Review ~ Carnival of Souls ~ Melissa Marr

4 stars

Title: Carnival of Souls
Author: Melissa Marr
Published by: Harper Collins
Date: September 2012

goodreads says:

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.

Opening line: The man -witch- who'd summoned Selah was nothing like what she'd expected.

Closing line: "I'm going to find my father," she said, as much to herself as to them.

Everyone knows I'm a rather big Marr fan and I was very much looking forward to Marrs new adventure in the YA genre. Carnival of Souls is a really exciting read, gone are the fairies I'd become so use to with the Wicked Lovely series, to be replaced with daimon and witches.

I loved reading this book! Marr has created a new world that is truly intoxicating and I would love to take a roam around! I'm not going to lie though, I thought the story took a while to get into and not because it was slow but because we are introduced to so many things at once and I felt it took me a while to get my head around certain things, espically what the daimon are. Once you have a few things figured out it get easier but I think the daimons are still somewhat of a mystery.

I loved all the characters in this tale and there are so many of them. If we concentrate on Mallory for now though, she is living with her witch farther and knows the hatred witches have for daimons and if you ever meet one you run. But Mallory doesn't know everything and she's always had a feeling she doesn't really fit with the witches and once Kalbe enters her life things start to change and Mallory feels the pull. But you'll have to the read the story to find out more about that :)

I'm still not really sure how I feel about Mallory's character, don't get me wrong the girl has got balls but I think because her memories have been, suppressed should we say, she not as great as she could be and I'm hoping with the next instalment we see her grow. I really liked Kalbe he makes for an interesting read as does his relationship not only with Mallory but with his pack member Zevi.

I was very intrigued by the relationship between Aya and Belias. I loved Aya and she reminds me a little of Donia from the WL series, totally ruthless even with the man she loves. he it totally kick ass and fights for her right to be more than just another breeding female. But I can't say much about her though as it will spoil things if you have not yet read the story. She isn't what everyone thinks she is and Belias finds this out the hard way. Their relationship is a torturous one and I'm really looking forward to reading more about them!

With the start of a new series Marr has built what can only be described as a delicious world that I want another bite of. You are thrown head first into a world of danger where the rich and powerful hide behind their colourful masks, and the low levels of society fight to the death just so they can live.