The Steel Remains: This is fantasy - just harder, faster and bloodier (Land Fit for Heroes)

Product Information

I wanted to like The Steel Remains so much more than I actually did. I was so looking forward to reading it. I've read two of Richard K. Morgan's science fiction novels, Thirteen and Altered Carbon and thought they were unique and amazing. Morgan takes sex and violence to a level I would never be able to tolerate in a movie and manages to glamorize neither. He reveals the damage violence does to those who commit it, even the bad guys. He really understands socio-politics and is great at extrapolating the future based on today. I really wanted to see how he would bring that ability to the fantasy genre. Egar Dragonbane, steppe-nomad, one-time fighter for the Empire finds himself entangled in a small-town battle between common sense and religious fervour. But out in the wider world there is something on the move far more alien than any of his tribe’s petty gods. In fact, there is at least one nominally heterosexual sex scene (though it's rather more sadism than anything) that is a great deal more disturbing than anything we read in Ringil's chapters.

Ringil starts by visiting an old friend, Milacar, to find his cousin. Milacar is a self-described criminal, though he lives in a mansion in The Glades, he has ties with the Marsh Brotherhood. Ringil and Milacar had a sexual relationship when Ringil was about 15, which they rekindle during this brief visit. Milacar eventually warns Ringil about what he's getting in to, and tells him about a dwenda in Etterkal. Egar Dragonbane, steppe-nomad, one-time fighter for the Empire finds himself entangled in a small-town battle between common sense and religious fervour. But out in the wider world there is something on the move far more alien than any of his tribe's petty gods. Richard Morgan dice las cosas con total descaro, haciéndolas brutales y lo que menos muestra son reparos a la hora de hacerlo. Coge los clichés de la fantasía y los cercena con Críacuervos, después de dejarlos un poco en el suelo mirándolos impasible se baja la cremallera y les mea encima, se da la vuelta sin mirar atrás sin perder un segundo de dedicarles una mirada y tira una cerilla para terminar con su agonía prendiendoles fuego. Ringil, yo… Sacudió la cabeza. Hizo un ademán cargado de impotencia. Tú, sabes… Si hubieras sido… Si tú… Doing In the Wizard: The Dwenda are actually descendants of a military starship crew that got trapped in hyperspace. Their surroundings mutated them and gave them psychic abilities.God-Emperor: The Warhelms plan to overthrow the current ruler of the Empire to install one. Specifically, Archeth Indamaninarnal, whose immortality would eventually cause people to see her as divine.

The Lord Administrator of Tidal Watch reached him, and lashed out with his left hand. The move caught Ringil by surprise; it was unlooked for, there was no weapon apparent, just a pair of gloves. The rough patterned leather stropped his cheek, and stung. ‘I demand satisfaction, Eskiath.’

About Richard Morgan

Thank you for your very kind words Richard, and to turn the compliments about face for a moment, I have to say I was expecting to meet someone who scored quite high on the cynical and angry scale (purely judged from the characters in your books) but instead found an incredibly warm, educated human being with a passion for doing what is right and decent. In my time I've been a rent collector, a furniture mover and a barman, to name but three of the more interesting. Mostly, though, I worked as a globe-trotting English as a Foreign Language teacher, with spells in Istanbul and Madrid. In life, this woman had never liked him. As temple officiator and priest, her son was supposed to despise Ringil for a worthless degenerate and a corruptor of youth. Instead, as a schoolmaster and man of some education himself, Bashka turned out to be far too enlightened for his own good. His easygoing attitude to Ringil and the late- night phil - Ringil finds Sherin and tells her his is there to take her home. They plan to stay the night at a scavenger camp, and then take a ferry across the water and walk to Pranderghal. Ringil is now starting to lose his memories of the time in the marches (the "gray places"). In Pranderghal, Ringil, Sherin, and the dwenda go to an inn to eat and drink. It is here that Ringil runs into his old friend from the war, Egar. (Continued below.) Ringil, I ...’ He shook his head. Gestured helplessly. ‘You, you know ... if you’d just been ... If only you ...’