The Carnival of Ash by Tom Beckerlegge

Synopsis
An extravagant, lyrical fantasy about a city of poets and librarians. A city that never was. Cadenza is the City of Words, a city run by poets, its skyline dominated by the steepled towers of its libraries, its heart beating to the stamp and thrum of the printing presses in the Printing Quarter. Carlo Mazzoni, a young wordsmith arrives at the city gates intent on making his name as the bells ring out with the news of the death of the city’s poet-leader. Instead, he finds himself embroiled with the intrigues of a city in turmoil, the looming prospect of war with their rival Venice ever-present. A war that threatens not only to destroy Cadenza but remove it from history altogether…

Review
As soon as I read about The Carnival of Ash I knew I had to read it, so pre ordered it. What drew me to this book was that it was set in Italy, it was historical and most of all the imagined city of Cadenza, a city of poets, writers and libraries: this sounded the perfect society to me as a book lover. You would think it to be a city of culture, learning and harmony, with the leader even being a poet. But what Tom Beckerlegge creates is a city in turmoil, with the leader dead, and the citizens not happy with the new leader, who is a bureaucrat rather than poet. As revolution begins, Cadenza finds itself in turmoil with the threat of destruction from both outside and inside forces.

Each chapter is labeled as a Canto, keeping the theme of poetry throughout the book. There are twelve cantos in all, with each telling the story of a character who lives in Cadenza. I was surprised by this as I expected a continued story rather than twelve seperate stories. As I continued with the book, I did get into the flow and the stories of these wonderful and memorable characters, and Canto Twelve did bring some of the stories together. Some of my favourite characters were Vittoria/Hypatia, an Ink Maiden, who writes letters to clients who are unrequieted in love. She writes of their fantasies and desires whatever they maybe. Lucrezia Pitti, punished for the crimes of her family who spends her time re-writing books to erase parts of the past that the Artifex, leader of the city, wants changed. All the characters are beautifully drawn, full of vitality but not all very nice.

Tom Beckerlegge’s writing is as beautiful and lyrical as the imagined poetry in the book. His descriptive prose and attention to detail bring the city into full technicolour; the fountains filled with ink rather than water, the less salubrious printing district, the many libraries and Accademia with their frescoed walls and thousands of books. What came to mind whilst reading this book was how much it reminded me of Renaissance Florence, with the beautiful buildings and with the names chosen by the author that had a Florentine connection like the Pitti family and Cellini. There is however a darker side to this book, the debauchery, violence, murder and mutilation in the name of punishment that gave a menacing undertone to Cadenza.

After a shaky start, I fell into the rhythm of this book, with the varied perspectives of the different characters, and the world building of Cadenza. Beautifully written with the perfect balance of fun and fivrolities and the darker side of the human condition, The Carnival of Ash slowly reeled me in until I was hooked. If you are looking for a different read, full of intriguing characters then I highly recommend you add this to your TBR.