Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr

"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."

 Title: Carnival of Souls

Author: Melissa Marr

Type: Young Adult

Genre: Fantasy/Sci-Fi

Tea: Golden Mojito, unique and delicious, but occasionally has its downsides.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Carnival of Souls is the first Melissa Marr novel I’ve ever read and I really did enjoy it. Her world building is interesting and she did a great job sucking me in with Kaleb and Aya’s stories. My least favorite part was sadly a main character, Mallory. Anytime I saw a chapter was hers, I dreaded reading it.

She, clearly, is supposed to appear tough with her gun and fight training. But she just comes off as whiny and clingy. Yes I’m sure moving around all the time sucks, I’ve moved enough to understand, but this girl just sits and feels sorry for herself. I understand how she relates to everyone else’s story, but honestly I think this could’ve been reworked and written without her and I would’ve given it a 5 out of 5. Mallory is one of the weak girls that I’m seriously tired of reading about in YA novels today. How will girls learn to be strong when every female “hero” is shown relying on a man to fix her problems?

Aya, on the other hand, is tough as nails. She is awesome. I’d love to read more about her. Her twist surprised me completely and I can’t wait to learn more!

I was under the impression that this would be a standalone, so I was a little disappointed when it ended, but I’m looking forward to the second one. Hope to get more information on that soon!