Carnival of Souls

Finished Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr.  I received a copy of the book from the publisher at BEA.  You can see the book’s special website here.

Summary (from Goodreads):

“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.”

I completely loved the mythology in this story.  We learned about it in bits at a time, which helped to avoid the “info-dump” that can sometimes ruin paranormal series.

And even more than that, I loved Mallory.  I think everyone knows what it’s like to feel different, but Mallory also has the added disadvantage that everyone (including the reader) knows more about her than she does.  (Although, to be fair, we don’t know MUCH more…but we still know more.)

I’ve only read the first two of her Wicked Lovely series, so it’s probably not that surprising to say that I like this book more.  (I do want to finish that series and read Graveminder, her adult title.)  Either way, Melissa Marr is now a must-read author for me.  I can’t wait for the second book in this series and I hope it comes out soon.

Recommended.