Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr Review

Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr
Release Date: September 4, 2012
Publisher: HarperCollins; 306 pages

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 the first book that I have read by Melissa Marr.  I have heard of some of her other books, and how good they are so I was excited to get the opportunity to read this book.  Carnival of Souls is an excellent read.  I was hooked from the prologue.

From reading the synopsis, you would expect this book to be filled with gore and sex, but it's actually not.  I am somewhat squeamish, and cannot watch horror movies.  The way this is written the fight scenes don't go into excruciating detail, it's more of just giving you the necessary information of what's going on.  And any mentions of sex is described in ways that are appropriate for a young adult book.

The two forms of supernatural that are in this book are witches and daimons.  Witches and and daimons do not get along and are enemies.  Witches live in the human world, and daimons live in a world called The City.  While you mostly see the Daimon world, you also get to see the witches.  I think it's cool that you get to see both sides of the spectrum.

I thought this book would be told from Mallory's point of view.  Because the prologue is told from her mother's point of view, but it's actually told from different point of views.  I love the different point of views.  It really works in this story.  The reader picks up on things before the characters do.  In a way you can picture this book as a puzzle, and the reader puts the pieces together.  The way the puzzle comes together is absolutely amazing.  It's a risk because the reader can become confused, but it works really well.  I love how all the main characters are linked to one another either through a relative, friend, or mutual acquaintance, but they don't know it.

I enjoyed Kaleb's pov the most.  I like the way his mind works.  Kaleb is a cur, which is a low ranked daimon.  He grows so much from when he was first introduced in the book, to the end of the book.  I love seeing character growth in books, it gives the reader a connection to the character.  Even though Kaleb's pov was my favorite to read, Aya is definitely my favorite character.  Aya is just such a strong female.  She's a survivor.  She does whatever she has to do to live.  Even if that means giving up the one she loves.  Some of my favorite scenes were her scenes with Belias.  As a reader you can just feel the love they have for one another.

Carnival of Souls is very addicting.  I couldn't put it down as I was reading it.  It ends on a bit of a cliff hanger, so I wonder if there will be more books.  I really hope this is not a standalone because I would love to read more.  And from the ending, you can tell that this story is really just beginning.