Review: Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr

Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr

Hardcover, 306 pages

Expected Publication: Sept. 4th, 2012 by Harper

Source: Gift

 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.

From Melissa Marr, bestselling author of the Wicked Lovely series and "Graveminder," comes a brand-new tale of lush secrets, dark love, and the struggle to forge one's own destiny.

This is a gritty and dark young adult urban fantasy that definitely had the Melissa Marr feel to it.  The book felt unique, with elements I haven't read about before and with her own spin on things.  I was really able to feel the Carnival of Souls and get a good picture in my mind.

While I feel like I should be raving about this book I'm just not.  I guess that I felt a lack of emotion while reading it and I'm not quite sure why.  I thought it was richly detailed, I thought it was unique and had beauty in the dark and gritty world, I liked the characters pretty well, and I thought the twists and turns were done well.  But somehow I still felt sort of flat and not the excitement I should have.

First of all my favorite part of the book was Kaleb.  He had a personality that I really enjoyed reading about.  But I think I still wanted a bit more from him, I just can't put my finger on what exactly.  And Mallory felt flat to me.  She was a good enough character, but I needed a bit more life from her.  I'm sorry that I suck at describing things, but this is just one of those books that I just can't say what my problem was exactly.  I just needed more.

I did like that we were kept guessing.  In the beginning it was so hard to determine who was good and who was bad.  Everyone had two sides to them. They weren't all good or all bad.  And that was great, trying to figure it all out and determine where things might be going.

The Carnival itself had a strong atmosphere and is one thing that really stood out in the book.  It's definitely dark and has a sinister feel to it and it worked well for this story.

Overall I enjoyed the story, but I wasn't quite wowed by it.  If you are a big Melissa Marr fan you will likely enjoy it.