Curator of Wonder

“Welcome, welcome to Caraval! The grandest show on land or by sea. Inside you’ll experience more wonders than most people see in a lifetime. You can sip magic from a cup and buy dreams in a bottle. But before you fully enter into our world, you must remember it’s all a game.” Caraval, by Stephanie Garber I first heard about this book when I was the Teen Services intern for a local library near where I went to grad school. One of my coworkers mentioned it to me as a good readers advisory option for a particular project I was working on. I read the synopsis and was immediately intrigued. Magical circus? I am into it. And I was, indeed, very into Caraval. The game, or performance, or world of illusion that Scarlett Dragna has waited her entire life to see was enticing and magical and had a spicy edge of darkness that made the game more exciting. I loved the descriptions of the island where Caraval takes place. A castle that looks like a giant birdcage, where time moves faster....

It seems fitting that the first book I discuss is one with "wonder" in the title, and worked throughout the fabric of the story. In this series, “wunder” is tangible matter. It’s from what much of the city of Nevermoor is built, but it has also become something to fear since the last Wundersmith of the age made his mark as a psychopathic villain reminiscent of Voldemort.  Rarely have I read a book in which the fantastical world is so clearly drawn, and so endlessly fun to imagine. This is the sequel to Jessica Townsend’s first book in the series, Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow. Though I started this book with very little memory of what happened in the first one, I knew I liked it, and I was quickly reminded of why. The world of Nevermoor is so fun . Morrigan, our plucky, grumpy young hero, lives in a hotel that seems a lot like Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. The eccentric concierge is consistently throwing massive, magical parties to compete with rival hot...