Finale (Caraval, #3)

by Stephanie Garber

Scarlett Dragna’s

OH GREAT. HER AGAIN. 🙄

“I told you, Tella, I’m not the hero in your story.”

she’d doomed herself to captivity inside of a Deck of Destiny, in part to keep him safe, and he’d freed the Fates to rescue her.

Oh yeahhhhh. Forgot about all that.

It looked like the color of wishes come true and fantasies made real.

🙄 Here come the weird similes. Let’s see how many gems I find.

dazzle

Twilight ruined this word for me. Still haven’t recovered.

He might have avoided touching her, however, it never stopped him from looking.

😏😏😏😏

But I realized as soon as I saw you today

5 seconds ago...

He was drawings of plants, and anecdotes about his dog, Timber.

Oh, come on.

“What about when you’re not needed?” Nicolas asked. Julian threw his shoulders back and stood taller. “I’ll let Scarlett make that choice.”

Okay, Twilight (Eclipse?)

an ugly key covered in greenish-white rust and scratches, the color of buried secrets that should not have been dug up.

What the hell color is that?

Jacks’s shirt had quickly dampened against Tella’s cheek, but rather than push her away, he held her closer. He rubbed circles around her back, while his other cold hand wove through her curls, carefully untangling them with gentle fingers.

😏😏😏😏

his unearthly eyes were the silver-blue of young girls’ dreams;

🙄 What does that even mean?

“She’s right up there, officers.” The proprietor’s starched voice climbed up the stairs, followed by two guards in royal blue uniforms.

Didn’t this lady JUST threaten to call the cops two seconds ago? What, did they apparate here?

Immortals cannot love. Love is not one of our emotions.”

Same.

“I want her here. If it were up to me, I’d keep her here forever.

❤️❤️❤️❤️

“Did you know the Midnight Maze isn’t just the start of the weeklong countdown to a new ruler’s coronation?

Convenient Scarlett knows all of this

Then she’d fallen in love with him, and it had been like drinking magic—indescribable, all-consuming, and fantastically addictive.

I actually like this simile.

what pure anticipation smelled like until she reached Legend’s Midnight Maze. The scent of red cloves and growing leaves permeated everything.

🙄 Okay.

the flutter of wings, soft as dreamy lullabies and delicate as butterflies.

Well, they’re fireflies, so.....

her toes curl inside her slippers

I need her toes to stop curling. This happens every time she interacts with him. She’s going to have arthritis by the time she’s 25.

“I want to keep you, Tella.

Reminds me of Casper! ❤️ “Can I keep you?” ❤️❤️❤️❤️

couldn’t be true, even if deep, deep down, a part of Scarlett reminded her how people often commented that Tella looked just like her father, but Scarlett held no resemblance to him. Her mother had also married her father after a whirlwind romance, which Scarlett had heard servants whispering about a few years back. They said it was only a quick marriage because Paloma had been pregnant—and some of the maids had sworn it wasn’t with Marcello Dragna’s child.

Fascinating that this literally never came up before now. Thanks, plot point!

Scarlett’s birth father.

This is weird AF wording.

But none of them had an easy time of things. They all had to jump back more than once to avoid being kicked in the stomach or punched in the face as they worked to undo the servants’ bonds.

The pacing in this is terrible. Were the first two this bad and I just didn’t notice because other things annoyed me? I can’t DNF this. I can’t. I’ve come too far.

But after what they’d just experienced, none of them contradicted her.

SERIOUSLY. PACING IS SO BAD. WHAT THE HELL EDITOR ALLOWED THIS?

“But I have to do this. I think I might be the key to defeating the Fates.”

Where the hell did this idea come from?

“But I knew I had to as soon as I saw those servants.

So....4 seconds ago.

“I’m not asking either of you to let me do this. It’s my choice, not yours. So I’m only asking you not to stop me.

Not sure how this is different...

He looked like a wish that had just woken up.

🙄 Am I supposed to have a clue what this looks like....?

Scarlett would willingly sacrifice herself—destroy herself—if she felt it was the right thing.

Hufflepuff or Gryffindor

Tella was more like Paloma, willing to do whatever it took, even if it was the wrong thing, if it got her what she needed.

Slytherin 🐍 Would’ve been nice to be SHOWN this character trait, rather than told.

Everything smelled of dust trapped in light, cracked leather, and wayward dreams.

Wayward dreams?? Is that a scent you buy at Victoria’s Secret?

But a part of her felt it. If she was being really honest, she’d felt it since the night it had happened, when she’d decided to lie there with him, to sleep beside him instead of leave.

So great that she’s so suddenly figuring this out. Very convenient. If only this had been hinted at before now............

His eyes closed. Then his arms were around her. He picked her up in a rush, laid her on the massive bed, and took her lips with his again.

Alright, you have my attention. 😏

Tella’s dreams tasted of ink, blood, and unrequited love.

🙄 Wow, what a pleasant mixture. Totally know what unrequited love tastes like.

it was time to start loving her mother the same way.

🙄 Okay. Nice lead up. You’ve hated her for hundreds of pages, but just decided in this paragraph that you don’t anymore.

Her performance had failed to elicit any feelings of love, so maybe it was time to stop performing.

This performance LITERALLY lasted 4 ebook pages.