{"id":123403,"date":"2022-03-23T07:10:45","date_gmt":"2022-03-23T07:10:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/?p=123403"},"modified":"2022-03-23T07:10:45","modified_gmt":"2022-03-23T07:10:45","slug":"the-carnival-of-ash-review-tickets-to-my-downfall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/books\/the-carnival-of-ash-review-tickets-to-my-downfall\/","title":{"rendered":"The Carnival of Ash Review: Tickets to my downfall"},"content":{"rendered":"

Set in a literary landscape populated by poets, The Carnival of Ash<\/strong><\/em> tells the story of Cadenza, a city whose trade is poetry and whose taverns are overrun with wannabe wordsmiths. When Carlo Mazzoni arrives at the gates in the hope of becoming the next lauded laureate, he does so on the day of the death of the city\u2019s greatest writer. Unwittingly stumbling into a restless city, stricken with grief, and on the cusp of war with its neighbour Venice, Carlo soon sees his plans derailed and is forced to evaluate what it is he\u2019s writing for.<\/p>\n

More of an alt-history novel than your traditional fantasy romp about enchanted libraries, The Carnival of Ash<\/strong><\/em> tells its story in multiple cantos rather than chapters, each from a new perspective. The literary trick is effectively utilised as a way to build a complex and textured political landscape, and the sweeping scope of the book\u2019s protagonists are all contained within the bubble of Cadenza, serving to build a pressurised melting pot of intrigue.<\/p>\n

The meandering method of storytelling delicately builds like a house of cards, with each character\u2019s story interwoven with its neighbour’s, which on its own is less impressive than the sum of its parts.<\/p>\n

Fans of effusively detailed world-building will relish author Tom Beckerlegge\u2019s evocative descriptions and Shakespearean wordplay, though this stylistic choice places a rather steep barrier of entry into his world of words.<\/p>\n

The Carnival of Ash<\/strong><\/em> is a delicate study of the demise of society and the slow erosion of self from dissolute corruption. While it doesn\u2019t stand shoulder to shoulder with Victor Hugo\u2019s Les Miserables<\/strong><\/em>, it shares similar touchstone themes of wretched futility and impactful political machinations. Dense, yet rewarding, The Carnival of Ash<\/strong><\/em> will suit fans of linguist acrobatics and lovers of historical fiction.<\/p>\n

The Carnival of Ash by Tom Beckerlegge is out now from Solaris<\/a>. Read an excerpt of the novel here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A writer is forced to reevaluate his plans when he stumbles into the troubled city of Cadenza in Tom Beckerlegge’s The Carnival of Ash. Here’s our review…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":119582,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"quote","meta":{"MSN_Categories":"Entertainment","MSN_Publish_Option":true,"MSN_Is_Local_News":false,"MSN_Is_AIAC_Included":"Empty","MSN_Location":"[]","MSN_Add_Feature_Img_On_Top_Of_Post":false,"MSN_Has_Custom_Author":false,"MSN_Custom_Author":"","MSN_Has_Custom_Canonical_Url":false,"MSN_Custom_Canonical_Url":""},"categories":[1624,8],"tags":[7169],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/CARNIVAL-OF-ASH-Cover.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123403"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123403"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123405,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123403\/revisions\/123405"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}