I enjoyed the first season of Carnival Row and was hoping that there were more stories to bring me back to this alternative world of the human and the fae, so when there was an offer of a free audiobook set in the 'Carnival Row' universe, I snapped it up!
'Carnival Row: Tangle In The Dark' by Stephanie K Smith, who was also staff writer on series one, is a prologue set before the main events of the show, narrated by Karla Crome who plays Tourmaline Larou in the show, and serves as an introduction to Vignette Stonemoss, Cara Delevingne's character in the show, as she first meets Tourmaline and tries to fit in to society.
It dives straight into the world of Carnival Row, adding more depth to the world building and the societies and people that inhabit it, which was great. But if you've not seen the show then you could get a little lost. The dive could be a little bit too deep for the uninitiated as it assumes you already know the who, what, where of the show, as there is not a lot in way of introduction to the various fae races, the looming war and class societies, so going in blind could be a little confusing. But if you have seen the show, like myself, then you will already be familiar with the world and can relive it again through the audiobook.
The narration feels straight from the show, with Karla slipping back into character as Tourmaline, and her blunt and sometimes bristly personality definitely shining through, making it a delight to revisit a character that was more of a background character in the original show, but is the main focus of the story here. The show's themes of society elitism and racism are very much present here, as is the rude and crude nature of some of characters (listener discretion is advised), but they aren't delved into as much as the show does, being more of just a peek behind the curtain into the world, as we follow Tourmaline and Vignette in the days before the series.
'Carnival Row: Tangle In The Dark' is very much for fans of the show, but I would recommend watching the series first before picking this up, as I feel a familiarity of the world and of Tourmaline could add to the enjoyment of listening to this audiobook. I hope there will be more stories that delve into the back stories of the characters of the series, as I enjoyed the series and although brief at just over 3 hours, I also enjoyed this short audiobook as well.
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