Tom Beckerlegge

The Carnival of Ash by Tom Beckerlegge is an adult fantasy novel. Most readers would much rather call it an alternative history book. NetGalley decided to put it in the poetry section! This is probably why the Goodreads reviews are currently at 3.18, when this book is clearly a 5 star read!

The book was published on the 15th of March, 2022, by Rebellion Publishing, and is 600 pages long. It’s the second novel by Tom Beckerlegge, with the first being Cold Trap.

I was lucky enough to receive show more an e-galley via the wonderful NetGalley, but I’ll be honest, getting a paperback from The Write Reads did influence my review, because this is one of those books that just hits me better in paperback. There are some books I can read as an ebook, and still enjoy. This one I would have enjoyed, but I would have wanted a paperback pretty badly!

Book Review:

The city of Cadenza is known to be a city of words. We have ink maids, who write smut for you, plagiarists who kidnap writers and compete to write the most beautiful ransom notes, and poets who rule. The city is threatened by Venice whose inhabitants would gladly burn it down; if the poets of Cadenza don’t do it themselves.

Of course a city of words, ruled by poets, is steeped in madness.

The story is told through 14 chapters, each called a canto. If you’re thinking that’s a reference to Dante’s Inferno, then you’re right. The city was ruled by someone close to the devil (not literally, but you get what I mean), and with each chapter, you go deeper into the darkness of the city. With each chapter the fall becomes more and more inevitable. Of course, there is hope at the end and they discover what they thought was lost forever. Each canto is told from the point of view of a different character, and each is linked into the story of each another, from Carlo and Vittoria, to Lucia and the Duelling counts. We even hear from Fiametta at the end.

The story starts with young Carlo as he comes to the city to prove himself a poet. He is not welcomed, to say the least, and becomes friend with a gravedigger for his remaining days in the city. They’re not very many of those, but don’t worry, he doesn’t die, and he turns out to be a lot smarter than he looks, even if he isn’t a brilliant poet. He also has a lot of emotional intelligence, which, as it turns out, is not in abundance in a city of writers.

Do keep in mind, that this first chapter is interesting, but also one of the slowest ones in the book because you’re being told the history of how the city came to be. That being said, it’s also your first taste of how dramatic and lovely and funny this book will be!

There is a lot of stuff on goodreads about trigger warnings, and I am not the best person to comment on those, I think you do need to remember that this is a city that’s falling apart. This is the descent into hell and there will be violence in there. While I don’t think Tom Beckerlegge makes it particularly graphic, I would like to stress again that I am not the best person to judge. show less

https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/2015/10/29/my-kyrosmagica-review-of-dark-room-...

I’ve been participating in the #redeyereadalong on Goodreads, and this is the last book in the series, read during the week 26th October 2015 – 31st October 2015.

I joined in the readalong with mixed feelings as I am a bit of a novice horror reader – I tend to be a trifle scared of reading frightening stories – but astonishingly I have found it really fun and totally enthralling throughout. I whipped show more through those pages reading five books in super quick, heartbeat time! There have been moments when certain passages I’ve read have turned my stomach, or left me hugging my duvet for comfort but it has been such a positive experience overall. So thank you so much to Chelley who blogs at Tales of Yesterday and Heather from Heather Reviews for including me in this readalong.

My overall favourites are without a doubt, Frozen Charlotte from week 1 and this final book Dark Room from Week 5! So the best were first and last as far as I was concerned!

My review:

Dark Room certainly started off dark and sinister and that’s a fact. The Prologue tells the tale of Walter West, a rich young chap, but don’t be fooled this, he is no sweet boy next door! If you are friends with Walter West and you’re young and pretty, don’t pop over to visit, well not unless you want to be viciously murdered.

In Chapter 1 we are introduced to the main protagonist a sixteen year old girl called Darla whose life has been hard, with a capital H, she certainly hasn’t had a fairy-tale existence. Her dad hopper is a drunken, hopeless fellow who runs from one unhappy experience to another. Her mother Sidney killed herself. Darla runs away from yet another bout of trouble with her dad Hopper to Saffron Hills. She finds that Saffron Hills has its fair share of beautiful people, is obsessed with looking good, and is home to the Miss Saffron beauty pageant. Not exactly a place to make Darla feel at home as she is a fairly plain looking girl.

There are a bunch of mysteries to solve in this book so at times it came across more like a murder mystery than a horror story. Though there are elements of horror in Dark Room, the visions that Darla experiences are certainly horrible, and this sense of terror is amplified by Darla having no control over these frightening and disturbing visions. As the story unfolds she starts to try to take control of these visions, but more about that later…

Darla meets with her artistic neighbour Annie, who befriends Darla and Hopper. Annie is a fascinating character too with a hidden aspect to her personality that is revealed later in the novel.

When more beautiful kids are killed Darla’s personality changes, she becomes this courageous kid investigating, trying to stop another murder from being committed. That’s when I really started to love Darla, undoubtedly she is the best character in the book, the one that you can’t help but root for.

Photography is used in a creative way as a device in this book, to reveal the next murder, but is also used to suggest the nastiness of the beautiful crowd. In one particular scene TJ takes a selfie with Darla to ridicule her and other plain girls like her. Natalie, Gabrielle, Ryan, TJ, Carmen are beautiful on the outside, but inside they are mean, unlikable, thoughtless bullies. That is not a criticism of the book, the beautiful kids are meant to be portrayed this way, a message is intended to come across. Beauty is more than outward appearance it is what you hold in your heart. The cruel message finally gets through to one of the beautiful kids, who eventually turns over a new leaf.

Darla’s friend Sasha is an interesting but flawed character. She is pretty but in a non-conformist, punk style of way. She is also quite unlikable, and comes across as pretty uncaring, and glib, until one of the kids who she is secretly fond of in the beautiful clique gets murdered. Frank appears to be Sasha’s errand boy, but even Frank has a side of him that is kept a mystery.

So a very intriguing story, full of mysteries, secrets, it kept me wondering, guessing… I guessed the murderer then I changed my mind, then I guessed again… Lots of excitement.

The ending was good but perhaps a bit far fetched so instead of a 5 star read I’ve reduced it by half a star!

Would I recommend reading this?

Absolutely, if you can stomach it! The murders are visually gruesome, made me flinch in parts but nevertheless I found Dark Room very absorbing. So go out and get a copy… Just don’t do any selfies for a while…

Warning: Not For Younger Readers.

My rating:

4.5 stars show less

Cadenza is a city ruled by words. Poets, writers and storytellers vie for power by sharing their works. Libraries and printing presses create the economy. Cadenza's Artifex Tommaso Cellini, an adept poet, dies mysteriously on the day Carlo Mazzoni arrives in town trying to find his place among the wordsmiths. Cellini is replaced by an Artifex more worried about budget numbers than words and the city rebels. Soon crime, plague and internal strife plague Cadenza as they prepare for war against show more the invading Venice.

Carnival of Ash is the story of a fictional city that is at its apex only to fall spectacularly and possibly begin to rise from the ashes. Written in Cantos, each Canto shows a point of view from a different citizen of Cadenza. As the Canto's continue, the character's stories begin to combine. Even though there are about a dozen characters and different stories to keep track of, the story seems to not be about the characters as much as the city itself and what can happen without a well-rounded society. The writing was verbose and pompous, fitting for characters who lived in a city of words; however, I expected some more word play, lightheartedness and poetry. The characters were all interesting and unique, each with their own flaws and failings. I felt most drawn to Vittoria's character and the tragedy of her circumstance. I was entranced by her story and how her words eventually took over. Carlo and Ercole, the gravedigger were another great pair. Carlo, who seemed doomed from the beginning, slowly finds his place. Ercole, an alchemist in a city of words brings in the next era. Carnival of Ash is an unexpected work with violence, ego and destruction.; it may not be for everyone but was an interesting read.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review. show less

The decay and destruction of an Italian Renaissance city devoted to books and writing
The fictional city of Cadenza is built around libraries. It was founded when a scholar fled Venice with a collection of books, and since then celebrated scholars, poets, printers and librarians. There is a fountain filled with ink in the main square, where poets climb on benches to read their works to the crowds. The setting is roughly the early 16th century (Savonarola, who was executed in Florence in 1498, show more is recent history in the book). The city is divided by a feud over a beautiful woman, between two poets of powerful families. The rulers are cruel but chosen by the Council of Seven, who represent the great families. There are many characters to keep track of, and a plot that winds through the lives of the characters, the town, the libraries, the Ink Maids (who write titillating letters to men for profit) and the search for secret and lost books. There is a gruesome murder solved by a friar, almost a separate story in the middle of the book.
Long but overall entertaining, evocative of the period, and well paced, but with anachronistic language. show less