Carnival Row: Tangle in the Dark

by Stephanie K. Smith, Karla Crome (Narrator)

Listening Length: 3 hours and 8 minutes

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.

Genres: Fantasy, Audiobook, Fiction, Romance, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fae, Short Stories

85 pages, Audible Audio

First published October 3, 2019

Reviews

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I confess that I am probably not the intended audience for this book. I read it because I needed one more book to meet my yearly challenge and this one was short. I haven't yet watched the television show, but am interested in doing so and audible offered me the book for free during some kind of promotion, so it was in my library. All in all, not the most auspicious book selection ever.

The world is interesting, but underdeveloped in the story, probably because it's written for people who already know this world. It's told in first person by Tourmaline Larou, a fae living as a student in the city. This very short story tries to do a lot, with a sweeping love story, a rising poetic career, socialite shenanigans, and an impending war, which might be why it all felt rather skeletal or sketchy. A tighter story focused on one thing would probably play better.

I wasn't particularly drawn in by Tourmaline, which is a problem in a story where everything is filtered through a character's eyes. I guess my overall reaction is "meh."

[Teresa Mary Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carnival Row is one of my more recent obsessions. I’m pretty sure that show was written specifically for me, so when I saw that audible had an audible original story that was a prequel; I knew I had to dive in ASAP. This prequel is told from Tourmaline’s perspective and it was very awesome that they got the actress to do the reading for the audio. This prequel fills in some of the gaps from the show in regards to Tourmaline and Vignette’s past. It was really interesting getting to see how they met and how their relationship grew and ultimately how it all came crashing down. It was also a great look into the early days of the war and how things got to be the way they are when we catch up with the characters at the start of the show. This one was definitely a bit heartbreaking, but if you’ve watched the show you know what you’re signing up for with this story. All in all, if you’re a fan of the show I highly recommend this story, even if you haven’t watched the show yet this could prove to be a good introduction to the world.

[Carvanz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I struggled to get involved in this story. The narration was great but the story did not interest me and I could not connect with the characters. I kept catching my thoughts drifting off and missing blocks of the story and having to rewind.

[Micaela Sparrow · Rating 1 out of 5]

The show Carnival Rowe always felt very immersed in its world, but for almost two thirds of this book it feels more like a story about modern, human university students. The characters also dont feel the same, I know they're supposed to be younger and that the war changed them, but still.
Also, Tormaline talks about being in love with Vinette and insists its not only lust, but lust is all she talks about regarding Vinette. She doesn't talk about her personality, or the things she does, the person she is, just that she's beautiful and a good lay.
Over all, I didn't enjoy it much. The characters a pretty unlikable and again, it doesn't feel like the same world of Carnival Rowe.

[Dana Cristiana · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 stars

[Mona · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this audiobook shortly after it was released in 2019 (and possibly reviewed it too; I don’t remember). I am totally baffled that it has disappeared from my Goodreads library of read books. What else has Goodreads erased from my personal data?

(However, I can be pretty absent minded. It’s possible that I read this and forgot to log it on Goodreads..although I thought I did.)

[Alan (on December semi-hiatus) Teder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reposting after the deletion of 12 Audible Originals Dec. 17-19, 2019.
Goodreads purged about 12 (that I could identify) Audible Original audiobooks (and their ratings/reviews) at the end of the year 2019 as they apparently did not meet guidelines. Those audiobooks that have been converted from podcasts are apparently the main issue. Others that are short stories, novellas, memoirs or audio productions of theatrical plays may be restored or relisted. This current edition of Carnival Row: Tangle in the Dark is a relisting/new listing. Thanks to Goodreads and SuperLibrarians who listen to appeals!

Original Review:
SteamFaeMagicPunk Prequel
Review of the Audible Audio audiobook edition (Oct. 2019.
NOTE: Explicit adult language and sexual scenes involved.

This is primarily for fans of the Amazon Prime web TV series Carnival Row and is a prequel story about faeries Vignette ("Vini") Stonemoss (played by actress Cara Delevingne in the series) and Tourmaline Larou (played by actress Karla Crome in the series). In this novella length (3+ hours) prequel Karla Crome narrates the story from her character Tourmaline Larou's point of view.

Fantasy is not really my genre so what I know about the series is based on checking a few Wikipedia and Wiki articles. This seemed a reasonable prequel in keeping with the world-building of the story. In it, Stonemoss and Larou are still in the Fae kingdom/lands of Tirnanoc before they are forced out as refugees who end up in the world of Carnival Row. This is more of a romantic story in the 'girl meets girl / girl loses girl' vein. There isn't much magic or fae action except for a short flight scene in the middle and in the refugees escape towards the end. I see some commentators label this show as steampunk, but aside from being set in an alternative universe equivalent to the 19th Century, I didn't really get any technological edge to it, it is more of a mythical creatures mash-up with the Victorian era.

Karla Crome's narration was excellent.

Carnival Row: Tangle in the Dark was one of the Audible Original free audiobooks for members for the month of October 2019.

Trivia and Link
I was impressed that a recent TV-series such as Carnival Row has already built up quite an elaborate Wiki fanbase at https://carnival-row.fandom.com/wiki/...

[Karalyn Gibbs · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/ Tourmaline was quite the feisty character and I both liked and disliked her relationship with Vignette but I feel like if I'd watched the show prior to reading this, I would've understood it better and liked it better too.

[Rachael · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I really enjoyed this short story you can tell it was the beginning of something bigger. As someone who has not watched the Amazon series or the intention of watching the Amazon series anytime in the near future, I do not believe I was the intended audience for it. All of that aside, this story had so many emotions for being as short as it was and for anyone who has watched the show I am sure it is a great read. ( I am assuming it was supposed to be a kind of prequel. )

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I watched the first season of the Amazon series before listening to this and would highly recommend anyone interested in this Audible Original to do the same. My understanding of the world and the characters therein really helped this prequel-esque story solidify the backstory!

[Ashleigh (ash_and_books) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3h8m
TW: death of loved ones (during events of book), war

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was something different from my usual reads but it did give me good vibes. I have only watched a couple of episodes of the show but did enjoy them. The characters are very vivid and well-drawn making what happens to them much more meaningful. I followed the story here much better than on the show maybe because it is a little better laid out with only a couple of characters to contend with.

Tourmaline Larou is living an idyllic life, spending her time learning by day and partying by night. She is an aspiring poet with nothing less than brilliance in her future. When Vignette Stonemoss walks into her life things are upended and may never be the same again for either of them. Their world is turned upside down as they are being threatened by humans who look down on them and the fae world as a whole. War is on the horizon, and their very existence is at stake.

Tourmaline will discover whether love will save her or destroy her.

Karla Crome does a great job of narrating the story and bring the characters to life. I would recommend this as a quick listen that will add to your day while doing some outdoor work.

[Flying Monkey · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars!

I enjoyed listening to Carnival Row: Tangle in the dark.

The story gives a little more insight into a couple of key characters in the series.

[Gummih · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you have not watched the Carnival Row series on Prime you'll probably not enjoy this book. It's actually rather funny how little time it spends on the world it takes place in, it is assumed you are familiar with it.
All the focus is on Tourmaline and Vignette and you get some backstory to their characters. Pretty simple and if you liked Carnival Row you'll probably like this too.

[Cookie M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to this. I don't know why. It's a prequel to the series on Amazon Prime. Mostly boring.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is, apparently, a prequel to a TV show, narrated by one of the show's stars. I haven't seen the show, so my responses are from that point of view.

I liked the writing style, which had some nice phrasing for something that I had imagined would be a throwaway tie-in. The setting feels like a WWII analog: occupying forces, potentially untrustworthy allies, and a beleaguered race in danger of exile or extinction. An analog, I think with irony, that wouldn't take a lot of research to write stories in, and would be able to soften the more horrific aspects of our own history. It does seem like the faerie mythology was given a good amount of attention. Unfortunately, that aspect feels more like window dressing than anything essential to the story.

The central character is a rather self-centered faerie named Tourmaline who starts off as an undergrad, and becomes a poet laureate before age 30. (Sure.) She and her college friends are salon-attending snobs.

Tourmaline's relationship with new girl Vignette, a faerie from the provinces, is poisoned by both herself, and her shitty "friends." The relationship takes up only about half of this very short production, and feels rushed. I didn't feel the love between these two at all. It doesn't end like a romance, which was somewhat of a relief. I wouldn't expect even a HFN with these two.

The story ends with an enemy army invading the city Tourmaline lives in. Many of the faerie are killed, and many become refugees, including Vignette and Tourmaline. I am mildly interested in where the story goes from here--it seems ripe for a tale about scrappy rebellion against a terrible, oppressive force--so this audio did its job. :)

[Gr · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretentious and slow. I received this as an audible gift. The narration and production were very good, but that did not make up for the lack of a story. I have not watched the Carnival Row series and this read did not encourage me to try. Tangle in the Dark is a lesbian love story in a snobbish university setting with a backdrop of war. The fantasy part is that some of the characters are ferries. The story is excruciatingly slow with zero action beyond sex and drinking. Hard to imagine completely losing interest in a story that is only three hours long but it put me to sleep. I regret wasting my time and glad I did not spend money or a credit on it.

[Amy Ingalls · Rating 2 out of 5]

I probably shouldn't have listened to this, since I had no idea it was based on a TV show. It started out interesting, with the evacuation and all, but then got into college/partying/bad poetry/hookup territory and kind of lost me. To be honest, I only kept listening because I'm stubborn and it fit into a challenge. However, I still gave it 2 stars since I think it may have been a case of it being me picking up the wrong book and not the book itself.

[Siobhan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow that was awful. I guess I know why it was free. 😒

[Justin Parker · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a decent listen, but overall I didn’t like this book. The plot a little bit everywhere and I didn’t comprehend the entire store. Mostly a romance in my opinion. It was a quick listen when I had a headache too bad to read a regular book. Recommend for romance or fans of the TV show.

[John Stinebaugh · Rating 2 out of 5]

What if farewell to arms was more about sex and less about relationships? What if it was about faeries, but we choose to ignore that mostly. Then you get this tale.

[Dianthaa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up Carnival Row: Tangle in the Dark for free, as an audible original in October. It’s a prequel story for the Amazon series Carnival Row. Reviewers on goodreads seem to agree it makes a lot more sense if you’ve seen the show. I haven’t, but I’m curious about it now. I enjoyed it and I’m happy I gave it a shot, but I can’t say that I’d recommend someone go out and buy it unless they’re a fan of the show.

I really like the premise, it’s mostly a love story between two students with very different backgrounds and values, as a war erupts between fae and humans. I liked the two planes and how changes in the background affected the characters and their relationship, even though they were just civilians, not politicians or military as is far more common in fantasy stories I’ve read.

I pictured the setting pre-WWI, but I think it might be closer to Steampunk in the show. For a story about fae, they don’t use magic very much, other than having wings (and weird sex magic) they could be subbed for humans.

For how short the book was I felt it did quite a lot, especially with characters and the relationships between them evolving. Tourmaline is a glitzy aristocrat with fancy friends and Vignette is a poor country girl come to the big city for the first time, but both of them evolve and their relationship changes a lot.

My main annoyance was that the story is circular, it begins with a scene, a weird fairy sex magic scene, from near the end of the story, then jumps back in time. I didn’t feel like that added enough to be justified, as the character and context of the scene only becomes clear very late, and it caused a lot of confusion because it wasn’t really clear that there was a time jump.

Overall it was enjoyable and interesting, but personally, I would have rated it a lot higher without the circular structure thing.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Audible Original follows Tourmaline Larou and her carefree life of academia and partying. She meets a country girl, Vignette, which changes the trajectory of her life. Then war arrives and nothing is certain anymore.

I actually quite loved this! The story was completely captivating. I loved the plot as well as the characters. We start somewhere in the middle, jump backward in time, and then slowly make our way to the present. The whole thing is excruciatingly good. I fell in love with Tourmaline and Vignette. They are both so relatable and real. Except for that BS Vignette does at the end but we aren't talking about that.

The really unfortunate thing is that this doesn't really have an ending. It just stops. It's more of a teaser chapter for the show than a novella, I think that's super cheap of Amazon. You could have made it an actual full story, dudes.

For that reason, I'm rating this 3 stars. Wonderful but incomplete. Basically a really awesome advertisement but nothing but an advertisement nonetheless.

[C.J. Daley · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this is a reread for me. I recall listening to it and reviewing it, and as I just finished season two the other day I remembered this and looked for it and it was entirely gone. No review on audible, Goodreads, or my instagram. So maybe I dreamed it. Oddly fitting.

Tangle in the Dark is a prequel to the Amazon Original show. It features Tourmaline Larou (whose actor, Karla Crome, does the narration for this...quite well too) as the main character, her time as a student at university, and the beginnings of her relationship with Vignette. It serves to further deepen the characters, especially as this deals with some of the world's classism between even the same races, before the show itself starts to show the darker side of the world's feelings between the races. As a student, budding poet, and nighttime partygoer, Tourmaline has to learn to overcome some of her preconceived notions about those that maybe are outside of her own social class. It makes their relationship seem more real, as their attraction to each other also teaches them about themselves. It's also interesting to see simply because the world they are in, and the lives they are living, in the show are so drastically different from what we read here. It gives off possible ideas for what the show could have looked like during peace times (if we can even believe those are possible).

Enjoyable, a bit refreshing in how different it is, and quick.

https://fanfiaddict.com/review-carniv...

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I decided to download this Audible Original after my husband and I watched the first episode of the Amazon Prime tv show. We haven't continued with the show so I don't have the entire season for context, but I didn't understand how this played into the television show. This left me confused during the first part of the story. It's great this story has lesbian/bisexual rep but it didn't pull me in. It was an average listen in my opinion.

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know anything about the Carnival Row series (or the show, though I know it exists), but--even without knowing the context of the world or the characters--I really enjoyed this audiobook. It had romance, intrigue, and fantastical fantasy elements (I mean... faeries, yeah?).

I would recommend this for fans of fantasy/romance who are looking for a shorter audiobook to keep them company on their rides into work! Also, the narrator was phenomenal!

[Kayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poor Tourmaline

This was a great companion to the Amazon Prime Video Series. Don't read if you haven't watched the series, it won't make sense. However, for me, this helped me to understand the dynamic between Tourmaline and Vignette. Understand their relationship before the series takes place and the tortured look Tourmaline seems to have while interacting with Vignette.

4 stars

[Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a nice prequel to the TV series. It gives the background of tourmaline and vignette and is a great preface and explanation of the opening episodes of the show and how the relationships have become what they are. I watched the tv show first and didn’t really understand some of the animosity between characters and this book showed a little of that story and history.

[Tiersa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird story, feel like maybe it could be a novella but not a standalone. I am going to watch the Amazon show now, apparently this is a prequel. Storyline fell flat to me, no part of it seemed super important

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a departure for me. A story of fairies, love, humans, and war. The author did a fine job of pulling me into this fantasy with interesting characters and a realistic plot. I will look at more Carnival Row books.