The Steel Remains

The Steel remains is a great book, and a fun read. The ability to handle mature themes a must. Action packed, edge of your seat the entire way. My best Fantasy read of the last year so far.

Morgan delivers the best of his past writing -- a great mystery, tough heroes, complex characters, a healthy dose of sex, politics, shadow maneuvers -- and brings in a top-notch sword & sorcery storyline. The writing took me into the story and kept me up late at night: the world is vividly rendered and the multiple storylines perfectly paced if you're looking for a page-turner. Like Takeshi Kovacs, the main hero in this novel is touch as nails but smart like a detective. The supporting characters (heroes and villains both) are well-drawn, as are the gods, religions, and machines that give the setting remarkable depth. Come get lost in this rich world. You won't regret it.

Some eight years after a great war wherein human factions united along with the Kiriath to defeat invading reptilians who eat their captives, the Kiriath have left, the humans have fractionalized, the Empire is now allowing slavery, old soldiers are poor and on the streets, and Ringil Eskiath is in a backwater village living off war stories of his days as a heroic leader during one of the pivotal battles. Ringil gets a visit from his mother, requesting that he return to Trelayne and help recover a cousin who was sold to slavers. Ringil is the son of a prominent family, graduate of the Military Academy, war hero, deadly with a blade (and he carries a rare Kiriath blade that makes him even deadlier), but he's also known as a degenerate and corrupt. As a youth he watched a friend be hideously executed as a homosexual. Ringil escaped that fate only because of his status, but he'd been persona non grata even in his own family and had run wild among the darker elements of the city. It is his old contacts in the underworld and his abilities with a sword that will aid in hunting down his cousin in the dangerous Etterkal neighborhood. The book also follows two other characters. One is Egar, a Clanmaster among nomads to the north and formerly a comrade to Ringil and also a war hero given the name of Dragonbane. He's got wealth and power and a good life by nomad standards, but he's traveled as a soldier and misses the sophistication of life in the south. Gods and other forces may play a part in taking any decision about his life out of his hands. The other character is Lady Archeth, advisor to the Emperor Jhiral in Yhelteth. She is half-Kiriath and although she has their distinctive black skin, she apparently was not Kiriath enough to be allowed to take their ships when the Kiriath finally left the world after their centuries-long stay. She is also a former comrade of Rigil. She's sent by the Emperor to look into an attack on a port city by a strange and unknown power. Eventually, all three characters' paths converge as they face a new threat to mankind and the possible beginning of another terrifying war. There is plenty of action, most of it extremely violent and graphic. The language is rough, like the action, and full of profanity. There are sex scenes. This is a book for adults and it has mature themes. As I am an adult and occasionally enjoy adult themes, I found this book a fantastic read. There were some stereotypical aspects to the characters but they all were very well developed and were interesting, sympathetic and complex, which overshadowed any cliches. The plot moved quickly, although at times it was difficult to see where it was going. But it all had my interest all the way through. I hate to say it, but it's true: I couldn't put this book down! And am still going back through it to check for things I might have missed the first time through. The story arc ends very solidly, but I still can't wait to see what happ

Like another reviewer, I wasn't gonna wait until this book made its debut in the U.S. I, too, ordered a copy from the U.K. Money well spent! So, below is my original review. Y'know I wasn't going to bother. But the only other review for this book (the paperback version, that is) seems to be unduly distressed about the homosexuality of one of the characters. That's sorta like watching "Titanic" and complaining about Leonardo DiCaprio's tuxedo -- you're missing the point. The Steel Remains is a gut-wrenching look at an archetypical sword & sorcery novel. Swordfights? Yep. Sorcery? Yup. But it's not clean. It's not Disney. Richard Morgan shows us how horrible such a world would really be. His discriptions of violence are deeply disturbing; they unflinchingly portray what happens when a swordblade strikes a person. His "heroes" aren't heroes at all, they're simply survivors (who often survived because they were lethally competent killers). I find this oddly refreshing. So many other fantasy authors seem to forget how awful a world dominated by swordsmen would be. Particularly if you, yourself, were an unarmed shopkeeper, peasant, or slave. The Steel Remains is a Dragonlance novel for grown-ups. Having said all that, I STRONGLY recommend this book. It's not for everyone, granted, but it's an excellent tale with plenty of action. And sex. And violence. It follows the tales of 3 former comrades who find themselves together again, fighting a semi-mystical enemy bent on invasion and conquest. Rather than give any of the plot away, I'll simply say, Richard Morgan has written another winner. I look forward to his next novel, in whatever genre.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I should start off this review by admitting that: A.) I'm a big fan of Richard K. Morgan's work. I devoured the Takeshi Kovacs books. I really enjoyed Market Forces. Hell, I even liked Thirteen. As a friend of mine says, Mr. Morgan should be: "chained to his desk and forced to write novels for me." A sentiment I wholly agree with. Which leads me to my second admission... B.) I was so excited for this book, Mr. Morgan's fabled, long rumored departure from sci-fi and his first foray into noir-ish fantasy, that I ordered the book from England. It doesn't come out here in America until January or something like that and quite frankly, that was too long for me. I couldn't wait. So, I actually ordered a fantasy book "special" from overseas... So bare those things in mind as you read on... In a nutshell, my review of The Steel Remains goes like this: Fantastic. Great. Very, very good. I really enjoyed it and I excitedly await the second... which I will probably order from England. So it goes like this: Ringil Angeleyes is a once storied Hero-of-Legend living off his reputation at the edge of the World. Egar Dragonbane once rode a Dragon down to its fiery death and now wallows in a life of boredom amongst his goat herding, steppe wandering, superstitious hick kin. Archeth Indamaninarmal is the last of her kind, a half breed left behind by her Father's people and now serving an Empire she no longer believes in and an Emperor barely worth his crown. These three former friends and companions, heroes and veterans of the war with the Scaled folk that nearly destroyed humanity, now find themselves on a path towards a new war, a war against a darker evil, a more powerful and more dangerous foe than the Lizards, and all with a World that none of them is even sure is worth saving anymore hanging in the balance. So the main complaint I've seen, is the one from people who happily land with both feet on the "seen it before" rant, as if there is such a creature as a wholly original tale, ESPECIALLY where such a tired and played out genre as fantasy is concerned. First off, this book isn't a traditional fantasy story, so from the start, any comparisons are ridiculous. This is a far flung future world, a world so far ahead, that the moon is gone (having apparently been shattered at some point lost to history), technology and society has regressed (possibly due to the same cataclysm that befell the moon) and so much time has passed since that no one even remembers the world as it used to be. The setting alone precludes the inclusion of those tired and oh-so familiar fantasy tropes in the usual ways and their re-appliance in this new setting automatically makes them seem new again. Which is really the point, isn't it? To fall back on the old cliché: There's nothing new under the sun. The trick, then, becomes to redress the old as new. And that's what Mr. Morgan does. The classic fantasy b