Jaime's Review of Carnival Of Souls By Melissa Marr

Carnival of Souls

Melissa Marr

Release Date: September 4, 2012

Hardcover: 320 pages

Publisher: Harper Teen

ISBN: 0061659282

Source: ARC from the publisher

Rating: Loved

From Goodreads.

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.

Y’all I love Melissa Marr!!! So no surprise I had to get my hands on this book! And that I did thanks to Harper Teen! What I love about Melissa’s books is the grittiness in them. If you’ve read her Wicked Lovely books you know what I mean. She doesn’t pull punches and she writes what some YA authors wouldn’t even think of.  

Carnival of Souls is no exception. Heck I think it’s even grittier in some aspects than her WL series.

Carnival is set in two worlds the human world and in the city of Daimons and both parts were equally magical and dangerous. I loved the descriptions of The City! It was dark and alluring but also dirty and evil. I mean people sold themselves for all different kinds of pleasures just to survive, to eat, to put a roof over their heads! They also fight to survive or better themselves (gain in caste level). I fell for both of the daimons Belial and Kaleb they were so different but both equally awesome! They were not nice dudes just a FYI so if you’re looking for a nice guy it’s not them. They’ve both done awful things but they both had reasons. I also loved both Aya and Mallory. I do think I liked Aya a bit more. She was a big secret waiting to be unwrapped and I couldn’t wait to read more of her parts to see what was happening. And the ending OMG Melissa knows how to write an ending!!!! She has me dying to read the next book!

I chose this passage to share with you that was funny but also shows the differences between the daimons in 

The City.

Anger vied with worry in Zevi’s expression. Muttering to himself, he went over and stoked the fire, and then returned with one of the blankets from his bed. He sniffed Kaleb again as he spread the blanket over him. 

“Someone was against your skin, but you didn’t have sex.”

“I didn’t”

“Were you rejected?” Zevi’s gaze narrowed and he ran over to Aya.

Before Kaleb could speak, Zevi had bent down and pressed his nose to her crotch.

“No!” Kaleb yelled. His exclamation was simultaneous with Zevi’s yip of pain and the sound of crashing.

“I’m not up on cur customs, but I’m pretty sure that putting your nose there is not something you do with outsiders.” Aya had her foot on Zevi’s chest. “Don’t do that again.”

Also make sure to check out Melissa taking about Carnival of Souls! 

And there will be a trailer that was filmed in the Netherlands with professional fight choreographers so keep an eye out for that August 14th! Here's a couple pictures from it to tide you over.

Add Carnival of Souls to your Goodreads lists.

Pre-order your copy now!