Finale: A Caraval Novel Stephanie Garbar

Helena | Biotechnology High School, Grade 10

Rating: ****

Finale by Stephanie Garber is, well, the finale of the Caraval trilogy. Alternating the chapters between their perspectives, Finale tells the remarkable story of Scarlett and Donatella Dragna battling the most powerful Fate, The Fallen Star, to save the empire and everyone they know and love. Meanwhile, they also need to deal with their own problems: Scarlett learns an unexpected secret about herself and needs to make an unimaginable sacrifice while Tella must choose to give Legend her heart and risk the consequences or to play it safe and keep her passion to herself. Of course, deciding who to trust and needing to uncover mysteries hidden in the past are obstacles as well. There are many possible solutions to defeating The Fallen Star, but only one will lead to a desirable outcome and the True Ending. Scarlett and Tella will walk different paths and will stumble upon different complications, but they must persist to save the empire using their greatest strength to defeat the Fates: love.

Stephanie Garber, once again, uses evocative elucidations and intricate details to bring the reader into the world of Finale. The dilemmas the characters face are well thought out and are poignant enough to make the readers sympathize with them. I do think that the climax was duller than it could have been, and I wish I was able to read more about the side characters because they were well developed and seemed to have captivating stories of their own. The story was also a bit too romance-heavy for my taste, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I highly recommend this series, and I think many people will enjoy it.