What do you do when you've already tackled the fae and zombies? Well, daimons obviously Here's the deal, Melissa Marr could give a lot of YA authors lessons in world creating. Coming in at just a little over 300 pages, Marr still manages to give us a world that feels fleshed out, without overwhelming us. Part of this may be her distinctive voice. If this book is a lot about being of the "ruling class," Marr is there already when it comes to YA urban fantasy. 
 Liked in the Wicked Lovely series, Carnival of Souls gives us some strong female characters. Mallory is taught to fight and defend herself, but it's daimon Aya who really stands out. She enters the fighting competition at the heart of the Carnival of Souls in an effort to control her own fate. Aya fascinated me from the beginning. 
 Marr has always been great at crafting gritty, complex, and compelling characters. If Mallory can come across a little too "Mary Sue" at times, I want to chalk it up to her knowing so little about her world. In addition, Mallory is primarily acted upon for most of the novel. Her life isn't really in her own control, and there is no illusion otherwise. When she is contrasted so starkly against characters like Aya and Kaleb, characters who rule their own lives completely, the juxtaposition is harsh. But the very presence of Aya and Kaleb seem to indicate that Mallory's characterization if purposeful. While they get a one-sentence mention on the book jacket, this feels like Aya and Kaleb's rodeo to me. As this is the first in a series, I can only assume that Mallory has a much longer-term arc. 
 This novel has a hint of the "fated" romance. While Marr has Mallory acknowledge the absurdity of such a scenario, that does not really make the situation that much better for me. Fated romances tend to rub me wrong outside of fanfiction. It often serves as an excuse to avoid natural relationship development, character development, and/or plot. This does not necessarily seem to be the case here. And obviously Marr has already battled that tendency successfully in the Wicked Lovely series. So I am willing to stick around and see how it plays out here. Still, I was way more interested in Aya, who's first scene involves having to fight her childhood sweetheart, the person she would have married if she hadn't entered the Gladiator-like competition at the heart of the novel. 
 Carnival of Souls presents a new mythology I'm willing to see played out. 
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