'm usually a fan of whatever Melissa Marr writes, but this one really wasn't my favourite. I really tried to enjoy it and despite the few positive aspects to the book, it just didn't quite cut it for me. The world building was really interesting and well done but the actual storyline and the flow of the novel seemed to lack details.

Personally, I didn't think it felt like a full novel and when I looked into it on the author's website, I was confused when I noticed that two novellas/short stories will be published, one as a prequel and another as a sequel, with no other books in sight. I think the book would have been more complete if everything would have been published together, and as it stands, the cliffhanger is a reader's nightmare. I guess it's good from a publisher's perspective in order to create more sale oppurtunities, but as a reader, it leaves me unsastisfied and unsure if I'll read anything else from the series.

On a positive note, I find Mallory is a well rounded and complete character that supports the story very well. With the many fluctuating point of views, it's not clear who spends more time at the centre of the story but one thing is for sure, the story revolves constantly around Mallory which makes her an unsuspecting main character. Her origins are a little confusing at first but as the story progresses, we get to learn more and more about her background. Personally I found it a little strange that her witchy adoptive father kept everything from her, even using magic to manipulate her mind to make her forget things. He even went to the extreme, hiding her daimon origin, but it did create some good anticipation as Mallory unraveled the mystery that had been following her around her whole life.

Kaleb is another interesting character, a low blood daimon who is trying to make a name for himself and trying to rise to the top of the daimon ranks. He inadvertently falls in love with Mallory as he stalks her when given the task of following her by assassin contractor. Their odd relationship is a little exaggerated, like many young adult novels but still kept me interested throughout the novel. I'm curious about how everything will end for them in the sequel, but I have a suspicious feeling the continuation of the series won't be all that satisfying.

I will hand it to Melissa Marr, however. She has a sneaky way of writing, making her readers scratch their heads about who the real antagonist is. Marchosias, the leader of The City, where daimons live, does seem like the ultimate bad guy. Every daimon is weary of him and only wish to be on his good side, but the seemingly all knowing ruler isn't encountered very often and doesn't give off an evil feeling when we do meet him. Evelyn, Mallory's aunt, appears to be a little more wicked, her hate of daimons really surfacing near the end if the novel. Despite her brother's fatherly love for Mallory, her hate for her adoptive niece is expected but uncalled for. The reason behind the war between witches and daimons could have been expanded a little more, in order for us to better understand the animosity between the two races, but the tension between the many characters is one of the book's strong points.

The world building was the forte of this book but in my opinion the actual storytelling fell short. Like I mentioned previously, it fells like the story was incomplete and the cliffhanger was just awful. And to learn that this cliffhanger will only be followed by a "short sequel" makes me doubt the series in general. If you're a fan of Melissa Marr or if you already have this book stacking your to read shelf, I recommend that you wait until the two short stories are published later this year in order to get a more complete feel for this story. I'm usually a fan of novellas and short stories, when they are used correctly as fillers, but in this case, I don't think they will be utilized properly. In my opinion, a series can begin with "0.5" but shouldn't finish with "1.5".

Posted by Tynga at 02:00

 Daimons, Harper Collins, Magic, Melissa Marr, Paranormal, Purchased, Review, Untamed City, witches, young adult  3 People left their mark

Tynga is a 32 years old mom of two, from Montreal, working as a lab technician in an hospital specialized in heart disease. In her free time, she enjoys reading all things Paranormal and photography.

Follow Tynga on: Facebook | Twitter