Carnival of Souls (Review)

Book: Carnival of Souls
Author: Melissa Marr
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 206
My Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Blurb:

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. 

Let me start off by saying this is the first novel I have read by Melissa Marr and I loved it! (Seriously I want to read the Wicked Lovely series now!!). Having said that, the description of the book drew me in from the moment I saw it on goodreads.com and I fell in love with the cover, it's beautiful. 

This book had me captivated from the first chapter. From the characters to the plot I was completely hooked and up turning the pages well into the night. I got frustrated when I had to put the book down to do other things because I just had to know what happened.

I loved the characters. Well most of them anyway. From Mallory and Kaleb to Aya. Mallory is cool. She knows how to fight and wants to do things on her own, plus she carries guns. Kaleb is a hardcore fighter who can be ruthless but is also caring when it comes to Mallory and his packmate Zevi. What isn't to fall for there? We find out a secret about Aya in the novel and trust me I didn't see it coming!

Now I did hate Adam, Mallory's step-father of sorts. Yes I know he was just trying to protect her because he loves her but some of the things he does are just wrong and he crosses many lines when it comes to his "daughter". And don't even get me started on Evelyn, she's cold-hearted and cruel. There is nobody she won't destroy if they get in her way and she will do anything if it has a way to benefit her plans.

I loved the location of half of the novel. The City is where the daimon's live and where the Carnival of Souls takes place. It is a city that has strict castes where people know there place. It's a city of both decadence and violence and I think that is what drew me in. The other half is located in the human world and while I did love this setting as well since it is where Mallory is, I was just more captivated by the events in The City.

Overall, this was a highly enjoyable and fantastic read. If you haven't read this yet I recommend you go out and pick it up, you won't regret it!