Enchanting little fantasy novel that moves briskly and is a lovely read. Definitely recommended for fans of the genre.

Firstly, a trigger warning for this book: in the first part, the MC deals with suicidal ideations.

Note 1: I would like to give a massive thank you to Rebellion Publishing and Tom Beckerlegge for allowing me to access an ARC of this book!! I appreciate that I was given this opportunity.

Note 2: I DNF'd this book at around 30%. However, from what I read, I would rate it three stars.

The Carnival of Ash by Tom Beckerlegge has a brilliant premise: A City of Words, run by poets and filled with libraries. That was all the knowledge I went in with as any novel that sounds remotely dark academic has me going all in!

The first part of the novel follows Carlo Mazzoni, a young poet sent to the city of Cadenza to make amends in his father's name and showcase his poetry for the town. Characterised as slightly arrogant and temperamental, Carlo encounters a lot of trouble when he first arrives, especially as the city's poet leader has just died. He is told early on in the novel that his poetry is childish and needs to be reworked before it can receive any acclaim in the city. As the synopsis had presented Carlo as the protagonist, I became slightly disoriented by the multiple points of view that followed in the subsequent parts. I understood how both Vittoria and Lorenzo fit into the story, but I was confused about how it all linked back to the novel's plot. Beckerlegge absolutely writes brilliant prose and is a talented world-builder, and he was able to draw me in with the first few lines. I became invested in Ercole and Carlo's friendship, until it had been so long since the characters had been mentioned, that my investment began to wane.

My two critiques of this book, and what caused me to stop reading, are some of the terms used to describe POCs and the, in my opinion, relentless male gaze. Firstly, some of the terms used within this novel could be viewed as problematic. In one instance, Carlo refers to a non-white character as 'exotic'. While I don't believe the author used this word to mean any harm or to have a negative connotation, it is not my place to decide whether or not the term is offensive. However, I do know that the term is viewed as a microaggression by many POCs as it is a term that typically describes animals. Therefore, I thought that there could have been a better word choice in this scenario.

Secondly, I must discuss the aforementioned male gaze. While it was not necessarily a negative aspect of the book, the continuous descriptions of certain female characters just left me feeling a bit uncomfortable.

Sadly, my high hopes for this novel were not met. Majority of the prose was brilliant, the world-building was great, and the premise was spectacular. However, several aspects of the execution were disappointing to me. Nevertheless, if you are a lover of historical fiction, dark academia, and complex world-building, give this book a shot! Our opinions could differ entirely.