The Carnival Of Ash by Tom Beckerlegge

The Blurb On The Back:

Cadenza is the City of Words. Run by poets, its skyline is dominated by the towers of its libraries, its heart beats to the stamping thrum of the Printing Quarter.

Young wordsmith Carlo Mazzoni arrives intent on making his name, but as the bells ring out mourning the death of the city’s poet-leader he finds himself embroiled in the city’s turmoil. A war threatens not only to destroy Cadenza, but remove it from, history altogether.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Tom Beckerlegge’s alternative historical novel has beautiful imagery and grounds the fictional city of Cadenza with an authentic sense of place. I enjoyed the conceit of dividing the city’s overarching story between 12 individual stories (or Cantos), but too many lacked a resolution (notably the one about the Ink Maiden Hypatia) and while some characters appear in multiple Cantos, none of them are as well developed as they could be.

Thanks to Rebellion Publishing for the review copy of this book.