Scar Night by Alan Campbell Search Amazon for other books by or about Alan Campbell. Rating: Reviewed by: John Walsh

In a city that hangs suspended over a chasm by a series of enormous, interlinked chains, a young angel (the last of a breed of heroes who defeated an evil god) struggles to master swordplay and chafes against the law that says he is not allowed to fly. How, he wonders, is he going to fulfill his destiny as a great champion if he is not allowed to reach his own potential? Meanwhile, a violent, indeed psychopathic killer strikes once every month (on "scar night") and is relentlessly pursued by the band of official assassins while demons prowl and magic threatens. In this city, the aerial navy maintains hegemonic power by raining misery, disease and fiery death on the "savages" who live elsewhere, while powerful religious figures ensure their authority through poisoning the bodies as well as the minds of the citizens. These are all splendid ideas that comparatively new author Alan Campbell has assembled as the starting point of the usual series of novels (a second, Iron Codex, is already in the shops). Parts of this first novel, especially those which detail the contours of the city and its industrial base, are really very good and are evocative of a strange and compelling landscape. However, the pace and quality of the narrative is not quite sustained all the way through. It seems the problem is a paucity of major characters, which means that some, albeit that they are well-enough realized, are asked to fill rather too many roles in propelling the plot forwards. In a world richly realized with people, it seems unfortunate that too many of them remain faceless and off stage. I have noticed other readers compare the action to Gormenghast, which similarly has a somewhat claustrophobic feel owing to the continual recycling of the same small cast of characters. Yet the Gormenghast books work (if they do work, really, despite the love so many seem to have for them) because of the very narrow geographical and temporal scope, while Campbell has interludes outside of the city in various dimensions and glimpses of large-scale action. The situations are, therefore, rather different.

There appears to be such a wide range of fantasy available these days that it is pleasing to find an author with some different and interesting new ideas. The very physical nature of the city Campbell describes subsequently stimulates a form of description which is used for the city which embodies the metallic tastes and smells of the chains and is then replicated in the heavy, dirty industry that represents the backbone of the urban economy. This makes the residents of the city dirty and indeed not only squalid but also limited in scope and ability. It is to be hoped that the author is able to maintain these important and valuable elements of his writing while developing the use of character such that they are able to fill out the world in which they are placed. Interesting.