Finale | Review // A Grand Finale Buddy Read

Greetings readers!

It’s been a hot minute since the buzz of Caraval’s final book was going around and naturally I am super late to the party. Thankfully, I wasn’t alone and my lovely friend Mandy from Book Princess Reviews joined me in reading this much anticipated book almost a year after its release.

Naturally, I pushed our buddy read off for like 4 months because I struggled to get my life together. But what’s new about that?

Regardless, Mandy and I had a wonderful time reading this book together and we got some interesting results!

Finale by Stephanie Garber

via Goodreads

Pub Date: May 7th, 2019
Publisher: Flaitron
Goodreads

A love worth fighting for. A dream worth dying for. An ending worth waiting for.

It’s been two months since the Fates were freed from a deck of cards, two months since Legend claimed the throne for his own, and two months since Tella discovered the boy she fell in love with doesn’t really exist.

With lives, empires, and hearts hanging in the balance, Tella must decide if she’s going to trust Legend or a former enemy. After uncovering a secret that upends her life, Scarlett will need to do the impossible. And Legend has a choice to make that will forever change and define him.

Caraval is over, but perhaps the greatest game of all has begun. There are no spectators this time—only those who will win, and those who will lose everything.

Welcome, welcome to Finale. All games must come to an end…

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The Likes

Garber’s writing doesn’t fail to enchant the reader! If there is one think I will never forget about reading this series is the language that totally and completely wraps around me and sucks me into the story. It is the most flowery of the purpley proses out there and honestly I like it. Are some of the descriptions absolutely out there and kind of bonkers? Yes. But are they also so attractive you can’t help not thinking about them? Also yes. Seriously though, Garber does have a way of completely enchanting the reader and thus enchanting the world that these characters are in. 10/10 I would love to visit this world, as a kindly spectator because I would not win the games and setting myself up for failure is not something I like to do.

I couldn’t put this book down. Let me tell you, I had a lot of issues with this book. It is chaotic as hell, but the chaos is exactly what made me so attracted to the story! That’s not to say that the pacing was great because it was everywhere, but the need to know what happens next, the mini-cliffhangers after each chapter, the way we are clued into things but get just shy of finding out what is going on is so addictive you can’t help but keep reading. It was chaotic yes, but you’re so sucked into the chaos you can’t help but enjoy the ride!

The Questionable

This was the Tella show ft. snippets of Scarlett. As a bigger fan of the older sister than the younger one, I struggled with this. It’s not that I don’t like Tella, it’s that she is a large reason for the chaos and it gets trying to follow her after a while. I’m telling you 90% of this book was Tella and her struggle with Legend, but that is something I’ll complain about later. The other 10% was Scarlett who didn’t get much of a word in more so than a dress change. I just didn’t like the imbalance we had.

The romance was overwhelming. I love the romantic aspects of books, I honestly do! But this book was so focused on the Tella x Legend relationship that I couldn’t stand it in the end. Every other chapter was a “He loves me. He loves me not” and as I mentioned before this book is predominately Tella’s POV so you can imagine how tiring this push and pull gets. Eventually, Legend lost his appeal to me. He was neither enigmatic nor charming, I just wanted him to commit or get out. Julian and Scarlett had there moments. I mean they were already pretty established and lets just say while I wasn’t looking forward to the drama with the Count, what did end up happening with him was so underwhelming. The romance also really messed up the pacing and suspense in this book because we always had to back to the I love yous. Blah.

We were cheated of the fabulous Fates. Both Mandy and I were so upset about how minimal a role these Fates play in the book. They are not totally absent but their potential was held back and it was a complete let down. Even my precious Jacks, who I know I shouldn’t be into because he is bad but I am who I am, he was so cheated of a great character arc in order to highlight Tella. If there is another book, I do sincerely hope he is the star.

The end was kind of cheesy, I’ll be honest. I mean yes, Love is powerful…..but come on give us more than that moral!

There was the most bonkers plan that had me screaming for these characters to stop and think. Let’s just say there was the possibility of incest and I cringed sooooo hard.

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Overall, I enjoyed the book for its chaos. It was flawed in many ways and chaotic in every way imaginable and YET I enjoyed myself immensely while reading this. Garber has a knack for sucking readers into her words and even though the ride is bumpy, you can’t help but have fun too!

Rating: 3 / 5 Stars

Recommend: I do recommend the series, it is fun in the moment!

Let me know what you think! Did you like this series? Were you satisfied by the ending? Are you interested in reading a next book as there is rumoured to be one?

Happy reading!

~ Rendz