Day 20: 'Carnival of Souls'

'Carnival of Souls' is perhaps not your type of book if you're interested in literature. Then again, I don't fit in with my own perception of literature students who only read Chaucer and Homer. Regardless, I really enjoyed this book and I'm going to talk about it.

Melissa Marr is by far one of my favourite modern authors; her best-selling 'Wicked Lovely' series is about faeries (which I am hugely interested in: a lot of Irish poetry is about faeries) and it is set in one of the most expansive fictional worlds I've ever come across. There are about fifteen main characters but they're introduced gradually and there's never any confusion over who's who, unlike in many other novels which try to include so many characters. The characters are all very believable and easy to empathise with since the series is written from the points of view of many of the characters.

Clearly, I am in love with the 'Wicked Lovely' books. However, I was a little disappointed with Marr's first novel after the series ended, called 'Graveminder'. Don't mistake me by thinking that it wasn't a good book -- it was! -- but it didn't have the charm or the depth of 'Wicked Lovely'. Perhaps Marr is simply better at writing series' than stand-alones, since they give her a better chance for character and plot development; whatever the reason, her new novel, 'Carnival of Souls', is a-m-a-z-i-n-g.

It's the first novel in a young adult series (though, try as I might, I can't find out how many books there are going to be) about daimons and witches. It's not at all childish, despite the fantasy setting, which had lately been reserved for children's fiction. There are some very adult topics, such as murder, prostitution, marriage and class systems. Like Marr's other novels, 'Carnival of Souls' is quite character-based, but there's a lot of violence and romance, too.

Two of the main character, Kaleb and Aya, are fighting in a competition to become part of the ruling caste within The City, which is the daimon’s home. Kaleb is fighting to the death for the position winning will award him, not out of a desire for power but because his current position forces him into a life of prostitution and assassination just to survive. Aya, however, is already ruling caste -- she is fighting for a reason I shan't spoil. Mallory is a human who was raised by a male witch; they are on the run from daimons, who almost unanimously despise witches.

There's not much more that I can tell you without there being spoilers, so you'll just have to read it for yourselves! I'd recommend anything by Melissa Marr, since her characterisation and settings are fantastic and her writing is excellent while still keeping to fast-paced plots.