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A review by whatjaninareads
The Carnival Of Ash by Tom Beckerlegge
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
I received an advanced reader copy of The Carnival of Ash in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for this opportunity.
Due to The Carnival of Ash's blurb about a city of libraries and it being labelled as fantasy, I had a certain type of book in mind and - although I try not to do that - went into this book with some ideas of what I might expect. Well, I was wrong. This book was nothing like what I expected nor what the blurb seemed to promise.
The book is split into 12 Cantos narrated from the perspectives of different inhabitants of Cadenza. The first Canto is indeed about a character by the name of Carlo Mazzoni, who arrives in Cadenza on the day the Artifex (the city's political leader, and also a poet) is found dead under a toppled bookshelf. However, the second Canto focuses on a so-called "ink maid" who gets paid to write letters of a certain nature to her correspondents. The book circles through the perspectives of poets, political leaders, and other inhabitants of the town and one by one, more of the corruption and intrigues that are going on in the shadows are revealed.
This still sounds fairly good (I'd say), but in contrast to that my rating is very low for the following reasons:
1. I wasn't invested in any of the characters at all. It took me a while to get through the first Canto due to the pretentious language and the lack of plot, but I was relatively interested in what would happen next, which was - nothing. We meet Carlo and the grave digger Ercole, and then they are barely mentioned for the rest of the book. The same was true for the other characters, and it prevented me from really liking any of them (or even remembering their names, frankly).
2. It was just so drawn-out and boring. It must be in part due to not caring for the characters, but either way I also didn't care who profited or suffered from the intrigues and thus the whole ordeal was plainly boring to read.
3. The male gaze and problematic language. Everything that concerned women was blatantly focused on their bodies, and there was so much over-sexualisation mixed with dubious consent. It made me feel extremely uncomfortable, and so did the ways in which POC or even the Venetians were described. Yes, this is alternate historical fiction, but "alternate" means you can very well choose not to write a male, eurocentric focus.
4. This book is labelled as "fantasy", when I'd say the furthest stretch would be to say that it has paranormal elements - which were absolutely and utterly unnecessary and didn't add to the plot in the least. This is such a pet peeve of mine. Whenever these elements came into play, they just confused me and, as I said, didn't enhance the story in any way.
5. The ending was both disappointing and perfect - disappointing because it was very anticlimatic and didn't help to wrap the story up in my opinion, and perfect because the same can be said for the rest of the book, so it fit the plot well.
The only thing I can say in favour of The Carnival of Ash was that the writing style was good and the world building was done slowly but well. Had it not been for either of these points, I would probably have DNF'd the book at 15% - which, looking back, I should have done anyway.
1.5/5 stars.
Due to The Carnival of Ash's blurb about a city of libraries and it being labelled as fantasy, I had a certain type of book in mind and - although I try not to do that - went into this book with some ideas of what I might expect. Well, I was wrong. This book was nothing like what I expected nor what the blurb seemed to promise.
The book is split into 12 Cantos narrated from the perspectives of different inhabitants of Cadenza. The first Canto is indeed about a character by the name of Carlo Mazzoni, who arrives in Cadenza on the day the Artifex (the city's political leader, and also a poet) is found dead under a toppled bookshelf. However, the second Canto focuses on a so-called "ink maid" who gets paid to write letters of a certain nature to her correspondents. The book circles through the perspectives of poets, political leaders, and other inhabitants of the town and one by one, more of the corruption and intrigues that are going on in the shadows are revealed.
This still sounds fairly good (I'd say), but in contrast to that my rating is very low for the following reasons:
1. I wasn't invested in any of the characters at all. It took me a while to get through the first Canto due to the pretentious language and the lack of plot, but I was relatively interested in what would happen next, which was - nothing. We meet Carlo and the grave digger Ercole, and then they are barely mentioned for the rest of the book. The same was true for the other characters, and it prevented me from really liking any of them (or even remembering their names, frankly).
2. It was just so drawn-out and boring. It must be in part due to not caring for the characters, but either way I also didn't care who profited or suffered from the intrigues and thus the whole ordeal was plainly boring to read.
3. The male gaze and problematic language. Everything that concerned women was blatantly focused on their bodies, and there was so much over-sexualisation mixed with dubious consent. It made me feel extremely uncomfortable, and so did the ways in which POC or even the Venetians were described. Yes, this is alternate historical fiction, but "alternate" means you can very well choose not to write a male, eurocentric focus.
4. This book is labelled as "fantasy", when I'd say the furthest stretch would be to say that it has paranormal elements - which were absolutely and utterly unnecessary and didn't add to the plot in the least. This is such a pet peeve of mine. Whenever these elements came into play, they just confused me and, as I said, didn't enhance the story in any way.
5. The ending was both disappointing and perfect - disappointing because it was very anticlimatic and didn't help to wrap the story up in my opinion, and perfect because the same can be said for the rest of the book, so it fit the plot well.
The only thing I can say in favour of The Carnival of Ash was that the writing style was good and the world building was done slowly but well. Had it not been for either of these points, I would probably have DNF'd the book at 15% - which, looking back, I should have done anyway.
1.5/5 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Sexual violence, Murder, Sexism, Sexual content, and Torture