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. Once in Caraval, Scarlett learns that whoever finds Tella first will win the game’s prize: a wish. As Scarlett follows the clues, she is forced to confront her fears and the emotional scars left by her father, and she must also deal with her evolving relationship with Julian. At the end of the game, Scarlett finds Tella at the top of the tower, where they have a confrontation with Legend and their father that ends with Tella falling to her death. Scarlett makes a wish that brings her sister back to life and discovers that Tella orchestrated the whole scene in the belief that Scarlett’s love would be enough to save her. Julian promises to be honest with Scarlett, and they both rekindle their relationship. Meanwhile, Tella receives a note stating that she needs to uphold her end of their deal.

In Legendary, the Dragna sisters are invited to participate in another round of Caraval in the capital city; this version of the game is being held in honor of Empress Elantine. Tella agrees to participate in Caraval in order to be with Scarlett and to fulfill a secret bargain that she made to uncover Legend’s actual name. On the way, she visits a fortune-teller who warns her that winning Caraval will come with a cost. Once they arrive, Tella discovers that the note she received at the end of the first novel is from Jacks, the Prince of Hearts. He uses his magic to slowly and gradually stop her heart; she will die unless she fulfills their deal. As Tella finds clues to solve the game, she learns that her mother stole the cursed Deck of Destiny, which imprisoned the powerful entities known as the Fates. Tella is attacked and barely survives with the help of Julian and Dante (one of Legend’s performers with whom she had a romantic fling). After recovering the cursed Deck from the Temple of Stars, Tella sacrifices herself to free her mother, who was cursed and trapped in one of the cards. At the last moment, Dante reveals that he is Legend, and he chooses to free all the imprisoned Fates in order to save Tella. Jacks returns Paloma to the sisters, who learn that their mother is really Paradise the Lost, the notorious thief. Empress Elantine dies, and Legend takes the throne.