Synopsis:
Sacara is decaying. The dead walk the streets, fungi light the night and Dagner must fight to keep the rot at bay.
The Spare of Galenn died the turn his brother fell into the putrefaction fields, tumbling into the decaying detritus below. The Heir of Galenn was no more. Species of rot rarely seen before sprouted from his flesh by the time they pulled him out. Those who carried him through the streets held their hands over their mouths, afraid the spores consuming his body might corrupt them too. Throughout the city, word spread that the Heir of Galenn had died, but nobody shed a tear. Instead, they turned to his brother, saying, ‘Dagner, you are a spare no more’.
Mourning his brother, forced to be the heir, Dagner is torn between carrying on his family’s legacy, and his desire to turn his back on the cursed city of death and decay forever. But before he makes his choice, a sinister plot begins to unfold, and he learns just how deep the rot runs deep in Sacara.
Review:
Sacara is a city of perpetual darkness, rife with fungus, teeming with shades of the dead, and more corrupt at its core than it appears. Only a select few know the truth about Sacara’s legacies, and they guard their knowledge at all costs.
I really liked the premise of this book. The setting is both eerie and intriguing, it has a complex plot with several good twists, and it made for an overall good story. It’s told from Dagner’s perspective; he’s the last-resort heir to his family’s legacy, but he has always yearned to escape Sacara completely.
For the most part, I liked Dagner’s character. At the beginning of the book, he’s the dutiful heir, determined to uphold his family’s legacy in the wake of his father’s death, but there is so much he doesn’t yet know. As he uncovers the truth about Sacara and its bloodlines, his mindset gradually changes. Dagner has a good heart and he wants to do what’s right for his people, but sometimes that trait makes him incredibly reckless. He doesn’t consider the cost to himself for many of his actions until it’s too late to change course. (Yes, he is that stubborn.)
The city of Sacara itself is pretty interesting. Sacara is located at the bottom of a steep ravine that is constantly blanketed by an ash plume from a nearby volcano. When it rains, it’s acidic. Fungus grows everywhere, but the Sacarans have learned to use it in almost every aspect of their day-to-day lives. Sacarans worship the death god, and many of their rituals involve preserving the dead (or parts of them) to ensure the shades of the departed never face a “true death.” The shades are often consulted by the living for advice. Even though the story never leaves the city of Sacara, there is a ton of worldbuilding involved.
My one complaint is there are a lot of proofreading errors. I would have given it a five-star rating otherwise.
Sacaran Nights is a complete story, though the ending was left open for the possibility of more to come. It’s listed as book one in a duology, but as far as I can tell, there is no ETA on book two at this time.
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