The Scar

A sweeping debut fantasy with characters in the midst of tremendous, and potentially deadly, personal conflict and change

Reaching far beyond sword and sorcery, The Scar is a character examination of two people torn by disaster, their descent into despair, and their re-emergence through love and courage. Sergey and Marina Dyachenko mix dramatic scenes with romance, action and wit, in a style both direct and lyrical. Written with a sure artistic hand, The Scar tells the story of a character driven by his own feverish demons to find redemption.

The main character, Egert, begins as a brash, confident member of the elite guards and an egotistical philanderer. But after he kills an innocent student in a duel, a mysterious man known as “The Wanderer” challenges Egert and then slashes his face with his sword, leaving Egert with a scar which comes to symbolize Egert’s cowardice. Unable to end his suffering at his own hand, Egert embarks on an odyssey to undo the curse and the horrible damage he has caused, which can only be repaired by a painful journey down a long and harrowing path.

Toria, the woman whose fiance Egert killed, hates Egert, of course, is saddened and numb, but comes to forgive the drastically changed Egert, and eventually falls in love with him. Plotted with the sureness of Robin Hobb and colored with the haunting and ominous imagination of Michael Moorcock, The Scar tells a story that cannot be forgotten.

This book was translated by Elinor Huntington, who studied Russian Literature at Barnard College and UCLA. She currently lives in Los Angeles.