This is a truly stunning debut novel by Alan Campbell but it is not an
easy book to love. The world that is created inside this novel is
definitely unique and utterly fascinating to explore. Scar Night is set
in the city of Deepgate, which is suspended by chains over a bottomless
abyss. The people of Deepgate worship the rebel God Ulcis. When the main
god Ayen shut the door of heaven to human souls numerous angels
rebelled, including her son Ulcis. They wanted to take Heaven back from
Ayen but Ulcis was eventually defeated and escaped into the abyss below
Deepgate before he was killed. Deepgate’s religion centers around
providing Ulcis with souls in order for him to rebuild his army and
retake Heaven from Ayen. The heathens who live outside Deepgate are
loyal to Ayen and have constantly been at war with the city of Deepgate.
The belief is that when a Deepgate citizen dies, the soul must be recovered by the Church in order to add it to Ulcis’s army and then the body is cast into the chasm. If the body has bled out before the appropriate rites are performed then soul enters the eternal maze of the evil god Iril.
This is just the set up for novel and it is not until about page 100 that most of this explained. As you can tell this is a very complex story and at points it is somewhat difficult to keep up with. The story follows several different characters in their various pursuits mostly within Deepgate. Dill is an angel and the last descendant of a long line of warriors who fought to protect the Church of Ulcis. Since he is the last angel, the Church elders protect Dill and he leads a very sheltered life. They are afraid of him being killed and will not even allow him to fly. Personally, Dill is my least favorite character as he is kinda of a putz through most of story. Likely, this is a set up for the other novels as I can imagine it being central to this entire saga.
Mr. Nettle is a scrounger and the father of Abigail. Abigail was killed by nefarious means and his pursuit is to hunt down and kill the person who murdered his daughter. This mission leads him across Deepgate and into dangerous parts of the city and eventually below it.
My favorite character, who is introduced about a quarter way into the novel, is Carnival. She is one of the last surviving angels and she only comes out on Scar Night to drain the blood of a single human. This act has allowed her to live for three thousand years as it is the only way to prolong her life. She is constantly hunted by the Spine or Church assassins. So every 30 days Carnival and the Spine play a deadly cat and mouse game but since Carnival has lived for so long, guess who wins the battles? What makes Carnival so interesting is the internal struggle that she must deal with. She doesn’t like the monster that she has become but she is left with no other choice.
There are several other side-characters that are also interesting, which include Rachel Hael, an aspiring Spine assassin who is appointed to train Dill; Devon is the Head Poisoner and a complete madman and lastly, Presbyter Sypes who is the head of the Church of Ulcis and keeper of codex or library.
Eventually, all the characters pursuits come together in an explosive third act that has ramifications that Deepgate will never recover form.
What I liked: The world building is incredible. Mr. Campbell must have spent a long time creating his world. The story is honestly grounded in this environment as it feels totally genuine and not like some made up world.
What I didn’t like: As I said in my introduction this is not an easy book to love. It took me forever to get through the first half of the book. Mr. Campbell has bad habit of not spoon feeding the reader with information and acts like you live in Deepgate, so you should know this all ready. Eventually explanations are dulled out slowly but not before confusion has set it in. Luckily this is rectified in the second half and the story takes off at a furious pace.
Last word: If you give Scar Night a chance then you will be rewarded with an exceptional experience that does not come along very often.
The belief is that when a Deepgate citizen dies, the soul must be recovered by the Church in order to add it to Ulcis’s army and then the body is cast into the chasm. If the body has bled out before the appropriate rites are performed then soul enters the eternal maze of the evil god Iril.
This is just the set up for novel and it is not until about page 100 that most of this explained. As you can tell this is a very complex story and at points it is somewhat difficult to keep up with. The story follows several different characters in their various pursuits mostly within Deepgate. Dill is an angel and the last descendant of a long line of warriors who fought to protect the Church of Ulcis. Since he is the last angel, the Church elders protect Dill and he leads a very sheltered life. They are afraid of him being killed and will not even allow him to fly. Personally, Dill is my least favorite character as he is kinda of a putz through most of story. Likely, this is a set up for the other novels as I can imagine it being central to this entire saga.
Mr. Nettle is a scrounger and the father of Abigail. Abigail was killed by nefarious means and his pursuit is to hunt down and kill the person who murdered his daughter. This mission leads him across Deepgate and into dangerous parts of the city and eventually below it.
My favorite character, who is introduced about a quarter way into the novel, is Carnival. She is one of the last surviving angels and she only comes out on Scar Night to drain the blood of a single human. This act has allowed her to live for three thousand years as it is the only way to prolong her life. She is constantly hunted by the Spine or Church assassins. So every 30 days Carnival and the Spine play a deadly cat and mouse game but since Carnival has lived for so long, guess who wins the battles? What makes Carnival so interesting is the internal struggle that she must deal with. She doesn’t like the monster that she has become but she is left with no other choice.
There are several other side-characters that are also interesting, which include Rachel Hael, an aspiring Spine assassin who is appointed to train Dill; Devon is the Head Poisoner and a complete madman and lastly, Presbyter Sypes who is the head of the Church of Ulcis and keeper of codex or library.
Eventually, all the characters pursuits come together in an explosive third act that has ramifications that Deepgate will never recover form.
What I liked: The world building is incredible. Mr. Campbell must have spent a long time creating his world. The story is honestly grounded in this environment as it feels totally genuine and not like some made up world.
What I didn’t like: As I said in my introduction this is not an easy book to love. It took me forever to get through the first half of the book. Mr. Campbell has bad habit of not spoon feeding the reader with information and acts like you live in Deepgate, so you should know this all ready. Eventually explanations are dulled out slowly but not before confusion has set it in. Luckily this is rectified in the second half and the story takes off at a furious pace.
Last word: If you give Scar Night a chance then you will be rewarded with an exceptional experience that does not come along very often.
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