Speculative Fiction Junkie

Alan Campbell

I first learned of this book when I walked past a prominently displayed copy of it in my local bookstore. The book's setting alone convinced me to purchase it right then and there. When I first dove into it I expected to enter a dark world with a tenor akin to that of China Miéville's New Crobuzon.

The Plot

The city of Deepgate is a city suspended over a seemingly bottomless abyss on huge chains. Thousands of years ago, we are told, the god that ruled heaven decided to close it forever and some of her children fought an unsuccessful war to keep it open. One of these children, Ulcis, Hoarder of Souls and God of Chains, is now said to live at the bottom of the abyss, where he is building an army of the dead to storm heaven again. Whenever a citizen of Deepgate dies, they are given to Ulcis; that is, they are dropped into the abyss. This ceremony is referred to as the Sending and is presided over by the Church of Ulcis and its leader, Presbyter Sypes. Sypes is assisted by the angel Dill, the last living descendant of the archons who defended the city in earlier eras.

The continued existence of Deepgate in spite of the presence of hostile barbarians in the surrounding deserts is thanks in large part to the experiments of the Poisoner, Devon, who brews deadly poisons and diseases in the Poison Kitchens, which are then dropped on the barbarians from Zeppelin-like airships. Devon himself bears witness to the destructive power of his creations in the form of innumerable cuts and blisters that constantly plague him. As the story progresses he becomes increasingly resentful of the city and its inhabitants for what he has endured to protect them.

Deepgate is tormented by the monthly occurrence of Scar Night, during which the angel Carnival seeks out a victim from among the city's inhabitants, hunts the person down, and then drains and consumes their blood. The "husks," as they're called are left to be found by the city's inhabitants. Carnival must do this in order to maintain her immortality. When Mr. Nettle, another main character, discovers that his daughter has met a fate similar to the one Carnival inflicts on her victims, his sole purpose becomes to avenge his daughter's murder by killing Carnival.

As mentioned above, Dill is the last in a long line of archons who have defended the city and the Church throughout the ages. When the story opens, he is being more or less secluded by Presbyter Sypes lest something happen to him and his line end. Soon, however, he becomes more active in the world of Deepgate and is assigned an overseer to train him.

I don't want to spoil anything so that's as much plot detail as I'm going to devulge.

Review

The best part about Scar Night is its setting, which is interesting, original, and well described by Mr. Campbell for the most part. The entire city is suspended in chains, ropes, and nets that rattle and move. At one point in the book, a man unfamiliar with a particular part of the city has to cross over a rickety plank to make it to someone's hut; that is, he must cross a plank suspended over the seemingly bottomless dark abyss. This is scary stuff and Mr. Campbell does a good job of conveying to the reader what this must have felt like. This, combined with the city's violence, grunge, and dirt give the world in which this story unfolds a truly dark atmosphere and was in that respect consistent with what I had hoped.

Sadly, though, Mr. Campbell fails to fully take advantage of the world he's created. With the notable exception of Devon the characters felt one dimensional and inadequately developed. Initially, I thought that the author had deliberately decided to reveal their personalities slowly to add to the mystery but by the end of the book they still felt one dimensional. Aside from the workings of simple cause and effect, we never really learn that much about why the characters act the way they do.

The same could be said about the setting: Deepgate provided a real opportunity for Mr. Campbell to make Scar Night a top quality mystery or horror novel, but this potential was never fully realized. Towards the beginning of the book, I thought he was going to do it. Take this quotation for example:

"'Rot! I remember Gaine's wife on her wedding day, her frozen smile.' Sypes let out a long sigh and his gaze shifted to the hole in the observatory floor. 'And now she's down there, watching us.' He rested his chin in his hand and stared into the abyss. 'The dead, Fogwill, what are they up to, hmmm? Hiding, sulking, plotting, scheming in their pit.' His voice dropped to a whisper. 'And up here I'm fading all the time. Like old ink on parchment. I'll join them soon.' He punctuated this last word with a tap of his finger. 'And I think they know it.'"

This is some seriously chilling writing. But the mystery and terror that this quotation evokes isn't developed in the rest of the novel. While the mystery of figuring out what was happening in the story kept my attention for a while, I was never that interested. And while the book does have its scary moments, they were few and far between. I was never really scared or overly interested. In short, Campbell demonstrates in Scar Night that he is capable of setting up a great story but in the same work shows that he is equally capable of squandering a promising start.

The later parts of the novel continue this trend and in some ways things get worse. It's interesting to see what the characters find at the bottom of the abyss but it just isn't that interesting. Similarly, most of the revelations that are made towards the end of the book didn't have much of an effect on me because, I realize now, I didn't really know the characters that well and so didn't really care about them.

Campbell is a promising new author and I will definitely be keeping an eye on him, but I will not be reading the rest of this trilogy.

Score: 5/10

The True First

This book was first published in London in 2006. The true first was published by Tor Books.


[This review was not based on a review copy]