Carnival Row: Tangle in the Dark

By: Stephanie K. Smith

Narrated by: Karla Crome

Length: 3 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's Summary

Tourmaline Larou lives an idyllic life of learning by day and partying by night. An aspiring poet, her future promises nothing less than brilliance. Then, Vignette Stonemoss walks through the door, and Tourmaline’s world is upended. As she struggles to understand the effect this stranger has on her, Tourmaline and her fellow fae face a looming threat from the human world. War is on the horizon, and their very existence is at stake. And Tourmaline will discover whether love will save her—or destroy her.

Carnival Row: Tangle in the Dark is set in the world of the Amazon Original series Carnival Row, created by Travis Beacham and René Echevarria. Carnival Row is available only on Amazon Prime Video. 

Note: Carnival Row contains adult material and graphic language. Listener discretion is advised. 

©2019 Legendary Television (P)2019 Audible Originals, LLC.

I have never watched Carnival Row, but still good.

This really wasn't a bad book, but I feel it was written for people who are familiar with the show. This book gave zero world building, and while I learned a little about the political situation, the fact that faeries can actually fly, and that there MAY be other creatures besides faeries and humans, a little world building would have been greatly appreciated. Overlooking this, it really was a decent book. It had some nice character development that made me care about the main character, some interesting romantic elements, and some chaos and strife near the end. This made for a story that I was happily interested in and enjoyed. Still, I feel this would have been something much better if I had watched the show and had much more baseline knowledge about the world and the people in it.

Meh

Having no knowledge of Carnival Row, this story was not very engaging to me. It didn't seem like a standalone book, and I found myself just waiting for it to end. The narrator was fantastic, but I didn't think the storyline held much interest.

Could have done with less sex and more fantasy

I can sum up the whole fantasy part in a few words: faeries can fly. The rest of the book consists basically only of sex or lamenting about not having any. And there was me thinking this is a fantasy series. Stupid me.

Not Impressed...Wouldn’t Waste a Credit

I saw Carnival Row, and was thrilled to see this unexpected title associated with the Series..
So, I saw the character Tramouline, and she was pretty interesting..playing a prostitute in a new land, sort of a shanty town for those fleeing from the Pack’s (Pax?, Pak’s?) rolling tide over their previously peaceful continent..HOWEVER, This tale takes place long prior to that time. Tramouline struck me as a Free Spirit, yet, with an underlying strength, independence, and intelligence, who never quite got over (and was forever vulnerable to) a certain Love of her life. It was that combination of strength and vulnerability, that made me look forward to the idea of hearing much more of Tramouline’s back story (aka This Tale)... Unfortunately, as far as this side background story, ultimately, I wasn’t at all impressed..worse, I was utterly Disappointed!

I found it excruciatingly slow, with Zero action, unless that is You are referring to the girl on girl type, and I guess there was plenty of that in its own way..honestly, I found that B-oring , too!

This turned out to just be a story about two women from completely opposite social stations and worlds, that have a typical “when I was in college, I slept with a woman” affair, that takes place right before a major war/invasion of a continent, that forever rips asunder both of their lives, their worlds, their futures..

It was very Ho-Humm...and rather BOR-ING in my view...It felt like it tried to be akin to Sense and Sensibility with its Social Dynamic as shown through an intertwined and complicated female relationship, But, it was in that effort, that this tale totally fell flat!!

Would I recommend this book? Nope...
Would I listen to it again, Nope
Did I Enjoy this listen/Read?...Meh, Not Really..*Yawn*
Personally, I would skip this book and just go Read/Listen to an audio book, that You will or even just ‘might’, Enjoy, because I can’t imagine a Reader actually Enjoying this one..

Whether it is from a:
• Lesbian Relationship Story - it is seriously slow, and utterly dull and NOT Believable (imho), really, what lesbian relationship that You have ever heard of, had drama at a level of zero intensity? While it was complicated, both characters lacked depth or even emotional range. There both wet noodles that even at their most frustrated, angry, mad, or passionate, their emotions equaled and excitement and energy at the equivalent of watching paint dry.
• Coming of Age Story - Two College Age Women dealing with finding themselves, during a Period of history, filled full of Angst on a daily basis, as concerns about their futures build, as their World, and although a million miles apart, as both of their Social levels are directly effected by the turbulent Pre-War/Invasion times. Fleeing is a privilege of the Wealthy, Staying and Surviving isn’t an option when You’re poor and without resources, it is simply Your life. And even this area was left unexplored and could have held so much opportunity to add depth to this tale, but Nope.
• Time of War Story - Generally, Everything within could have been started, explained, and finished, on one or maximum two sides of one piece of 8 1/2 x 11” paper. Don’t believe me?
**** SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT****
T=Snobby High Society, Party Girl, meets V=Country Bumpkin new college roommate wallflower. As expected, they hate each other on sight. In truth, T finds V interesting, because V is openly hostile, and doesn’t give T an inch of allowance, just because she has money, social status, friends, etc. In reality, V is jealous of T’s out going personality, and the ease T moves through Society and Life. T and V bump heads, then eventually call a mutual truce, and try to spend time together to appreciate the other’s life and perspective. Then one fateful moment, when emotions are high, as they go out and about, at one amazing location, suddenly nose to nose, they give into their hidden feelings and sparks fly. After entering into an affair, time passes, and the reality of the numerous differences between their personalities, their social status, their priorities, and maturity levels, tears the pair apart. Then the Real War and Devastation begins, and as a City full of people flees for their lives before the coming tide of war, One tries to use her Social status, Her ties, and all of her personal assets, to save herself, and the other, and the other One tries to just simply find a way to Survive what comes next. (The End — and that paragraph was more exciting than the characters/storyline.)

With the depth of characters, and set up provided by the Carnival Row Series, there was so much potential and opportunity for this, and other supporting characters, or back stories of main characters, or even opportunity to explore new characters, but...Nope!..,All of that effort sadly ignored and wasted, just like all the time I spent listening to this ‘Read’, too bad, I nor the publisher can go back in time and recoup our losses, me, my wasted time, and them, their wasted investment!

Lesbian Fae Poetry meanderings

Not much happens in this story. The main character is a lesbian fae poet professor that works at a brothel. There is some slight connection to the Carnival Row TV series, but it's mostly dealing with lesbian issues. I have a feeling this was originally written as a non-fantasy piece about a lady eventually being nominated to be a Poet Laureate, and then Carnival Row came out and the story got a smattering or edits to fit that genre.

as good as the series

I loved it and wished there were more books. the narrator was incredible. I didn't want to stop listening.

Strictly for Carnival Row Fans

Carnival Row is trying to be the next Game of Thrones. I thought is was OK, but certainly no GoT. But one of my favorite characters was Tourmaline, portrayed by the absolutely stunning Karla Chrome. So a free Audible Original Carnival Row tie-in story about Tourmaline narrated in the first person by Karla Chrome was highly appealing.

The story, about how Tourmaline first met Vignette and fell in fairy love, only to be torn apart by the war and a human, is, like the series, OK, just OK. If not for my fascination with the character and narrator, I might have been bored to tears. If you've seen Carnival Row, you'll probably like this. If not, no reason to bother.

Boring, boring, boring..

I should have stopped after the first chapter. What was the point of this story?

Such a Treat!

I love the show, but was so disappointed to learn that it wasn't based on a book, or series of books. When this showed up as an Audible Original I downloaded immediately! It's such a great companion to the show, and fans will love it. So many audio books have disappointed me lately; I'm a firm believer in the difference between reading a story and telling a story. Karla Crome does a wonderful job, and definitely knows how to tell a story. As for the story - I want more! This was really such a surprise, and a lovely treat.

Meh

Based on this book I don’t think I’ll be watching the series in tv. Didn’t care for it at all. Faerie sex? Violence? This book was ridiculous!

More Prancing and Poetry . . .

. . . than Dungeons and Dragons. This feels much more like a story about love, snobbery and poetry that has been grafted into a fantasy world than something that is genuinely fantasy. It could work as epic fantasy only really if it is the prelude to something much bigger but it seems to just be the back story of the two characters from the series. Tourmaline and Vignette are very different women and are pushed together in an awkward flat share. Tourmaline is an aspiring poet and it is their relationship and Tourmaline's career as a poet that are centre stage.

It's nicely written and well narrated by Karla Crome but after an intriguing 'epic fantasy" start it then settles down into the love story as Tourmaline and her snobby friends come face to face with the very provincial Vignette.

As it was free when I got it I can't complain too much I guess but it if epic fantasy, which is what Audible listed it under when I got it, rather than poetry and love affairs is what you prefer to read about then there isn't a lot here apart from the very beginning and the ending.

could not get through it. I really tried

I've tried a few times to get into it, few hours in and gave up. really disappointed as I was hoping I'd enjoy it

beautiful world building

This was a fantastic companion to the TV show.
The world building is so subtle yet so detailed. i truly hope they continue to produce an audiobook alongside each season of the show.
Karla has such an interesting and beautiful voice to listen to.

Good companion for fans of the show

Good story from Tourmaline's POV, we also learn a bit more about Vignette's back story. All in all it is more about filling in the blanks rather than a story on its own, bu would reccomend to fans of the show. Enjoyable listen.

Intriguing storyline

Absolutely loved the performance of Karla Crome, the storyline, the drama, and the promise of more. Now with that said, this being the prequel to the new Amazon series, I am hesitant to dive into said series, as I thoroughly enjoyed the character of Tourmaline, and it appear Philo and Vignette are the main characters of the show.

Excellent Prequel

An excellent stage-setter for Carnival Row, putting the main event into context. Well written and narrated, flows seamlessly into the meeting and reunion of the poet writer and her muse, Vignette, at the beginning of the TV series.

enjoyable

bit different to what I was expecting as I've watched the show but still very good long winded at times xx

brilliant, sets up the series perfectly

I'm just upset that there's not more :(
I'd really like to here more stories set in this world

love it brilliant audio book

Great story and loved the narrative 10 out of 10 from me hopefully will be another one

A well thought out prequel.

Karla Crome bought this story to life. Her wonderfully characterful voices were great. It was great to the story from an earlier perspective.