Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Untamed City: Carnival of Secrets
    Unavailable
    Untamed City: Carnival of Secrets
    Unavailable
    Untamed City: Carnival of Secrets
    Ebook295 pages4 hours

    Untamed City: Carnival of Secrets

    By Melissa Marr

    3.5/5

    ()

    Unavailable in your country

    Unavailable in your country

    Listen to the audiobook instead

    About this ebook

    An extraordinary new world, from the New York Times bestselling author of the Wicked Lovely series.

    Warriors Kaleb and Aya will stop at nothing to destroy their competition. But when Kaleb finds his fate entwined with that of Mallory, a seventeen-year-old human girl, he can't seem to separate the vicious Carnival contest he's entered from his sudden devotion to her. He and Aya may be prize fighters from the otherworldly Untamed City, but his strange, obsessive connection makes staying away from the witch-ruled human world, and Mallory, harder every day.

    All Mallory knows of the Untamed City is what her elders have told her – that it's full of debauchery and daimons looking to destroy her. But she knows she's being pulled toward Kaleb with an emotion so fierce that it's utterly foreign. The two are forced apart by Mallory's overprotective witch father, stranded by necessity between warring populations that can't coexist. But when The City's ruler raises the stakes of the Carnival's prize, there's nothing Mallory, Kaleb, or Aya can do to stop the two worlds colliding. Mallory's about to discover her true identity – and stumble into a fate she'd die to avoid.

    Fans of The Hunger Games will devour this tale of lush secrets, dark love, and the struggle to forge one's own destiny from the bestselling author of Wicked Lovely, Melissa Marr.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins UK
    Release dateSep 4, 2012
    ISBN9780007476329
    Author

    Melissa Marr

    Melissa Marr was voted in high school the “most likely to end up in jail”. Instead, she went to graduate school, worked in a bar, became a teacher and did a lot of writing. Her novels Wicked Lovely, Ink Exchange and Fragile Eternity are published by HarperCollins.

    Related to Untamed City

    Children's Action & Adventure For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Daughter Of The Moon Goddess

      Jan 26, 2022

      RELEASED OUT NOW! 496 pages | Hardback/ebook/audiobook Author Sue Lynn Tan Publisher HarperVoyager On paper, this story has so many familiar elements (a plucky runaway protagonist trying to help an imprisoned parent, cruel monarchs, a handsome prince

      1 min read

    • Article

      THE OUTLAWS SCARLETT & BROWNE

      Mar 24, 2021

      400 pages | Paperback/ebook ▶ Author Jonathan Stroud ▶ Publisher Walker Books What a fun little adventure this is – although that’s hardly a surprise, given that it’s penned by the author of the Bartimaeus and Lockwood & Co series (the latter current

      1 min read

    • Article

      India Holton

      Apr 24, 2022

      India Holton
      1 min read

    • Article

      The Witcher

      Jan 14, 2020

      The Witcher
      1 min read

    • Article

      Left To Lose

      Jul 10, 2022

      Around the time she gives up her name, it starts to feel like this entire revolution isn’t worth it anymore. The world is probably lucky that Kelian—she still remembers Kelian, in spite of everything—is there to pick up the pieces, the way he always

      11 min read

    • Article

      The Chicken Line

      Mar 4, 2024

      The Chicken Line
      14 min read

    • Article

      The Bridle

      Oct 10, 2021

      Saliva pooled on her tongue beneath the rusty depressor. She endured a constant urge to swallow, afraid of choking on her own fluids. The taste of metal and blood are so akin, it is easy to mistake one for the other. This early in the day, blood was

      11 min read

    • Article

      Safety

      Mar 1, 2023

      IT WAS only a dream, a bad dream, and nothing else. The man in Vidal’s dream was stalking a woman, spying on her from the shadows, following her down a dark alley as she sought refuge from a downpour. The woman was vaguely familiar to Vidal, though h

      13 min read

    • Article

      Evenings with Clarice Lispector’s Newest Translator

      Apr 24, 2018

      1. “I’ve been working on the translation nonstop—it’s like I’m in a trance,” Magdalena Edwards told me in early March 2017, while preparing a gin and tonic at her house in Santa Monica. I walked there from my place—we live very close to one another.

      8 min read

    • Article

      Freedom

      Aug 6, 2020

      Freedom
      7 min read

    • Article

      Australia Reads At Home

      May 18, 2020

      Australia Reads At Home
      7 min read

    • Article

      Written In The STARS

      Oct 12, 2021

      Written In The STARS
      6 min read

    • Article

      My modern FAIRY TALE

      Dec 3, 2020

      The distinction between good and evil in fairy stories is always very clear, and though good doesn’t always win, evil is, if not vanquished, then at least exposed for what it is. However, the fairy stories I grew up with were very different to the ‘s

      3 min read

    • Article

      O Fortuna, Velut Luna

      Sep 15, 2018

      What is Miss Treece’s trouble, according to a popular notion? The man A has failed to show up. Arousing herself at the restaurant, she fixes her lipstick when her solo supper concludes and takes herself down the stairs situated behind the bar. There,

      3 min read

    • Article

      Milla’s Dandelion

      Sep 10, 2022

      The sun blinded Alchemilla as she entered the meadow. It was hidden deep in the forest, too deep for anyone to venture in without a reason. She didn’t mind the isolation, and if anything, it made her work easier. After her eyes adjusted, she took off

      12 min read

    • Article

      The Silence of Witches

      Dec 10, 2019

      The Silence of Witches
      6 min read

    • Article

      'The Hazel Wood' Has Few Uses For Enchantment

      Jan 30, 2018

      In Melissa Albert's dark take on fairy tales, 17-year-old Alice has spent her entire life on the run from her family legacy: a terrifying mythical world created by her grandmother, a famous author.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Sifting

      Mar 4, 2024

      CASSANDRA GARBUS is the author of the novel Solo Variations. Her fiction has appeared in Kenyon Review Online, American Short Fiction, Texas Review, Meridian, Louisiana Literature, and The Cortland Review. Lily slumps on the living room couch, absorb

      22 min read

    • Article

      Cricket Ceague

      Apr 1, 2019

      Penelope Berkeley, age 9 Mars Hill, NC Night had fallen, and Luna awoke from where she had been sleeping in a cornfield. She moved steadily through the stalks with barely a sound, keeping her eyes on the glittering glass rooftop of the greenhouse in

      7 min read

    • Article

      10 Literary Witches To Hex Trump

      Mar 24, 2017

      In case you hadn’t heard, witches across America—including Lana Del Rey—are uniting to take down Trump via a binding spell, which calls on the spirits to keep the President from doing harm (it already seems to be working). Covens, communities, and so

      5 min read

    • Article

      Ode to Joy

      Mar 28, 2018

      Ode to Joy
      6 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Untamed City

    3.5/5

    148 ratings25 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      I am totally surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I didn't finish Marr's Wicked Lovely series just because they couldn't hold my attention. I didn't feel they were original and that they were pretty boring. I stuck with them as long as I did because the covers were amazing. So, I was a bit leery about picking up Carnival of Souls. But, it was narrated by James Marsters (Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and I had some Audible credits so I decided to give it a try. Am I glad I did!

      This is a dark novel with risky topics. It's a cruel and violent world that Marr has thrown some wonderful main characters in the middle of. Mallory's totally clueless about her heritage but everyone around her knows the truth. I spent the whole audiobook yelling at my ipod - - just tell her already. Then there's Aya. I can't figure out what her agenda is but I know she's got one. She's deceptive and cunning and I can't help but cheer for her. Kaleb lives a horrible life yet he can't help dreaming of a better life.

      Let's not forget James Marsters' narrating. He's amazing! I think he greatly carried the book and make it much more likable than it would have been if I was reading a physical book. I'm actually pretty sure that there were a couple of spots where I might have decided I couldn't handle this and just put the book down. But Marsters is such an excellent narrator that I was entranced and kept listening. I am going to listen to each and every book narrated by this guy.

      This book ends on a horrible cliffhanger so I suggest waiting until next year to read it.
    • 4/5
      My copy says Carnival of Souls!
    • 4/5
      I picked this up in part because I wanted to see how good James Marsters does as a reader before spending money to get Harry Dresden in audio. After the snippet from Dresden and listening to this, OH WOW he does well. While the voice does subtle shifts for various characters, he definitely does characterization as he goes. It's amazing.I'm liking the uniqueness of this world so far. Magic users are all called Witches, regardless of gender. Daimons are demons, as near as I can tell. Then there are humans. We've not really faced any humans in this story so far, just Witches and Daimons. Some things are just taking from other pieces of history. We have a gladiatorial bout as in Rome, with the mob celebrating death. No surprise. Two main characters are part. Third character has a secret. Evil relatives. Hints and suggestions. Some common tropes, but I'm drawn in because the design is unique. I always start to worry when a book has this great build, detailed plot, but as I near the end, there is no obvious ending in sight. And this one does to me exactly what I hate. It ends on a cliff hanger! Where's the rest of the book? Where's the series! Don't leave me hanging like that!Definitely a good read, worth exploring the world more. Darker and much more violent than some books I read, but that is part of its charm. I'd recommend.
    • 4/5
      I need to star this off by stating that I tried to take my time with this audiobook. I want James Marsters to read to me all the time! *swoons*

      Melissa Marr does a great job with the world building. The City seems like a shady place to live, even if you're a daimon. I also loved that the daimons can shift their features. I was wondering if there would be any other supernatural beings since we have witches and daimons. There weren't any though. I was actually happy about that because there's already a lot of information about the hierarchies of the witches and daimons.

      The story is told from multiple point of views. I enjoyed this aspect. We are able to see each characters story, and how they all connect to each other. I think Kaleb is my favorite character. He's easy to relate to. Although, he's a tthe bottom of the societal ladder, he tries to remain kind of humble when it comes to his strengths.

      Melissa Marr has created a unique world. Nobody is who they seem to be. Everyone has secrets.
    • 3/5
      Gritty, sexual, intense fighting, insta-mate, torture, belittling of women. I have a hard time thinking of this as YA. it was very original, and has intensive world building, that is never boring.
      Mallory is raised in the human world by witches. She was taken from the Daimon world as an infant to save her life. This Daimon world is run by Caste system and our main hero ? Kaleb is of the lowest rank. There is one way up, fighting in this 'Thunderdome" kind of tournament. Many want up and out, some are just trying to prove themselves. This world treasures powerful violence. Meanwhile he is sent to watch/kill Mallory. There are twists on top of twists, it gets dark and then darker.
      Mallory, at nearly 17 she training to kill Daimons, she armed, she's fit and she does nothing with all that training. Fairly, she is over protected in this book and I can see her using her training more in the next.
      Kaleb, forces marriage, has sex with others, sells himself and it's all ok ? Then there is his pack and the devotion to it. He is a hard character to decide if I like or detest. His world is very different, harsh and does not follow humanities rules. He is a survivor.
      There are several other characters that I can't wait to learn more about. They seem as ruthless as the others, but I have no idea which way this story will go.
      I was entranced by the world and revolted by some of the actions in the world. Ms. Marr did a wonderful job with this creation, but be warned it is not a feel happy book. It's a dark trial, just beginning to develop. I will read the next book, I have to know how/what happens. Yes, it ends in my favorite of endings A CLIFFHANGER. arguh : (
    • 5/5
      This book is intense. The world building is seamless and perfect. I really really hope that someday we can entice Ms. Marr to write an adult book in this world because that would be something.

      I loved the characters and the people. I adored how this book is meant for teens but it's not sugarcoated in anyway. Some might call it controversial because of a few aspects but I love that it's part of the world and that Ms. Marr isn't afraid to go there.

      Definitely will be watching for more in this series. My only complaint is the ending. I hate leave-offs.
    • 4/5
      Great first book in the series. I love the idea of the fight between witches and daemons, and the fight to survive as a daemon or witch. The main chatacters are great and I am eager to continue to follow their journey.
    • 2/5
      Carnival of Souls has a great sound bite and intriguing cover. Who wouldn't want to read about a daimon world where blood and sex and violence determine your caste and lot in life? Who doesn't want to read about dark love and even darker secrets that you have to keep from your most beloved?

      See, I totally would, except I had a lot of issues with this book. Many characters were weak, each character revealed their main motivation too easily, the world was basically a bare-bones world, the transition from scenes of the city to the witches' world was not smooth at all, etc.

      The only character of note was Aya, with minor appreciations for scenes with Kaleb without Mallory. I pretty much skipped every scene with Mallory because it was the most cliche depiction of a female in a paranormal romance novel. I couldn't bear it to the point I seriously considered dropping the book, but luckily it didn't focus on her too heavily. She gets all the pretense of being considered a strong female character because she is physically adept with guns and hand fighting despite her "human" weakness. But honestly.... Is she that interesting of a character besides her parentage? The answer is NO. All she does is be a good daughter and fall in love with someone. And that falling in love is a very very stupid insta-love with freaking "magic" to make it legit. But that does not make it legit in my book at all. Just stupider. If you have to rely on magic to create attraction, then you haven't developed the characters enough to interact with love.

      Okay here is where it gets interesting. Y'know the last sentence I just wrote? Strangely enough it is only true for MalLory and not Kaleb. It's because Kaleb was given scenes that developed him as a character with the freaking annoying burden of instalove over his character self. He fought, he interacted with Zevi and tried to protect, he schemed and showed the reader his dilemma of being a cur, forfeiting and dying. He was skeptical of good intentions from Aya but had to deal with it. Even his decision to marry Mallory was an insight into this character. We were able to see something more from Kaleb than just dumb love. But from Mallory, all we get is a girl in love. Whoop de doo. What a waste of pages.

      Aya was also by far the most interesting character from the get go because she had a greater, more desperate secret she had to kept quiet. Even from the readers. Every move she did was based on that secret motivation. But the readers did not know, but could only guess as she stabbed her ex fiancé with a poisoned knife. That is what real characters should do. Have hidden motivations, change the world in some sort of way. Mallory made zero impact in the book. Aya, in chapter one, had already flipped the entire daimon world into recognizing upper caste women in battle. She concocts plans and executes them rather than just sitting around. Even her "romance" with Belias is interesting because it is a power play of some sorts. A question of true love or not.
      However, when her secret was revealed, it seems like she is a little overpowered... Future books will tell.

      I am not enthrall with the two world. Nothing is written to detail and everything seems to be compared to our world. I've noted many times where daimons were critical of their own world. But they know of basically no other world, so how would they know? It was jarring to see such sentiments because it felt like a human's perspective of the world rather than a daimon's. The lack of detail was frustrating. Caste system, a carnival of souls, red and black masks, curs, teeth and your true form. All of it was more like a necessity of plot rather than a revelation of the world. What do we know of the caste system besides Aya is the upper and curs are at the bottom? What do we know of red and black masks besides potential people who were them? The carnival of souls, what does it contain besides the battle for leadership? Does transforming hurt or feel good? Are there merchants in the caste level? Can a cur ever rise above the bottom caste system?
      There is nothing in this book. It is a bare bones world that hints of blood and decadence but never delivers.

      So. Subpar characters. A bare world. A mildly interesting plot.
      1.5 stars reluctantly rounded up.
      Not recommended unless you have a tolerance for the flaws I mentioned. I am pretty disappointed in Marr. I am not sure if I just read her older books so long ago that I wasn't as picky or cynical about these types of books, but I probably won't pick up the sequel. The cliffhanger doesn't interest me at all.
    • 5/5
      Loved it!!! I love Melissa Marrs Wicked Lovely series. She can tell such an amazing story and this is no different. She has a way of pulling you in to the book. I found myself unable to put it down. This book is told in different point of views. First we have Mallory in the human world and then we have Aya and Kaleb in the Demon world.
      Mallory is a demon but she is raised to think she is human. She knows demons exist and that her father is a witch but she is raised to hate and fear demons. She trains every day to kill demons and to be able to defend herself.
      Kaleb is a demon who is fighting in a tournament in the Demon world to try and better himself. He is the lowest of the low and if he wins the fights, he will become a rich and powerful leader. Also in this tournament is Aya, the first upper class demon woman who has ever entered. She is hiding her own dark secret which is the reason she entered.
      Both worlds intersect in this stunning novel. Mallory meets this mysterious dark stranger who happens to show up when she least expects it. She finds herself having feelings towards Kaleb.
      I loved both worlds that Melissa Marr created, The demon world is so dark and the Carnival Of Souls is a place where every bad thing you can think of happens. Its a story that after I read it I found myself still thinking about it and wanting to jump back into the story. i cant wait for book 2.
    • 5/5


      Wonderful. Dark. Sensual. Full of amazing lore.
    • 2/5
      This WOULD have been a three-star book -- being terribly mediocre, though I'm quite fond of a few of the side characters -- except that the entire climax has been postponed until the sequel. Considering this first book is only 300 pages long, I can't imagine why the writer would do that -- poor judgment all around. So, two stars.
    • 4/5
      Easy read. not Y.A. though.
    • 3/5
      Meh. Confused me a bit. Somehow it felt like a sequel though it doesn't seem to be one...
    • 4/5
      As a reader of many of Melissa Marr's novels, I wanted to give her newest a try. It was difficult to get into, just trying to get the world set up in my imagination. However, once that was established I couldn't get enough of this story. The story is set in a similar world as her Wicked Lovely series, but this one deals with witches and daimons.
    • 4/5
      I've been a Melissa Marr fan since Wicked Lovely, though I admit that I've gotten way behind, having missed reading several of her more recent books. This one, though, I simply knew that I had to listen to, because James Martsters, so I made time. Melissa Marr's newest differs quite a bit from her Wicked Lovely series, but shares the dark romance and gritty world building that I enjoyed so much in those books.Mallory has been raised knowing that daimons and witches exist, that her father, Adam, is a witch. Because of something he stole from the daimon ruler, she and Adam move constantly, and she's never had the chance to get close to anyone but him. What the reader knows and Mallory does not is that what Adam Stole is Mallory, the daughter of the daimon ruler, Marchosias. She is a daimon, but has been trained how to kill them, tutored on the use of firearms.Witches and daimons do not get along. They fought wars over The City, and the daimons won, thanks to the leadership of Marchosias. The witches live hidden in the human world; the daimons live in the demon world, comprised of The City and the Untamed Lands. The City is dark, violent, sordid, and built around a rigid social hierarchy. In an effort to provide the slightest chance of social mobility to his citizens, Marchosias hosts a competition, wherein daimons can sign up to battle, the winner obtaining high rank and a position in the government. It's rather like The Hunger Games, only made up of a series of individual battles during a long span of time, and the battles do have the option of ending in forfeiture, though forfeiting, for those in the lower castes, ends in fates worse than death.The story opens with Mallory, in the throes of her first real crush upon a boy named Kaleb. Reality strikes a blow when her dad announces that they have to move yet again. However, she runs into Kaleb unexpectedly before the move and they bond. What she does't know is that Kaleb is a Cur, the lowest of the daimons, and that he is fighting in the competition in pursuit of higher social status for himself and his pack mate. Even more, Kaleb has been contracted to murder Mallory, and he has been befriending her to that end. Their romance, while initially disgustingly saccharine recovers itself in Mallory's sane reactions to knowledge when she obtains it. Though I do feel bad for Kaleb's status and the life he's had to live, I still cannot like him because of how he behaves. Mallory, again, I sympathize with, but feel no real bond to because she's not had enough life experience or self-awareness to really have a personality yet.I have to say that I was really confused at first when the story switched away from Mallory to other characters. The transition was awkward and, on audio, you always wonder if you've missed something, accidentally skipped a chapter somehow. Furthermore, all of the Melissa Marr novels I've read followed one particular character and I expected this to do the same. Anyway, Aya and Belias, the other two main character, ended up being my favorites and I'm so glad she included them, even if it did make the story a bit harder to follow.Aya, a high caste woman, signed up to fight in the competition, the only woman ever to do so. That she did this is scandalous, both because women are for breeding and because, as a high caste woman, she already has high status. Her reasons are twofold: 1) she does not want to breed ever 2) she wants to be part of the government to improve life in the daimon world. Her situation is further complicated by her ex, Belias, who would have been her marriage partner and whom she does love (marriage without breeding is not an option for daimons), who enters the competition in a misguided attempt to save her and win her back. The tensions between these two delighted me. Aya, of course, I love because she doesn't want children and refuses to fall into gender roles. Holla!Though the characterization could use work, I still highly enjoyed Carnival of Souls' plot and world building. I have hopes that the characters improve in the next book in the series.Rating: 4/4Narration:I probably wouldn't have gotten around to reading this novel for a while had James Marsters not done the narration. Who doesn't want Spike to read to them for hours? Of course, I was expecting the British accent he used on Buffy, but he doesn't talk like that here. This turns out not to be a hardship, though, because James Marsters voice is marvelous to listen to in any incarnation, and I do mean any, since the Curs talk in annoying southern accents.Marsters has serious talent for audio narration, and I sincerely hope he continues to narrate this series and other audiobooks. He really is, Spike fangirling aside, one of the best narrators I've had the good fortune to listen to thus far. He even does a good job with the voices of the girls, even though many professional audiobook narrators struggle with the voices of the opposite gender. His narration for Carnival of Souls was all that I hoped and more.Rating: 5/5Audio or Print?:Did you not read all of that about how James Marsters is the freaking best? LISTEN TO THIS BOOK.Overall Rating: 4.5/5
    • 3/5
      This review can also be found at: Written Permission

      Actual rating: 2.5 stars

      Ok, so it was really slow going for me when I started reading Carnival of Souls initially. And I didn't want to blame the book, because I felt it wasn't the book's fault. But in hindsight, I think it might have been.

      The first half of the book was slow. There was a lot of information, and it was being presented in a very tell-don't-show way. The daimons and the witches hate each other. Ok. But why? We never hear about the great conflict that led to this hatred. Other details that could have been so scintillating were just, passed over. Like the carnival.

      For a book called Carnival of Souls, the carnival is not featured much. There is vague talk about different masks, but not what the different colours mean. We glean that black is for assassins, and white is for witches (which, if there aren't many witches, why have a mask for them, why not make them go UNmasked?) I just really wanted the magic of the carnival to come alive and grab me. Instead I was struck repeatedly with information I already had. Very disappointing.

      The characters don't really have much depth. Aya had promise, until we learn her reasons for wanting to change the way women are viewed is pretty much entirely selfish. Mallory has spent her entire life training to come up against a daimon, and not only does she not recognize one, but she fails spectacularly when she does. And Kaleb gave me all sorts of heebie-jeebies.

      The middle of the book picked up when alliances were formed and the info dump stopped for a minute. And then the last third or so of the book was just pure WTF-ery. I just couldn't even wrap my head around the whole thing. I hated the romance between Kaleb and Mallory. Apparently no YA book is complete without that instant love connection.

      I think, though, the thing that got me the most aggravated was that I was expecting this to be a stand-alone book. But no, now there will be at least one sequel, and really... is it necessary?

      Bottom Line: I had such high hopes for Carnival of Souls, but they were dashed by a severe case of repeat-shit-itis, YA-insta-love, and a meandering story that skipped what could have been the greatest details.
    • 4/5
      I like Melissa Marr’s work. She’s one of the few paranormal YA authors who doesn’t dress up her protagonists as flighty girls who are irresistibly drawn to the main hero, or if they are, the girl finds out the truth and very noticeably goes “Get the fuck away from me.” And while I wasn’t a huge fan of her previous book, Graveminder, I was really looking forward to Carnival of Souls.

      I immediately fell in love with this book and its world. The jarring contrast between Aya and Kaleb at the City and the barbaric Carnival and the normal human world where Mallory lives feels shocking when I first opened the book, but it served to pull me in deeper with the twists and turns. On that note, I love Marr’s descriptions, particularly the scenes set at the Carnival. If there’s anything I will give her credit for, she knows how to set a scene. She gives all the details we need to know, while adding an air of mystery. I also really like the world-building, with the rigid class structure of the City and how daimon society operates. The mask motif really adds an air of mystery to the whole thing.

      This is a book with a lot of characters, and while we get pretty much everyone’s motives, there’s still a lot about the City that we don’t know by the end of the book. And while some of the twists are fairly obvious or even outright stated, it really never brought down my enjoyment of the book. Aside from Mallory’s demon heritage, which we find out in the prologue, there was never a moment where I felt like screaming “JUST SPIT IT OUT ALREADY.” I also like that aside from Mallory, none of our main characters are particularly ‘good’ guys. Aya’s been manipulating several people in order to get into the competition, including sacrificing her own fiancé; Kaleb’s noted as an assassin and is willing to kill anyone who harms his packmate Zevi. (There’s also his stalking of Mallory. I’ll get to that.) I like that these are morally complex characters; that they don’t always do good things, but you want to root for them.

      So with that: TEAM AYA. Aya I love you. She’s probably one of the most manipulative characters in the whole book, but she does it in a way that tries to benefit everyone involved. And while her motivations may be questionable—specifically, once you find out her heritage and her reasons for wanting in the competition—I still find her reasons for wanting to rule the city admirable, and I want to see if Aya has other methods up her sleeve. On the opposite end is Mallory. Mallory isn’t as strong or memorable as Aya, and really, I don’t feel that she grows much of a spine until the end of the book, but given what happens to her throughout the book, I’m hoping she takes a level in badass in the second book. But despite being a passive character, she is still a good character—I liked that she does feel like a normal, frustrated teenager who wants the chance to do teenage things. And I even liked a lot of the relationship between Mallory and her dad (aside from the mind-wiping. Mallory does get pissed off about that).

      Kaleb is a lot more problematic for me. On the one hand, I can understand his protection of Zevi and wanting to move further on in the competition to get out of the cur’s life. It’s a large part why Aya seeks Kaleb out and the two strike a deal—they may have different motivations, but they can manipulate each other and everyone around them to get what they want. I am not so cool with the stalking. It’s…acceptable when you learn that Kaleb was originally doing it for an assassination job and just making sure that yes, Mallory was his target. Not so much when it gets to “OMG YOU ARE MY PACKMATE I WILL NEVER EVER LEAVE YOU” and marrying Mallory by proxy and against her will. Again, I’m waiting to see what happens in book 2 (specifically for Mallory’s reaction to all of this). I’m not cool with it overall, but there really wasn’t much to this book that I could react to.

      My only other issue with the book overall is that it ends on a cliffhanger. We have the main four characters finding out all the information about Mallory and her true parentage and then END. (I remember looking at one point and thinking “How do I have only thirty pages left?!”) Part of me wishes that Carnival of Souls would have ended on a more standalone note (much like Wicked Lovely did), mostly because a lot of the problematic issues that I have with the book go unresolved.

      However, I had a fantastic time reading this book. The world-building is rich, I love these manipulative characters and all their flaws, and despite some problematic issues, I’m waiting to see how these will be resolved in the long run. I’ve been a big fan of the Wicked Lovely series, and Carnival of Souls definitely lives it up to its predecessor.
    • 3/5
      The plot idea is fantastic. Gladiator style games mixed with demons and witchcraft. The characters are colorful and there is more then one story to follow in this book. My only issue is I wanted to know so much more and was pretty ready for the fighting games to be end so we could get to the meat of the story. Of course this book is to be part of a series which may explain the slow story development. The story for me really began at the end. I will be getting the next book in line as Melissa Marr has shown creativity in this book, but I am not racking my brain to know asap what happens next. This will be a good series to follow nonetheless.
    • 4/5
      This story was mainly told from the point of view of three different characters, Mallory, Aya, and Kaleb. All three of these characters are daimons, which are shape shifters that rule another world that has most of its population centered in a place called The City. This city is mainly run by a strict social caste system, and collects most of its capital from a market of debauchery, at its center called the carnival of souls. Every generation, the leader of the daimons and The City, Marchosias, holds a competition comprised of fights to the death. The winner of this competition is instantly elevated from whatever their social caste to the highest social caste and becomes one of the governing forces of The City, both Kaleb and Aya are finalists in this competition, competing to gain freedom from the different social castes they were born into. Mallory on the other hand is the lost daughter of Marchosias and is being raised in the human world which is ruled by witches, who happen to be the enemies of daimons. Mallory is being raised my a powerful witch in what appears to be a revenge plot against Marchosias. From being raised by a witch Mallory hates daimons and has no idea that she is one. Now when Kaleb is tasked with assassinating Mallory these characters' stories become a crazy, intertwined, but enjoyable mess.I enjoyed this book because it was fast paced and an easy read, with lots of different viewpoints to advance the story. This is definitely what would be considered a young adult book, it's full of crazy love stories and has its fair share of interpersonal drama. This book would probably annoy people who don't like teen drama in books, multiple storylines, or multiple viewpoints. Overall I would recommend this book, especially to people who like teen fantasy stories.Brittany B.
    • 3/5
      In short: Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr has a ton of potential, but is unfortunately bogged down with an exposition-heavy story that lacks in action and character development.Creating dark and gritty fantasy worlds is something that Melissa Marr excels at. Her books tend to have these really sinister atmospheres that make for edgy and dangerous stories. And Carnival of Souls is no exception. Enter the world of the carnival in which cage fighting matches and masked seduction occur in equal parts. Transitioning between two different worlds - the normal human world and the parallel daimon realm - and four different characters perspectives, Carnival of Souls has a lot going on and a lot of potential.Unfortunately, I didn't feel like the concept and premise of Carnival of Souls was used to its full potential. What should've been a dangerous and exciting read was more often slow and boring. I blame the crux of this problem on the poor world building. Melissa Marr has created a wonderfully complex world, but it is the execution of the set-up of this world that was lacking: a good majority of Carnival of Souls is exposition. The particulars of the daimon realm and the caste system are described at length and it really bogs down the story as there is very little actual action going on. The exposition-heavy story really hurts the pacing and reads more like a textbook at times as it is not integrated very well into the text.And I can't say I particularly cared for any of the characters either. We never truly get to know any of them that well and that makes it difficult to relate to them. The romances were similarly underdeveloped and one of them was another ubiquitous case of insta-love. I spent Carnival of Souls feeling removed from the story and the superficial characters, not really caring what happens and eager to set it aside so that I could start something more engaging. And I hated the ending.I can't help but think that most of the problems I had with Carnival of Souls could be fixed if only it was longer in page length. Very talented authors can get a lot done in very few pages, but I think even the most talented author would have had a hard time setting up such a complex world and still having time for character development and action scenes in just 300 pages. But as it is, Carnival of Souls was 300 pages of exposition - the execution of which was fairly poor and boring - and that's a shame because it really could've been a truly exciting story.
    • 5/5
      This is my first novel by Melissa Marr, and in all honesty, it's one of my absolutely favorite books read this year. In two different worlds, the lives of Mallory, Kaleb, Aya, and other characters are intertwined into a story that sucks readers in, bringing them to the edge of their seats and wanting to know the outcome of everyone's actions. The background stories and development of all of the characters from Mallory and Kaleb to Aya, Belias, and even Zevi was by far one of the best parts of reading Carnival of Souls. There was so much going on with all of these characters, I couldn't help becoming close to each of them, and I can see how much readers would definitely enjoy getting to know them. With all of the layers possessed by the main characters, even those that readers might question their motives earlier in the story will soon have the same readers cheering for them in later chapters.While reading I couldn't help breezing through the pages without needing any breaks, and this was probably due to the pacing and various changes between character perspectives. I was a little surprised that the majority of the story took place in The City with Kaleb and Aya; the summary led me to believe it would be more in the human realm with Mallory. However, the transitions between the two worlds were flawless, and I found the setting of The City to be darkly exciting in contrast to the "safe world" Mallory's father tried to mold for her in the human/witch world. I think most readers will enjoy the camaraderie of the characters, the intense life of The City, and seeing the prejudices among both Daimons and Witches begin to break down within just one small group. It is with much anticipation and a pounding heart that I await the next part of Carnival of Souls.
    • 3/5
      Review courtesy of Dark Faerie TalesQuick & Dirty: A multi-POV story that delivers a fantastic world that only Melissa Marr can, but in which I felt disengaged in several scenes. Opening Sentence: The man – witch – who’d summoned Selah was nothing like what she’d expected. Excerpt: Yes The Review: I’m a huge fan of Melissa Marr. So when I was given an opportunity to read Carnival of Souls, I was beyond excited. The cover was intriguing and the synopsis engaging. Carnival of Souls seduces the reader’s mind, and Marr paints a wonderful world. In her latest work of art, Marr stays true to her world building reputation, creating a world unlike any other. Magic and secrets, elites and lower caste, and most importantly dangers that lurk every corner fill the pages of this wonderful story. There is hierarchy within The City, surrounded by magic from daimons and witches. In the human world, there is little of The City that the humans know. For Mallory, living in the human world is only a safe haven, a protection from the dangerous of The City and the daimons. She has been protected all her life, hidden safely in the human world from the evils that cross the boundaries. Mallory’s adopted father, Adam has ensured her safety, moving them from city to city and teaching her as much self defense as one could imagine. Adam has taken something from the daimons a long time ago, and as of late, they have been determined to get it back. Mallory has rules to live by, which she has always followed, until the enigmatic Kaleb steps into the picture. He knows more than he lets on, but could it put Mallory in danger? Mallory has been hidden all of her life. She has always been kept in the dark from the world that she truly belongs in and in the one that she has adopted. Mallory has always been dutiful, only asking questions when a boy comes into the picture. In the beginning, I was all about knowing every single thing about her, until I was introduced to the other characters. Afterwards, I felt like Mallory blended into the background, and I no longer had any interest in her. Aya is a daimon born into the privileged ruling class. She has become a warrior in The City, fighting for her position to rule on her own, without a husband to rule her. Aya is determined to win the competition in order to change rule as her own and in turn changing the ways of her world. The culture in which Aya was raised in fuels the fire inside her. I found Aya to be a strong woman, strong enough to even do the unthinkable. She has secrets herself, ones that I found the most intriguing out of all the main characters. I was deeply connected to her and I felt that her concerns spoke loudly than the others. Kaleb is the lowest caste in The City, a cur, fighting for respect. He enters the competition to champion a better life for himself and his packmate. He was written for hardship and determination, fighting his way to be heard and respected. I valued that a lot, and Marr wrote him in a fantastic way. His interactions with the different characters was fun, and it allowed me to see the different sides of him. I had mixed feelings about Kaleb, but he eventually won me over. I felt like he had the most complex story out of the other characters. Written in a multi-point-of-view style, Mallory, Aya, and Kaleb told the story of The Carnival of Souls. With each thought and scenario, I was able to understand how each person connected with each other. I was able to understand the secrets that lied deep within the story. Marr’s story is sinister in every way possible. So many lies and secrets throughout the book, and as a reader, I enjoyed uncovering every single one. I felt that the different point-of-views took away from the story, and at times I felt myself disconnected to what was happening to the characters. I felt like I disengaged several times, and felt lost in others. I wanted more in one main story, more than a generalization of three stories. Carnival of Souls took many risks, some that I haven’t seen from Marr. Marr wrote violence with an art that took away from it’s cruelty, and mixed them with wonderful characters. The culture and heritage within The City was fantastic, and the magic established. While I felt there were a few shortcomings, I enjoyed Carnival of Souls overall. I must warn you, I didn’t like the ending at all, but you’ll have to read it to find out why. Notable Scene: No mercy. He didn’t like to inflict injury for point count before killing his opponent. He was decisive, but not cruel. If a fight started, it ended with a kill, but he didn’t torture. Until a match began, a forfeit was a solid win: it meant that he’d succeeded in winning without needing to take the field. Midmatch, accepting a forfeit was a sign of weak nerves, of an inability to do the job thoroughly. Kaleb kept to those rules, but he didn’t enjoy engaging in blood sport for the purposes of getting a kill-plus. Now, as a result of Aya’s play, he would have no choice but to do so tomorrow.FTC Advisory: HarperTeen provided me with a copy of Carnival of Souls. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
    • 5/5
      OK, I will try to be brief. The City: you don't want to live there, or even visit for that matter. Everyone is strictly divided by caste, fighting and murder is common as is prostitution. It is all available at the Carnival of Souls. The City is occupied by daimons. Witches have been banished to the human world but they still have influence in and around The City. Aya and Kaleb live in The City and are participating in the once a generation games that are held to raise one person to the Ruling Caste. Mallory lives in the human world and believes that she is just an ordinary girl who happened to be raised by a powerful witch.OK, enough background. I loved this book. It is dark and sometimes bloody. It is full of treachery and deceit. There is dark magic a plenty. But in this there is also love and friendship and hope. The writing just flows and I found it hard to put down. I cannot wait for the next book!!!
    • 5/5
      YOU GUYS, THIS BOOK. THIS. This is more of the viciousness that I craved within the "Wicked Lovely" series but didn't quite get, and I get all of it in this first volume of what has to be at least a duology (please god, please) of books. Books like this are what keep me hopeful for YA and New Adult's future - it's beautiful, it's horrible, it's delicious, it's sumptuous, and utterly glorious. Marr feels like a whole new writer in "Carnival of Souls", and I seriously can't wait to get my paws on the second book, whenever it might come out. Like "Fight Club" but wish it had more magical reality added to it? "Carnival of Souls" is your book.Though her "Wicked Lovely" series, I think it's safe to say that Marr has conquered the challenge for great YA fantasy lit - that is, worldbuilding. She very slowly but surely got better at it and built it up in that series of six books, but with "Carnival of Souls", she hits us all at once with two parallel worlds/universes: that of The City and Earth. Daimons (Demons or shapeshifting fey, I'm guessing?), Witches, and Humans all fight for supremacy over these two worlds, and the results are awesome. ALL of the characters (be them human, daimon, or witch) weave very cleanly back into the world of The City, and through her masterful use of sensory language and imagery, really gets across the beautiful horror that is this parallel world. The characters: What I think I love about this is that we don't have a romance forced on us between two (or more), characters. We have a wonderful set of MCs, though I felt that out of all of them, Kaleb was the most developed, with Mallory in second and then Aya in third. It felt a little uneven there, but because of how the relationship web was put together (I've talked about this before in reviews - it's also a type of worldbuilding where it's all about where you place character A, how they relate to character B, and how both of them relate to C, and so forth) and with the desperate hope/knowledge that there had to be a book two coming, I was satisfied with what I got. The relationship web was awesomely done, but I do want to see it stretch out further in book two on the witch side of things. The daimon side was the most developed, but I wanted more on the witches. Nevertheless, all of the characters that got POV time (even the most minor ones) were extremely well-rounded and felt like real people. It was like I was sitting next to them or watching them at the fights - it was that exciting. Marr has been known for her character creation for characters you want to root for (or despise), and she has created a wonderful set of misfits for everyone to enjoy in this book.Now, a question - how does one classify this book (aside from awesome)? Is it older YA? Or is it New Adult (the new genre where it's just a little over the YA threshold for content but not quite an adult-genre book, either)? I would say that Marr very slyly straddles the boundaries for both genres with her careful use of certain words and of certain types of content within the book. NA could use some new blood, and this one definitely fills that slot. I question this because the relationship web left me wondering - is Zevi in love with Kaleb (not just having "pack"/familial feelings for him)? If Kaleb considers Mallory "pack" through his romantic love toward her, how would one categorize the end product? Would it count as incest? Not that it's actually proclaimed as such - it's left all very fuzzy and up to the reader, a wonderful way to craft this story. By leaving a lot of this content ambiguous, Marr's able to claim purchase in both spots. And I love her for being able to do that.All of that being said, this book is definitely not for young YA readers. This is a dark book, but it glows luminously all throughout. I really enjoyed it, and applaud Marr for bringing a lot more darkness to YA/NA when it's needed the most, when it's trying to figure out what it is as a genre. Final verdict? If you're a Marr fan, you simply must check out this newest book. If you're not a Marr fan, check it out anyway! "Carnival of Souls" will be out September 4, 2012 from HarperTeen in North America. It's made my best of 2012 list and it's definitely a MUST READ for anyone. Seriously, it's that awesome.(posted to goodreads, shelfari, librarything, and birthofanewwitch.wordpress.com)
    • 5/5
      Carnival of Souls is an elaborately set up story. Daimons and Witches are more or less separated and at odds with one another. Daimons live in The City and operate under a class system. The only chance to change improve your class is through a battle competition once every generation. The witches are mostly in the human world and and appear to have some level of organization. Mallory believes she is human and has been trained by her witch adopted father to fear and eventually fight the Daimons. Aya and Kaleb are two competetors in the current battle. As the story progresses secrets are revealed and there are many twists and turns. I feel like I could benefit from a little more explanation of the set up and working of The City but otherwise no complaints. I am very excited to see where Marr will take this story in what I assume will be a series.