Finale

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes descriptions of death by suicide, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and death.

Caraval is a young-adult fantasy series set in the magical, circus-like game from which the series takes its name. The main series includes Caraval (2017), Legendary (2018), and Finale (2019), as well as a sequel holiday novella, Spectacular (2024). Stephanie Garber’s other series, beginning with Once Upon a Broken Heart (2021), is set in the same world.

Caraval follows Scarlett Dragna, whose childhood was filled with tales of the game of Caraval, told mainly by her grandmother. After the disappearance of her mother, Paloma, Scarlett and her younger sister, Donatella (Tella), are left in the care of their cruel and power-hungry father, Governor Marcello Dragna. Scarlett sends letters to Legend, the master of Caraval, asking for an invitation, but her pleas go unanswered for years. Eventually, Scarlett agrees to an arranged marriage with a mysterious Count, whose letters offer an escape for her and her sister. Meanwhile, Tella secretly writes to Legend as well, and they devise a plan to help Scarlett. They stage Tella’s kidnapping, and Scarlett goes to Caraval to find her, with the assistance of a sailor named Julian, who is a performer in the game.