Fantasy

Review: Spectacular by Stephanie Garber

November 27, 2025

Here we are, at the end of the series with a Christmas Novella, which got released last year. You can absolutely read the Caraval series without this one. For each of the book I wrote a dedicated Review you can look at if interested:

Book 1: Caraval
Book 2: Legendary
Book 3: Finale

Synopsis:

Snowflakes are falling.
Invitations are arriving.
And holiday magic is swirling in the capital city of the Meridian Empire.

It’s Great Holiday Eve Eve. Scarlett Dragna is planning a spectacular Holiday celebration for the city. Donatella is searching for the perfect gift. Julian is looking ridiculously handsome in green. And Legend . . .

Well, sadly Legend is not fond of the Great Holiday. Tella is hoping her perfect gift will change his mind. Unfortunately, she hasn’t found this perfect gift just yet. But it is Great Holiday Eve Eve . . . surely there’s some holiday magic swirling around.

Welcome, welcome back to the world of Caraval, where even holidays are not as they seem.

Review:

I was expecting a return to the world of Caraval, meeting a few of the characters and get a warm and cosy Christmas story.

Let’s start with the positive:
The illustrations were gorgeous and were what made the story bearable.

Now the not so good things:
Scarlett is basically overdoing it on the Christmas decorations and compensates for something she was not able to do when a kid. I’ll allow it.

Tella is looking for a Christmas gift for Legend. When she goes on the hunt to find something special, she ends up in a *weird* situation. I was very confused about that part and very close to DNF-ing it at this stage. That was very, very bad. This is a YA book, and I did not enjoy it one bit.

Overall, I could have done with skipping this one. The illustrations were the only thing making it even remotely bearable. If you are interested in the series or already own and and are debating if you need this one: The answer is NO.

🌙 Recension: Spectacular (Caraval #4) by Stephanie Garber
📚 Genre: Fantasy & Romance
📅 Release Date: 7. November 2024 (Box Set)
📗 available in Boxset
📱 Read as: Hardcover
💸 Bought
🗣️ Language: English
📆 Pages: 224
⭐️ 2.5/5