Fancasts/Dreamcasts

My Fancast/Dreamcast: The Caraval Trilogy by Stephanie Garber

Image from @goodyreads, my bookstagram account!

***Warning!! This Fancast/Dreamcast contains spoilers for the whole trilogy, so continue reading at your own risk! You’ve officially been warned!***

Hello readers!

I got another Fancast/Dreamcast to share with you guys, and this one is for a pretty popular YA Fantasy/Romance series: The Caraval series by Stephanie Garber! I’ll admit it’s been a fun and absolutely enchanting set of books with beautiful imagery, twists and turns in abundance, it’s like a fairytale with a scavenger hunt in Venice, Italy under the lights and the stars….

Here’s the synopsis of book #1:

A legendary competition.
A mesmerizing romance.
An unbreakable bond
between two sisters.


Scarlett Dragna has never left the tiny island where she and her sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval—the faraway, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show—are over.

But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt-of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.

Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. Nevertheless she becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic. And whether Caraval is real or not, Scarlett must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over or a dangerous domino effect of consequences will be set off, and her beloved sister will disappear forever.

Welcome, welcome to Caraval . . . beware of getting swept too far away. 

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To see my review of book #1 – Caraval – Click HERE

To see my review of book #2 – Legendary – Click HERE

My review of book #3 – Finale – is coming soon!

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Here is my official Fancast/Dreamcast for the Caraval Trilogy!

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Scarlett Dragna: Clara Alonso

Credit to Owner

This Spanish model came to mind when I was thinking of who would look the part of playing our protagonist of the first novel in this trilogy! She’s probably best known for working it down the runway of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show! Not sure about her acting personally, but hey, she certainly looks the part in my opinion!

Donatella Dragna: Ester Expósito

Credit to Owner

I’ve totally become obsessed with this actress, whose been in the Netflix Spanish drama, Elite. That show is full of unexpected twists and turns and extremely attractive people, so I know she’d be a great fit for this franchise. I think I read somewhere she speaks English along with Spanish, so that’s always a plus!

Governor Marcello Dragna: Jay Harrington

Image courtesy of the actor’s Twitter profile

Honestly, I don’t know much about this actor; his most recent work is being on the S.W.A.T. tv series, and someone else chose him as their fancast, so I googled him and nodded my head in agreement on this choosing. I only wish I remembered who’d picked him as their fancast, I’d totally credit them!

Julian Santos: Amadeo Leandro, or Ryan Guzman

Amadeo Leandro, Credit to owner
Ryan Guzman, Image courtesy of maxim.com

Julian was a little difficult to cast because I had a hard time finding someone who I considered attractive enough to play him! These two were my final two choices whom I’d be happy with either way: Amadeo is a brazilian model I’d discovered on Instagram years ago, and Ryan Guzman is probably the more easily recognizable to most of you. He’s been in movies like Step Up Revolution, The Boy Next Door, Everybody Wants Some!!, and he’s currently on ABC’s 9-1-1 as firefighter Eddie Diaz!

Dante: Alex Badia, or Mariano Di Vaio

Alex Badia, Image courtesy of the model’s Instagram profile
Mariano Di Vaio, Image courtesy of fashionnewsmagazine.com

Dante was another hard character to fancast because I once again had to find someone who I thought was attractive enough to play this mysterious and charming character! Both models came to mind of Dante, who has some darker features, and looks hella good in formal wear or out of it, I’d take him either way!

Count Nicolas D’Arcy/Armando: Dominic Sherwood

Image courtesy of glamaholic.com

He may seem like a really minor character, but he showed up enough times and caused enough drama for me to want to feature him, and as soon as the author revealed he had multi-colored eyes, Dominic immediately came to mind for obvious reasons! Some of you may recognize him as Cassandra Clare’s heartthrob, Jace Wayland, from the Shadowhunters tv series.

Valentina: Nathalie Kelley

Image courtesy of aconsciouscollection.com

Another minor character who doesn’t show up a whole lot, but I wanted to showcased her as well! Nathalie Kelley can be seen in both the CW Shows: Dynasty and The Vampire Diaries as the siren, Sybil. Actually, she was even in The Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift if you want to go way back!

Jovan: Keke Palmer

Image courtesy of lulahyers.com

Jovan was another minor character who’d made enough appearances that I thought she was worthy of getting fancasted by yours truly! I’ve followed Keke’s career all the way from Akeelah and the Bee to Nickelodeon’s tv series True Jackson VP to MTV’s tv series Scream Queens and Scream to the hit movie, Hustlers, and so on! Girls got mad talent!

Aiko: Brenda Song

Image courtesy of celebmafia.com

Why wouldn’t I want my original Disney Channel Queen to be cast in this role?! Aiko was a minor character who made our two heroines make some pretty hard choices in order for them to both win the game of Caraval, and definitely deserved a spot on my Fancast/Dreamcast for these books!

Paloma Dragna: Amy Brenneman

Image courtesy of fandango.com

I’ve really only watched Amy on the Grey’s Anatomy spinoff, Private Practice, but she’s exactly how I imagined Scarlett and Tella’s mysterious mother looking like!

Jacks: Dan Stevens

Image courtesy of the actor’s IMDB profile

I’ve really only seen Dan Stevens in the live action Beauty and the Beast, but with even just that movie, I feel like Dan would make an excellent choice to play this enigmatic and charming character! He’s got a handsome smile, but something tells me he’d make a dashing villain that we all secretly hate to love!

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The Fates:

Coming Soon…

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More will be added once I read Finale, so refer back her when I post my review of book #3

Thanks for Reading!

— Nick Goodsell

Fancasts/Dreamcasts

My Fancast/Dreamcast: The Folk of the Air Series by Holly Black

Image from @goodyreads, my bookstagram account!

In Holly Black’s enchanting and twisted trilogy, Jude Duarte is a young mortal girl when Madoc comes and kills her parents. He takes her and her sisters back with him to the High Courts of Faerie, and ten years later wants nothing more than to belong amongst the folk despite their hatred for humans. Among the worst is Cardan Greenbriar, the youngest and most sadistic prince of the royal court, and Jude must evade him and his threats in order to secure her place.

As she gets herself caught up within the many twisted webs of courtly intrigue, she discovers her own skills and willingness to shed blood and tell lies, and discovers not only a shocking betrayal in the works but a scandal that could rock the whole future of Faerie. Jude must make some deadly deals and align herself with some dangerous players in order to secure not only her own safety, but everyone else she loves too.

My book review for The Cruel Prince (Folk of the Air #1) is here!

My book review for The Wicked King (Folk of the Air #2) is here!

My book review for The Queen of Nothing (Folk of the Air #3) is here!

My book review for How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories (Folk of the Air #3.5) is here!

The Folk of the Air trilogy is full of twists, deadly surprises, and enchanting romance that entranced me into Holly Black’s world of Faerie, and has been a vastly popular series for fans of YA-Fantasy everywhere!

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Here is my official Fancast/Dreamcast:

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Jude Duarte/Taryn Duarte: Daisy Ridley, or Sofia Carson

Daisy Ridley, Credit to owner
Sofia Carson, image courtesy of Last.fm

Who I really need as is a young Natalie Portman, but Daisy is an awesome choice to play the twins if I do say so myself! Based of her portrayal of Rey in the new “Star Wars” movies along with her role in “Murder on the Orient Express”, she’d be great at capturing both Jude and Taryn’s split personalities.

Daisy was my original choice, but once Holly Black confirmed that the Duarte’s are Latina, I had to update that! Sofia Carson is probably a more fitting choice for the role of the twins in this twisty series!

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Prince Cardan Greenbriar: Mitchell Wick, or Raphael Say

Mitchell Wick, credit to owner
Raphael Say, Image courtesy of vanityteen.com

He’s got the flow, he’s got the smoldering gaze, and the sexy body! My pick for the wicked king of Elfhame is none other than this gorgeous male model.

I recently discovered Raphael, who’s an international French model, and is NOT afraid to show off in the camp get ups that we all know Cardan absolutely wears, so he’s a younger, maybe even more accurate choice!

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Vivianne Duarte: Ana de Armas

Ana de Armas

Ana de Armas, who stared in Rian Johnson’s whodunnit film, Knives Out, definitely has a certain look that I believe is quite similar to Jude and Taryn’s older half-fae sister.

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Locke: Jamie Campbell Bower

Image courtesy of wanda-martin.com

Just dye his hair a fiery orange, and you’ve got yourself my version of Locke! This British actor has been in the ultra-intense-popular latest season of “Stranger Things” and also is known from “Mortal Instruments: City of Bones” and even a small but notable appearance in Harry Potter as a young Grindelwald!

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Balekin Greenbriar: Aidan Turner

The older, more sinister of the Greenbriar siblings needed to be played by someone who is able to play a villain and look good doing it. I think I was watching The Hobbit movies when I came up with Aiden Turner as my choice, who was also in the And Then There Were None mini-series, but it worked!

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Eldred Greenbriar: Anthony Hopkins

If these books were turned into a film franchise, it’s something that no one would expect Hannibal Lector to be a part of, so I thought it’d be fun to see Anthony as the elderly king of Elfhame and get him all campy and fairy-like.

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Madoc: Keifer Sutherland

Kind of a random/filler answer to who would play the role of Madoc, but from what little I’ve seen on his old show, 24, Keifer would hold his own as the General.

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Nicasia: Aja Naomi King

I love her in ABC’s How to Get Away with Murder, and for some reason I pictured Nicasia being black—why not?—so Aja Naomi King would excel at the role of the elitist princess of the deep!

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Dain Greenbriar: Tyler Hoechlin

Another Mr. tall, dark, and handsome to play a Greenbriar sibling! Catch him from the Teen Wolf TV show that used to be on MTV (if you feel up to it, I know that sentence makes it really tempting).

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Heather: Kat Graham

Kat Graham has been a favorite of mine ever since her witchy days back on The Vampire Diaries, and she’s always switching up her look, so I thought she’d be a good fit for the alternative, artistic character named Heather.

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Valerian: Dan Stevens, or Dacre Montgomery

Dan Stevens, credit to owner
Dacre Montgomery, image courtesy of dacre-montgomery.net

Dan Stevens was pretty decent in the recent live-action Disney film, Beauty and the Beast, alongside Emma Watson, so he’s familiar with playing in fantasy settings for projects. After seeing him in “Stranger Things” as Billy, Dacre should be getting roles left and right now! He certainly knows how to play a sadistic and cruel fae highborn like Valerian!

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The Ghost: Matthew Noszka

Image courtesy of his IMDB profile

Matthew Noszka kind of makes me feel like he’s the gen-z version of Chad Michael Murray…he’s got the golden-boy-next-door all american good looks, a total heartthrob that both girls and guys can all collectively have crushes on! Or is that just me?……..

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The Bomb: Melvnin

This instagram model has such a beautiful, unique look; she looks like a faerie in real life!

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Oriana: Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth Paltrow is an actress who hardly needs any introductions or reminders of what films she’s done. Oriana always seems like she has a cloud hanging over her head, but she still pulls it off with such grace and splendor…Our girl Gwynie would rock this part!

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Queen Orlagh: Viola Davis

Since she works with Aja (above) in “HTGAWM,” why not have her play Nicasia’s mother, the Queen of the ocean?

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Asha (Cardan’s Mother): Sarah Paulson

Say what you will about American Horror Story, but there’s no denying that Sarah Paulson is an absolutely brilliant actress! Asha seems like an incredibly complex character, and I would love Sara to bring her character to life!

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Thanks for Reading!

— Nick Goodsell