What do you think?
Rate this book
Gaslight Carnival: A Dreamless City Steampunk Story
Welcome to the Gaslight Carnival, where fancy and freak walk hand in hand.
Margo Crestley is an alchemist mixing elixirs in the Dreamless City without a license. When the district crime lord threatens blackmail, Margo pins her hopes on someone she has not seen in four years -- her twin brother Leonard.
Sold to the traveling Gaslight Carnival by the twins' father, Leonard is treated like property. Margo scrimps and saves to buy his freedom, but the Ringmaster is unwilling to let him go. The young alchemist can only win her brother back if she participates in the capricious Ringmaster's cruel games.
A strange young gent with monstrous metal claws, Rook, is helping Margo for reasons she cannot fathom. He seems to know all about her, but she has never seen this augmented man before her first night in the carnival. She must save her brother and has no time for romance, no matter how sweet his kisses are.
Time is running out. The crime lord's threats are turning violent, and the Gaslight Carnival will soon be gone. The giant glowing balloons and striped carnival tents are set up for three days only before disappearing for another year along with the daredevil stunts, the freak show, and the rigged games of chance. Can Margo save her twin brother in time, or will she be left alone to face the crime lord herself?
Margo Crestley is an alchemist mixing elixirs in the Dreamless City without a license. When the district crime lord threatens blackmail, Margo pins her hopes on someone she has not seen in four years -- her twin brother Leonard.
Sold to the traveling Gaslight Carnival by the twins' father, Leonard is treated like property. Margo scrimps and saves to buy his freedom, but the Ringmaster is unwilling to let him go. The young alchemist can only win her brother back if she participates in the capricious Ringmaster's cruel games.
A strange young gent with monstrous metal claws, Rook, is helping Margo for reasons she cannot fathom. He seems to know all about her, but she has never seen this augmented man before her first night in the carnival. She must save her brother and has no time for romance, no matter how sweet his kisses are.
Time is running out. The crime lord's threats are turning violent, and the Gaslight Carnival will soon be gone. The giant glowing balloons and striped carnival tents are set up for three days only before disappearing for another year along with the daredevil stunts, the freak show, and the rigged games of chance. Can Margo save her twin brother in time, or will she be left alone to face the crime lord herself?
- GenresSteampunk
89 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 11, 2015
1 person is currently reading
8 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 3, 2015
Years ago their father sold Margos Twin brother Leonard to the traveling Gaslight Carnival .Now her father is gone and she is left by herself to run the alchemists and trying to save up enough Money to buy her Brothers freedom.
Not to mention that thugs from the criminal underworld are threatening her with bad things if she doesnt comply with their demands.
Going to the Carnival to meet the ringmaster she is scared by Rook one of the carnies,but who turns out to be a nice person despite his scary hands.
He takes her to the ringmaster who is reluctant to let Leonard go but if Margo can complete a number of challenges then she can have him back.But even if Margo suceeds ...once you have been part of the carnival you are changed in so many ways...
This is not a long story and as a result there are some things that could have been elaborated on and explained more than they are.There are some bits that doesnt flow well but again thats probably because its a novella.
When it comes to the characters Margo is someone I had no problem understanding. I like that in my female characters even so it came as a bit of a surprise for me when something is revealed about her past that change how I viewed her into grey shades.
I really liked Rook,and it was apparent that he had soft spot for Margo and even its not a fullblown romance but the ending had me sigh a bit thinking they would be fine together.
A complaint I do have is on the cover,its not bad exactly but if you have read the character description for Margo it will immediately become apparent that she is missing something.
Not to mention that thugs from the criminal underworld are threatening her with bad things if she doesnt comply with their demands.
Going to the Carnival to meet the ringmaster she is scared by Rook one of the carnies,but who turns out to be a nice person despite his scary hands.
He takes her to the ringmaster who is reluctant to let Leonard go but if Margo can complete a number of challenges then she can have him back.But even if Margo suceeds ...once you have been part of the carnival you are changed in so many ways...
This is not a long story and as a result there are some things that could have been elaborated on and explained more than they are.There are some bits that doesnt flow well but again thats probably because its a novella.
When it comes to the characters Margo is someone I had no problem understanding. I like that in my female characters even so it came as a bit of a surprise for me when something is revealed about her past that change how I viewed her into grey shades.
I really liked Rook,and it was apparent that he had soft spot for Margo and even its not a fullblown romance but the ending had me sigh a bit thinking they would be fine together.
A complaint I do have is on the cover,its not bad exactly but if you have read the character description for Margo it will immediately become apparent that she is missing something.
August 31, 2015
I've never really read any steampunk before, but if it's all as exciting as Gaslight Carnival, then I need to dive in. Margo's world of alchemy and Leonard's carnival are rendered in vivid and gorgeous language. Brilliantly colorful elixirs, reagents, reactions; terrifying and strangely beautiful "freaks" who were sometimes more human than the un-augmented people walking the streets. The story was crazy and imaginative and I loved it. So yeah, five stars, and sign me up for the next Dreamless City Story!
August 30, 2015
2.5 stars actually - but I didn't want to do this novella a Goodreads star ratings disservice by selecting two stars instead of three.
Tracy Cembor sent me an email via the Contact Me page on my blog and asked whether I do book reviews in return for gift copies. Gaslight Carnival is her first novella and currently available on Amazon for US$0.99. For that price, I told her I’d happily purchase a copy to read and review it.
Gaslight Carnival is subtitled with the words A Dreamless City Steampunk Story. I had to look up the meaning of steampunk because although I’d seen the reference a lot, I’d never taken the trouble to find out precisely what it meant. I’ve certainly never read steampunk fiction before. Wikipedia describes it as “a subgenre of science fiction and sometimes fantasy that incorporates technology and aesthetic designs inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery”.
Gaslight Carnival slides somewhere into the in-between of science fiction and fantasy. It is the story of Margo, a young and unlicensed alchemist struggling to keep her father’s alchemy shop going after he sold her twin brother to the eponymous Gaslight Carnival and then succumbed to accidental poisoning. The money went towards paying Margo’s medical bills after an unsupervised alchemy accident and she feels a terrible responsibility.
She has received several unwanted and menacing offers from a local gangster to work for him, essentially as an illegal drug manufacturer. But Margo has a plan: she is going to buy her twin brother’s freedom so he can come home. They will be a family again, her debt will be repaid, and no one will threaten her or her business anymore.
Of course, it’s never going to be that simple. When Margo goes to the carnival, the ringmaster takes the large amount of money she has saved and says she will only let Leonard, Margo’s twin brother, go if Margo can perform a series of difficult tasks, all of which are designed for Margo to fail.
This is the first time I’ve ever reviewed a piece of fiction specifically at the request of the author. Now I realise there is a temptation to be kinder than I might ordinarily be because of that small personal connection. I don’t know Tracy but she reached out to me, no doubt in the hope that I would have all positive things to say.
The best I can do is half positive, half negative (which accounts for the 2.5 star rating – normally I rate according to the Goodreads system, which doesn’t allow for half stars, but I genuinely believed that Gaslight Carnival deserved it).
The positive half first – the novella displays the bones of a very good idea and the way Tracy Cembor has written the second task Margo has to perform drew me into the scene in the best possible way. It was the most evocative and interesting part of the novella. The character of Rook was so endearing, I wanted more of him. And I genuinely believe that fans of Samantha Shannon could easily be fans of Tracy Cembor.
The negative half now – despite the bones of a very good idea, there is very little flesh on them. I suspect that this story – which easily contains enough characters and ideas for a novel – is a novella because the author isn’t ready to commit to and develop a more complex narrative.
There is little character development and what there is feels forced – Margo can’t stand up to her tormentors outside the carnival but inside it she stands up to the ringmaster when none of the other carnival workers can or do, which is strange because a lot of them are more threatening than she is. And her sudden change of heart about the use of dangerous alchemy against people is unexplained. She spends a considerable length of the novella abiding by her father’s alchemy rules (even though he is portrayed as a generally terrible role model), then suddenly abandons them, mainly because the story wouldn’t have been able to go where the author needed it to if she didn’t. Margo is one dimensional and naïve in the extreme, considering the hard life lessons she has been through. Additionally, the villains are stereotypical and rely on fear rather than any genuine evil to keep their criminal empires going.
The descriptive style follows a very strict pattern – adjective noun, verb adverb, adjective noun, verb adverb, adjective noun, verb adverb – which I really only noticed because so many of the examples were unnecessary. “…gleaming wetly” could just have been “gleaming”. This passage is a prime example. “When the ringmaster turned, her too-pale skin reflected the verdant glow like an ethereal wraith. Adding to the menace tonight was a fan of throwing knives hanging from her tightly cinched girdle, the silver tips winking with vicious promise.”
The author also falls into the “how dare you” trap quite a few times as well. Does anybody say this anymore? No, because everybody dares now. The setting for the book might have been a different time but it’s never really explained. The Dreamless City (great, great name) is named and then simply forgotten or ignored despite its potential as an important character in itself in this kind of story.
Many of these stylistic problems could be solved with the help of a good editor – as could the many misspellings, typos, tense switches and sentences that make no sense – and a few more years of practice. As someone who has been writing and editing for twenty-five years and who has a handful of novels that will never be published because I recognise that they were more important as tools to help me refine my writing, I don’t feel patronising saying that. I hope the author doesn’t feel patronised by me saying it.
I see great potential in Tracy Cembor and great potential in this story – that potential just hasn’t been fulfilled yet.
Tracy Cembor sent me an email via the Contact Me page on my blog and asked whether I do book reviews in return for gift copies. Gaslight Carnival is her first novella and currently available on Amazon for US$0.99. For that price, I told her I’d happily purchase a copy to read and review it.
Gaslight Carnival is subtitled with the words A Dreamless City Steampunk Story. I had to look up the meaning of steampunk because although I’d seen the reference a lot, I’d never taken the trouble to find out precisely what it meant. I’ve certainly never read steampunk fiction before. Wikipedia describes it as “a subgenre of science fiction and sometimes fantasy that incorporates technology and aesthetic designs inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery”.
Gaslight Carnival slides somewhere into the in-between of science fiction and fantasy. It is the story of Margo, a young and unlicensed alchemist struggling to keep her father’s alchemy shop going after he sold her twin brother to the eponymous Gaslight Carnival and then succumbed to accidental poisoning. The money went towards paying Margo’s medical bills after an unsupervised alchemy accident and she feels a terrible responsibility.
She has received several unwanted and menacing offers from a local gangster to work for him, essentially as an illegal drug manufacturer. But Margo has a plan: she is going to buy her twin brother’s freedom so he can come home. They will be a family again, her debt will be repaid, and no one will threaten her or her business anymore.
Of course, it’s never going to be that simple. When Margo goes to the carnival, the ringmaster takes the large amount of money she has saved and says she will only let Leonard, Margo’s twin brother, go if Margo can perform a series of difficult tasks, all of which are designed for Margo to fail.
This is the first time I’ve ever reviewed a piece of fiction specifically at the request of the author. Now I realise there is a temptation to be kinder than I might ordinarily be because of that small personal connection. I don’t know Tracy but she reached out to me, no doubt in the hope that I would have all positive things to say.
The best I can do is half positive, half negative (which accounts for the 2.5 star rating – normally I rate according to the Goodreads system, which doesn’t allow for half stars, but I genuinely believed that Gaslight Carnival deserved it).
The positive half first – the novella displays the bones of a very good idea and the way Tracy Cembor has written the second task Margo has to perform drew me into the scene in the best possible way. It was the most evocative and interesting part of the novella. The character of Rook was so endearing, I wanted more of him. And I genuinely believe that fans of Samantha Shannon could easily be fans of Tracy Cembor.
The negative half now – despite the bones of a very good idea, there is very little flesh on them. I suspect that this story – which easily contains enough characters and ideas for a novel – is a novella because the author isn’t ready to commit to and develop a more complex narrative.
There is little character development and what there is feels forced – Margo can’t stand up to her tormentors outside the carnival but inside it she stands up to the ringmaster when none of the other carnival workers can or do, which is strange because a lot of them are more threatening than she is. And her sudden change of heart about the use of dangerous alchemy against people is unexplained. She spends a considerable length of the novella abiding by her father’s alchemy rules (even though he is portrayed as a generally terrible role model), then suddenly abandons them, mainly because the story wouldn’t have been able to go where the author needed it to if she didn’t. Margo is one dimensional and naïve in the extreme, considering the hard life lessons she has been through. Additionally, the villains are stereotypical and rely on fear rather than any genuine evil to keep their criminal empires going.
The descriptive style follows a very strict pattern – adjective noun, verb adverb, adjective noun, verb adverb, adjective noun, verb adverb – which I really only noticed because so many of the examples were unnecessary. “…gleaming wetly” could just have been “gleaming”. This passage is a prime example. “When the ringmaster turned, her too-pale skin reflected the verdant glow like an ethereal wraith. Adding to the menace tonight was a fan of throwing knives hanging from her tightly cinched girdle, the silver tips winking with vicious promise.”
The author also falls into the “how dare you” trap quite a few times as well. Does anybody say this anymore? No, because everybody dares now. The setting for the book might have been a different time but it’s never really explained. The Dreamless City (great, great name) is named and then simply forgotten or ignored despite its potential as an important character in itself in this kind of story.
Many of these stylistic problems could be solved with the help of a good editor – as could the many misspellings, typos, tense switches and sentences that make no sense – and a few more years of practice. As someone who has been writing and editing for twenty-five years and who has a handful of novels that will never be published because I recognise that they were more important as tools to help me refine my writing, I don’t feel patronising saying that. I hope the author doesn’t feel patronised by me saying it.
I see great potential in Tracy Cembor and great potential in this story – that potential just hasn’t been fulfilled yet.
October 19, 2015
This is an interesting novella, with a lot of promise that it unfortunately doesn't quite live up to.
The setting is steampunk, but aside from some mentions of the "Steam Meister" we don't get to hear much about the "Dreamless City" the story supposedly takes place in. Which is a shame, because that's a fantastic name with a lot of story potential. I just wish it had been realized a bit more.
As for the novella itself, it's a neat little story with some interesting characters (I fell for Rook a little bit) that is hampered by the quality of the writing. Comma splices, an excess of adjectives, some stilted lines of dialogue...nothing that a thorough round of editorial attention wouldn't fix, but it was distracting while reading.
I also questioned some of the characterization. Drescher and Vellura both monologue like cartoon villains, and Margo goes from being so panicked about her scars she won't take off her scarf to saying nothing when they dress her up in a "scoop-necked blouse"?? Then there's also her abrupt turnaround on the issue of using alchemy against people, and her shift in motivation to face the ringleader "for everyone" which I didn't feel had enough grounding in the story.
But despite all of these comments I do want to emphasize the fact that I enjoyed the story, and there were definitely moments that shone. In particular, I want to highlight the second task. In my opinion it was creative, tense, well-written, and with an interesting resolution that furthered both plot and characterization. So I think Tracy Cembor has a lot of promise, and I hope she keeps writing. This one just wasn't quite there yet.
The setting is steampunk, but aside from some mentions of the "Steam Meister" we don't get to hear much about the "Dreamless City" the story supposedly takes place in. Which is a shame, because that's a fantastic name with a lot of story potential. I just wish it had been realized a bit more.
As for the novella itself, it's a neat little story with some interesting characters (I fell for Rook a little bit) that is hampered by the quality of the writing. Comma splices, an excess of adjectives, some stilted lines of dialogue...nothing that a thorough round of editorial attention wouldn't fix, but it was distracting while reading.
I also questioned some of the characterization. Drescher and Vellura both monologue like cartoon villains, and Margo goes from being so panicked about her scars she won't take off her scarf to saying nothing when they dress her up in a "scoop-necked blouse"?? Then there's also her abrupt turnaround on the issue of using alchemy against people, and her shift in motivation to face the ringleader "for everyone" which I didn't feel had enough grounding in the story.
But despite all of these comments I do want to emphasize the fact that I enjoyed the story, and there were definitely moments that shone. In particular, I want to highlight the second task. In my opinion it was creative, tense, well-written, and with an interesting resolution that furthered both plot and characterization. So I think Tracy Cembor has a lot of promise, and I hope she keeps writing. This one just wasn't quite there yet.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews