Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10767 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 550 pages

TRUDI CANAVAN, author of The Black Magician Trilogy and the Age of the Five Trilogy
'A visually rich, satisfyingly dark tale of a city of chains, ancient bloodlust and unshakeable loyalty.'

HAL DUNCAN, author of Vellum
'urban fantasy at its best."

GREG KEYES, author of The Charnel Prince
'The setting is richly imagined...the entire topography is permeated with mystery that itches for discovery.'

Customer Reviews

A fast paced and refreshing debut
Ok first up I have to say I loved this book. The world Campbell creates is dark and sinister but full of intrigue.

The first few chapters are a little slow and a tad confusing but once it gets rolling it really rolls well! The pace of the book is perfect if you are the sort of person who just reads a chapter here and there. Every chapter moves the story along well and leaves you waiting for more.

The characters in Scar Night are also very interesting. Mr Nettle and Carnival being two of the best. However, although the characters grabbed my imagination they are also the source of the only negative thing I have to say about this book. Although the characters are great, they never seem to climb into something special, and at times the character development seems a bit lacking, and although the characters have potential some of them never really seem to fly, which is a shame.

But don't let this put you off, overall this is one of the best books I have read in ages, Its fast paced full of action and enjoyable and I will Ill definitely read the second one. (I even gave my copy to my mate so I have someone to talk to about this book! lol)

Scar Night
This is one of the best fantasy books I've read in a long while. The author balances his in-depth descriptions and highly illustrative style with rapidly successive scenes, providing a flicker-book approach to telling his involved story of supernatural beings in and below the city of Deepgate, which is suspended by chains above a gaping chasm that is, according to almost forgotten recent history, the pit bored by a falling angel who disagreed with the god above as heaven closed its doors to the souls of Deepgate's dead. Naturally the complex religious network that Deepgate is founded on sides with the fallen angel, who exists as "the god of chains" far beneath the city.

The storytelling is excellent, and gallops through what looks like a huge text of 550 pages, towards an ending that actually comes all to soon. It's thoroughly enjoyable, mostly because the author skillfully keeps us entertained by providing an almost film-like skipping between characters, but also becuase of the characters themselves. Each of them is strong, clearly defined, and likeable in their own way, even the sinister or misguided ones. Dill is the only surviving angel in Deepgate, bar the monstrous scarred fallen demi-god Carnival, who hurls herself about the city in her rage every Scar Night, when the moon is darkest, to feed her unslakable bloodthirst. Rachel is an assassin-in-training, leather-bound and skillful despite having not taken her initiation into the sinister society of the Spine. Devon is the Chief Poisoner of the Poison Kitchens, a smoky, toxic quarter of the city devoted to the development and distribution of deadly substances to the assassins of the church. And Mr Nettle is the hulking father of a dead girl, whose soul has been taken for a sinister purpose; he only wants to get it back, and will do whatever is necessary.

I can't praise this book enough. It's essentially flawless, apart from the odd page of clumsy exposition, but in a volume this size it's forgivable. Recommended to all fans of the grimy fantasy style of authors like China Mieville, of whom this book is strongly reminiscent. For a debut, this title is remarkably accomplished and genuinely unmissable. Thankfully, a second volume in what has become a series is already available - "Iron Angel".

9.5 / 10

Had Potential
I bought this book basically on a whim and despite the low rating I don't regret it. Why?

Basically because this book had "potential", I loved the characters in this, the ideas behind them were excellent, amazing and I felt he could have done so much with them.

But he didn't. The worst thing in my mind about this book was the fact that he couldn't really make his characters *personalities*. He had the perfect mold but couldn't fill it in. Character development was... to be frank pathetic, his characters didn't have any real personalities and what they had he just changed to suit the plot if needed.

The plot itself also sadly had potential but again, I felt he could have done better. All I feel is he needs a good editor who will take him aside and explain some things to him and he'd be awesome. As it is.... it's in some ways even worse than trying to read a bad book because I can see the gooodness... that spark of greatness...... It's just at the bottom of a well

Not bad though.... just not that good