The Scar

People of different age, profession and social status answer two simple questions: An innocent virgin spies on his frontal neighbor and falls in love with her, thus starts using tricks on her which he hopes will lead to them meeting. After discussions and dishonest negotiations, a decision is taken as to where a large new chemical factory is to be built and Bednarz, an honest Party man, is put in charge of the construction.

He used to live in the small town where the factory is to be built, his wife used to be a Party activist there, and he has unpleasant memories of it. But he sets to the task in the belief that he will build a place where people will live and work well. His intentions and convictions, however, conflict with those of the townspeople who are primarily concerned with their short-term needs. Disillusioned, Bednarz gives up his post.

Later on, in the 's he directed The Double Life of Veronique and The Three Colours trilogy, which confirmed his position in the international art-house. As most filmmakers do so did he start by making documentaries, then he made two films for the Polish television and after that his first film for the big screen, Blizna The Scar, Kieslowski himself called the film horrible. He criticized its screenplay and categorized the film as socialist realism.

He probably saw something I can never be able to see; something that only the one who made the film could see. Blizna is a realistic film about a socialist society, but socialist realism was never even close to realism. It's full of that blind optimism which Stalin so idealized. But Kieslowski's film, Blizna, is incredibly pessimistic: However, one shouldn't feel that Kieslowski was a man cheering for individualism, market economy or economic liberalism. He always called himself unpolitical and criticism for the new, capitalist Poland can be seen in his later film Three Colors: Blizna is a story about a corporation which decides to build a new factory in spite of ecology, or the people living in the area.

They choose a man with a family to lead the project. Quickly he reveals to be a man who takes responsibility and tries to finish the project with honor. He soon starts to see the flaws of the project, where moral is only one defect. In his journey through Machiavellist politics he finds making a change incredibly difficult. The authorities of Poland didn't ban Blizna, but they treated it badly, and basically no one saw it until the producer of The Three Colours trilogy brought a bunch of films from Kieslowski's early career to the screen.

Having seen Blizna today, it might have partly lost its grip, since it is tightly tied to its own time. The 's can be seen in just about everything: This isn't a bad thing, by any means, but Blizna certainly isn't a timeless classic. But what it is, is a good description of it's time. It shows how Poland worked in the 's under the socialist government; how it did not worked. Kieslowski said in his interview book, Kieslowski on Kieslowski by Danusia Stok, how sad it is that no one takes responsibility on what happened during the era -- not even today.

Blizna is very pessimistic and has got inconsolable despair. It shows how impossible it was to make a change in Poland and how hopeless the era was. To put it briefly, it's a satirical description of the authorities of Poland. It is funny, political, pessimistic and very interesting for those who love Kieslowski, European art-house or are interested in history of the 20th century. Start your free trial. Find showtimes, watch trailers, browse photos, track your Watchlist and rate your favorite movies and TV shows on your phone or tablet! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends.

Full Cast and Crew. After discussions and dishonest negotiations, a decision is taken as to where a large new chemical factory is to be built and Bednarz, an honest Party man, is put in charge of the I would compare The Scar somewhat with Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind , not in terms of style or story, as the Dyanchenkos' writing is quite different from Rothfuss's, but in the way it takes a story that's old hat, old school fantasy and still makes it new and interesting.

Part of this is the writing, which was particularly delightful since translations are always a bit iffy, but while of course I can't compare it to the original Russian, there was a ton of evocative imagery, descriptive detail, and strong emotions conveyed in prose that pushes this book into something of true literary quality. The story is mostly about Egert Soll, a brash, philandering swordsman who's basically every jock bully writ large: Then he kills an innocent student in a duel that's murder in all but name, the ultimate act of jock-on-nerd bullying.

He leaves the student's fiancee bereft and heartbroken. This is all the set up for Egert's oh-so-very-well-deserved smackdown. His comeuppance is delivered by a mysterious mage called the Wanderer, who goads Egert into a duel and inflicts a magical scar on Egert that curses him with cowardice. While this has the feel of a traditional fairy tale or perhaps a Russian folk tale , it's Egert's curse that makes the story.

Until that point, Egert has been a completely unlikable schmuck, someone you can't wait to see get dirt rubbed in his face. And when he kills Toria's fiancee, you figure he's passed the moral event horizon and you can't possibly feel anything but disgust for him and a desire to see him suffer. And suffer he does. And pretty soon you are feeling sorry for Egert Soll.

The curse soon turns him into a feeble husk of a man, a hollowed-out shell of his former self who can't even take his own life. And as things get worse and worse, a remarkable thing happens: By a cruel and ironic twist of fate, he is brought face to face with Toria again, the fiancee of the student he killed. And Toria, who also feels nothing but disgust for him initially, comes to feel sympathy for him as well. By the time the fate of their city, and of Toria, hangs on Egert's ability to overcome his curse, you are not just rooting for him, you're cheering for him.

The climax is both epic and again resonant of traditional fairy tales: Egert is given very specific instructions as to what he has to do to get out from under his curse, and of course things do not turn out quite the way he expects. And there are only a few swordfights, and each one serves a very specific and dramatic purpose in the plot. It's a very psychological novel about egotism, courage and cowardice, grief, and redemption. It's a heroic epic and a romance, and a dark Russian fairy tale with shades of Rothfuss, Wolfe, and Dostoevsky.

There's some action and a little bit of magic, but the character arcs are more important than the plot arc. Apparently the Dyanchenkos are very popular fantasy authors in Russia, yet this novel is the first one to be translated into English. I hope more follow. While this book may not appeal to you if you have no interest in traditional fantasy, I highly recommend it for all fantasy readers, and I'd argue that it has a psychological depth that transcends its genre.

Feb 02, H. The Scar is the type of book that makes you weep for the limitations of sub-genre delineations. Not epic in scope and apparently intended to stand alone despite being part of a larger cycle. The epic and fantastic elements that presumably tie together the larger cycle are there, but very much in the background. This is really a novel about three people. Where so much fantasy is so very epic, The Scar is incredibly intimate. At the same time, it does not share the heavy reliance on action and vio The Scar is the type of book that makes you weep for the limitations of sub-genre delineations.

It perhaps better resembles a fully formed, and in many ways very traditional, fairy tale. At its heart, The Scar is a tale of two people and another person linked to both whose lives are eternally altered and inextricably linked by a senseless murder. It is a tale of a terrible and well deserved curse. It is a tale of arrogance, fear, humiliation, cowardice, and redemption. It is a tale of pride, grief, and forgiveness. The great strength of Russian literature is its ability to plumb the depths of the tortures of the human condition. The Scar shares this ability and brings it to a fantasy setting.

The other tremendous strength of Russian literature is, oddly enough, the language. The prose is halting, haunting, and lyrical, as that of all great Russian literature seems to be. He heard a variety of sounds: All three main characters are exceptionally well drawn and three-dimensional. I humbly submit that The Scar is such a work and it still reads much easier than Dostoevsky, not the least because it dispenses with Russian naming conventions.

The world of The Scar is adroitly drawn, albeit only with the broadest of strokes. The book takes place almost entirely within two cities. Fantastic elements are largely limited to mages and the mysterious and ominous Order of the Lash neither of which are fully explained , oblique references to some great threat to the entire world, and the enigmatic Wanderer. All those comments telling that this is how it'd be like if Dostoyevsky had writen a Fantasy book are quite right: Nobody weaves bleak and soul-crushing yet hopeful plots like Russians can, and the style of the Dyachenkos does resemble Fyodor Mikhailovich's in two ways: Those who have read Dostoyevsky will remember that when he is bent on redeeming a character, he believes in redemption through Excellent!

Me, I love redemption stories, second opportunities and the will to better one's lot in life, so when I read in the blurb that The Scar had such a plot, it didn't take much convincing to pick it up. And I'm glad that it turned out to be a very good story, rather traditional when it comes to genre conventions, but with personages so well characterised that they drive forth the story themselves.

There's romance to add to the character redemption and a good dose of swashbuckling derring-do as well, all with very little fantasy as to be taken for a normal medieval or Renaissance novel. Sep 18, Tosh rated it really liked it Shelves: It is no misfortune if you do not know where you are going; it is far worse when there is no longer anywhere to go.

He who stands on the path of experience cannot step away from it, even when it has come to its end. For the path is without end. I have to be honest. In this instance though the main character, It is no misfortune if you do not know where you are going; it is far worse when there is no longer anywhere to go.

Possible swords

In this instance though the main character, Egert, is not changing of his own volition. He's cursed - forced to be the kind of man he has always despised, forced to view life from a different perspective. I felt a lot of emotions throughout this book, but pity was probably the strongest.

There was no doubt this man deserved at least a portion of his plight, but with every new experience it became harder and harder to watch Egert slip into hopelessness and despair. It had me wishing he could find some way of overcoming this horrible existence. This story is a little bit different from the usual fantasy. With the exception of the magical curse, and a few events that happen toward the end, the story focuses more on the emotional and physical turmoil of the main character than any of the usual fantasy elements.

This is the second book in a series that was originally published in Russian, and the only one of the series translated into English. But not to worry if you're thinking of picking it up. With the exception of one character, who definitely deserves his own book , this reads as a standalone. And, hopefully with enough reader interest maybe the publishers will see it in their hearts to make the translations available in the future.

May 05, Mia Darien rated it it was amazing. It's like when you see a beautiful performance, but one that is sad or haunting. Someone singing or dancing, some artistic expression, that moves you profoundly, but in such a way that when it's over, you don't know if you should applaud or not. It is not a performance that inspires a burst of jubilation, but it was so good that you know you should applaud. This book had an interesting meandering quality to the plot. Something I think that if it had been presented to an American publisher, they m It's like when you see a beautiful performance, but one that is sad or haunting.

Something I think that if it had been presented to an American publisher, they may have torn right out of it in their great efforts to make every book unique and exactly like every other out there. This was originally published in Russian, but I find that the Russian-to-English novels I've read have a very unique feeling that I like. I felt this book very strongly.

I think perhaps Egert's struggles with his curse resounded with me because I fight a chronic and sometimes nearly crippling Anxiety Disorder. While it is not as pronounced or like his, anyone whose fought that intense, irrational, uncontrollable fear will, I think, understand this book best. But the wandering -- an appropriate word for it -- never lets you fall out of the book.

You flow with it in it's haunting, lyrical sense. And yet it's very It is indeed lyrical and direct. In the end you realize that when the performance is truly that beautiful, jubilant or not, you must applaud. I don't think I'll be forgetting this story any time soon. Devoured in two days. Believable people taken on a journey far from their first selves.

Engagement rating 5 Style rating 4 PS. While this husband and wife team have been writing and receiving awards for books since , their works are, for the most part, in the Ukrainian and Russian languages. Written in , The Scar is apparently the first to be translated into English and has only come to Western shores this year. While this is the middle book of a trilogy, unlike other trilogies, this installment stands quite well on its own though I hope that the remaining installments become available in English.

I cannot wait to read them. These are masterful writers. While not one for spoilers, I will only say that this is a book of the fantasy genre that, while there is sorcery and sword-fighting, none of it is gratuitous. While there is a great deal about love, there is not too much romance. For my liking, all of these were good attributes. The book is about great courage and great cowardice, self-discovery and redemption. This is a wonderfully rich and vivid story about our humanity, our psychology and the nature of both. For me, perhaps the most powerful aspect of the book had to do with the power of forgiveness.

This is story-telling at its best. When beginning to listen to this book, I was already engaged but not engrossed in listening to one and reading another literary work of fiction. I was becoming drained by the complexity and work that I had to put into both. While simple in its parable-, morality play-like nature, it still had the depth and richness of quintessential Russian literature.

The characters are richly and completely drawn. The plot is riveting, surprising and unpredictable to the end. The prose, perhaps owing to the translation by Elinor Huntington, is engrossing, lyrical and poetically beautiful. The narration by Jonathan Davis did justice to the book. For the most part, that was not the case with this selection. The narrator disappeared and the book revealed itself in all of its beauty.

That was a distraction for me but the passages were few and far between. I think that it was a personal thing and I will not dock him for it. He did a superb job. Rating this book is difficult for me. I would like to rate it within the context of the rest of the trilogy because of some unmentioned comments but two-thirds of that are unavailable. So, in the interest of enticing you to rather than dissuading you from reading this masterpiece, my fine reader of reviews, 5 Stars it is.

You will not be disappointed. I would give this book 10 stars if I could. Amazing, lovely, expertly written. It takes so many "rules" of fiction and stands them on their heads and ends up with a beautiful story of love and courage. Some of their shorts and novellas were really nice too. Absolutely new level of artistry. Not just good, but literally masterpiece - compelling, deep and sharp, frighteningly strong. Could it be the second novel of the newcomers? It was really hard to believe.

Being published in , THE SCAR got a notable success and immediately placed Dyachekos' name on the list of most valuable domestic writers, border-breakers of the genre. In fact, the book never was out-of-print since the first edition in Russia, and it's no wonder that it was translated abroad in time - for example, in Poland, the country with a strong traditions of genre reading.

I just hope the novel in translation of Elinor Huntington will be as impressive as original was, but my English is far from perfect and I cannot judge this. And then we'll wait for February, I'll read you soon. View all 6 comments. Feb 04, Phil rated it liked it. Here's a extract from my review, full link: The feelings of the young and pitiful captain are at the heart of the account and the complete pallet of possible reactions and state of mind come to pass.

Sergey mentioned that he added a layer of psychology and even Here's a extract from my review, full link: Sergey mentioned that he added a layer of psychology and even of psychiatry to the story. This element is literally palpable.

Doubtlessly, the real interest of The Scar can truly be found in the quest of Egert and all the difficulties he has to cope with. It is by pondering this aspect that you should decide if this kind of tale is for you. We are far from an epic account, it is personal, very human and emotional, slightly too much for me in retrospect. I think that the core of the novel is probably from the mind of Marina more than Sergey. It is all assumptions but the feminine writing is felt all over the narration in the depiction of the characters behaviors. Dec 17, Richard rated it it was amazing Shelves: This book is the story of Egert.

He begins as a confident, somewhat cruel, aggressive, womanizing youth who is a member of the guards. One day, he kills the fiance of a woman he is pursuing and as a result is challenged to a duel by a mysterious stranger. The stranger leaves Egert with a scar and a curse that leaves him a coward. The bulk of the book deals with Egerts downfall and attempt In full disclosure, I won an Advanced Uncorrected Proof edition of this book as part of a Goodreads Giveaway.

The bulk of the book deals with Egerts downfall and attempt to overcome his curse. There is no hint that this book has been translated from another language. It is beautifully written the language is almost poetic at times. A big congratulations should go to Elinor Huntington who wrote the translation, and to Sergey and Marina Dyachenko who wrote the original story.

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The details are fantastic, close attention has been paid to character traits, for example, after Egert has been cursed, he has a number of habits that he has to perform to help him overcome his nervousness in a stressful situation. The descriptions of the locations and events are also wonderfully detailed and helps the reader visualize the world. The pacing of the book is excellent. Egert goes through a number of stages during his journey and each is just about the right length. Not so short that you feel like you missed out or that he takes unrealistic jumps in his development, not too long as to become dull.

Although I would like to have seen shorter chapters each chapter is about 30 pages long as it would make it easier to get to the end of a chapter in a single sitting. The character of Egert is interesting, initially he is quite unlikeable but for several reasons this is okay. We know this is a story of redemption so he needs to start off with some bad traits, he is only bad for the early part of the book and he is loved by those around him so his character for the setting he is in, isn't seen as a bad person.

From reading the outline of the book I was concerned that this would be more of a romance story, this wasn't the case however. It was more of a fantasy with romantic elements in it, no more than many other fantasy novels. It was done much more intelligently than in other fantasy stories and was much more believable. The ending is fantastic, the tension is really cranked up and you cannot stop reading because you want to find out what happens to the characters you have grown to love.

This is more of a thinking-persons fantasy story than a action adventure, which as it turns out is actually a good thing unless of course you want to read only high action stories. The book is excellent, the story is very interesting and so very intelligently written with superb details and descriptions.

For the benefit of the publisher I will include a few of the errors I spotted. Sep 16, K. Weiland rated it really liked it. This is such a unique book. Jun 20, Aliette rated it really liked it. I came to this cold, more or less it came heavily recommended by a couple of friends, and I'd enjoyed Sergey and Marina Dyachenko's fantastic "Vita Nostra", but I had no idea what to expect. Egert finds himself cursed by the Wanderer to be a coward--so swamped by fear he's totally unable to function.

But all is not well: This is a tight, character-driven study of two people and how they cope with loss and fear and the rising madness brought by the Order of Lash. I expected this to be larger-scale and to deal with the brotherhood of Lash; but I'm really it didn't--part of why it works is the tight focus, and Egert and Toria both having to make stands. I wish we'd seen more from Toria at the climax; the narrative ends up feeling a little unbalanced.

But it's well worth a read, and it's quite unlike anything else I've ever read. This is the story of an arrogant and villainous young man who happens to get cursed for killing an innocent man and then walks all the way to love and redemption. I started The Scar without many expectations. I actually thought I would find it easy to associate with because of the Russian authors. What I got was a dark and a bit weird story that read more like a fairytale than a fantasy book.

I had a hard time with the book to start with. I was horrified by the grotesquely negative MC, Egert, st This is the story of an arrogant and villainous young man who happens to get cursed for killing an innocent man and then walks all the way to love and redemption. I was horrified by the grotesquely negative MC, Egert, started as.

I found all his actions exaggerated and unrealistic. Things didn't change when Egert got cursed. I started to warm to any of the characters way past the middle of the book. I ended up enjoying the latter part and I found the ending quite satisfying. On the whole, I had problems with both the characters and the story. For me, the characters lacked depth and this was a story whose sole purpose was to deliver an equivocal and loud edifying message to the reader.

The Scar by Marina Dyachenko

Combined with the dark feel of the story I expected Baba Yaga to appear in her claw-legged cottage any time! I think the story benefited a lot from Jonathan Davis' narration. My overall rating is 3. I'm rounding up because of the latter part of the book and the narration. I understand why Jonathan Davis the narrator recommended it as one of the most interesting books he has read recently. View all 3 comments. Jun 22, Tudor Ciocarlie rated it it was amazing Shelves: Great story about redemption with a gorgeous eastern-european perfume.

The english-language SFF genre desperately needs this kind of infusion. Jun 11, Danielle rated it it was amazing Shelves: Unexpectedly fairytale-esque, which turned out to be a really good thing. Sep 30, Michael rated it it was amazing Shelves: I haven't read a book quite like this before. The themes of pride, arrogance, justice, cowardice, love, forgiveness, and redemption are all familiar, of course. But the use of language is stunning—especially when held up against most modern fantasy writing. There is a formality to the writing that is rare—I can only compare it to some of Michael Scott Rohan's magnificent prose in his Winter of the World trilogy.

But beyond formality is the rich use of metaphor—yes, metaphor, not it's lesser cous I haven't read a book quite like this before. But beyond formality is the rich use of metaphor—yes, metaphor, not it's lesser cousin simile—which allowed the husband-and-wife authors to infuse me with understanding of the horror of one who is afflicted with cowardice, as well as the revulsion of others for one so afflicted. The dialog is sparse and powerful, with a cast of introverts and deep emotions.

The authors have created a setting that is almost palpably real, and they have done so without adjective abuse, using instead verbs—wonderful verbs! The dueling scenes are excellent and powerful. The transformation of the protagonist is artfully done, and I eventually found myself liking him, to my surprise.

I don't know much about Russian culture, but I suspect that the authors are tapping into some deep themes of Russian culture—there is a depth to the story that goes beyond what is written. This book is translated from Russian, but if I hadn't read the publisher's notes beforehand, I wouldn't have known it. My hat is off to the translator as much as to the authors. I am very happy that Tor Books brought this story to the U.