Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr

Carnival of Souls

Author: Melissa Marr

Publisher: HarperCollins

Pages: 306

Rating: 5 Striking Stars! 

In a city of daimons, rigid class lines separate the powerful from the power-hungry. And at the heart of The City is the Carnival of Souls, where both murder and pleasure are offered up for sale. Once in a generation, the carnival hosts a deadly competition that allows every daimon a chance to join the ruling elite. Without the competition, Aya and Kaleb would both face bleak futures--if for different reasons. For each of them, fighting to the death is the only way to try to live.

All Mallory knows of The City is that her father--and every other witch there--fled it for a life in exile in the human world. Instead of a typical teenage life full of friends and maybe even a little romance, Mallory scans quiet streets for threats, hides herself away, and trains to be lethal. She knows it's only a matter of time until a daimon finds her and her father, so she readies herself for the inevitable. While Mallory possesses little knowledge of The City, every inhabitant of The City knows of her. There are plans for Mallory, and soon she, too, will be drawn into the decadence and danger that is the Carnival of Souls.~Goodreads

Carnival of Souls was the very first book I’ve ever read by Melissa Marr and to say I loved it would be an understatement.

It was brilliant, beautiful and brutal. It was frightening, exciting and surprising. It was absolutely fantastic!

I fell for all of the characters immediately. Usually when I read a book where the story lines switch between characters I end up picking favorites. And when I pick favorites I find myself wanting to get back to THAT character’s storyline ASAP, but in Carnival of Souls that NEVER happened. I adored Belias & Aya’s narrative just as much as I FREAKIN’ LOVED Mallory & Kaleb’s.

I also loved how the book switched between worlds. It was an awesome contrast that really added to the plot and showed how large the gap between Mal’s world and Kaleb’s world was. Aya, Belias and Kaleb all live in The City where the Carnival takes place and oh holy wow! The way Melissa Marr depicts every scene is absolutely stunning and puts you right into the action. You are at the fights, you see the gore and hear the roar of the crowd. You’re excited and nervous. You don’t know who is going to win and who is going to play dirty. The fights were just so freakin’ remarkable. Hands down, my favorite part of the story.

I also ADORE-DORE-DORED Mallory’s dad Adam. He’s a witch and he’s protective and he’s amazing. I wants to reads more about him!

Overall, Carnival of Souls weaves enough secrets, stolen kisses and stabbings throughout the pages to keep anyone EXtremely intrigued! 

I HIGHLY recommend this book and I cannot wait for its sequel, Theatre of Deceit!

THANK YOU SO MUCH KAREN FOR LETTING ME BORROW! Love, love, LOVE YOU! :)