The Steel Remains (A Land Fit for Heroes)

This is an utterly brilliant, fantastically well written story, which is at times difficult to read. There are two elements that make it hard to read. First, the more prosaic issue is that there are multiple plot-lines and jumping between them is jarring. The second thing is the fact that Morgan writes in explicit detail about sex and some of the sex is between men. Having a gay hero *really* works. He is sympathetic and the plot elements revolving around his interactions with his family and how being labeled degenerate motivates him is incredibly well written. However, I really just didn't need to know who was doing what to who how.

Setting aside the few sections where you will want to close your eyes ... this is one of the better books I have read. All the characters here are complex, brilliantly rendered and just interesting. The world is also interesting, unique and believable. The plot moves along very quickly. Basically everything (except the occasional shocking sex scenes) works together perfectly to make this a must read.

The Steel Remains has some action scenes that are quite well done, and some decent characters, but in between are chock full of clumsy world building, and dialogue that seems way too modern. Take out nearly every sentence and replace the exotic names with Mike or Bob and you would never be able to tell this dialogue was set in a fantasy world involving swords and dark sorcery.

I didn't find the sex very graphic as many others did. Sure, there are only a couple scenes of an adult nature, but nothing more than a hard R rating. As for the world building, I found that some of the descriptions were vague and lacking clarity. The author seemed to have a problem properly describing the land and politics our characters were populating. I just found much of it confusing and vague without a strong sense of focus or storytelling. The plot, as well, was very basic and just not interesting enough for me to invest any more time in the second book, The Cold Commands. Unfortunately, I'm done reading this author.

Steel Remains is probably the most interesting book in the fantasy genera I have recently read. Morgan has a thing for dystopia which you see in his Science Fiction series. This is the fantasy dystopia. The other recurring Morgan themes are the evil of organized religion, government, and importance of loyalty and love between individuals. The Morgan hero is a nihilist because he loves or loved and was brutalized. The Kane character from the late Karl Wagners books is a good model for a Morgan hero. The human civilization is living in the remnants left by the prehuman struggles of the elder races. The Anti Hero Ringil despises everything thing and everyone with good reason. The classic outsider who serves the civilization that hates him. There is no noble pseudo medieval fantasy with knights severing the good. Everyone is nasty brutish and cruel. The difference is in degree and context. Only a nasty hero can defeat evil. The heroic trio, Ringil the debauched knight, Archeth the half human Kiriath and Egar the barbarian, over comes evil in spite of betrayal by the people they serve. The later two are interesting and get more text development in the next volume. Morgan likes to try and shock the reader with graphic sex, profanity etc. Excellent book that reflects a realistic Iron Age society mores with complex characters not from the standard template.

For most part I really liked this book. There were parts of the book that I felt were a little confusing but nothing to deter from.
The story is centered around three main characters - Ringil, Egar & Archeth (all very likable characters). Each one has their own journey that they are on but there are rumors that the Dwenda are back. The Dwenda are beings with magic that want to take over this world. They are beautiful yet cruel. It will be up to the trio to save their world.
The characters and the setting are the books strengths. The only weakness for me was I seemed to be missing some things when the book ended. I had a few questions that didn't seemed answered at the end. I feel that maybe the answers were there and maybe I didn't catch them. It's a book that I might have to reread.
I do recommend this book to any fantasy lover out there. Please be aware that there is explicit sex and violent scenes throughout the book. The sex scenes are heterosexual and homosexual in nature. The violent scenes are no worse that I've seen in other books but can be pretty graphic.

"The steel remains" made me think about the first car i bought.

It started out very promising. I enjoyed the whole graveyard corpsemite thing. I also liked the dynamic between Ringil and his mother; most amusing.

The first good; the second half a failure.

At some point it fell apart. The whole Elvish-like bad guys thing failed to convince. And Ringil's homosexuality? Yawn. A hero who is a full flung gay sex fiend. Seems a bit gimicky.

Even Archeth's drug addiction... I suspect the author was thinking 'coffee' but thought: 'Hey, let's give it a strange name and people would be impressed'.

Do not waste your money on this.

The Steel Remains, by Richard Morgan, is a dark, gritty, and in some places obscene fantasy that will not be to everyone's liking. So let's get the surface material out of the way--if you don't like your books laced with a heaping amount of f-bombs, graphic sex (hetero and homosexual), and graphic violence, Steel is not for you. In the slightest. Run. Run as far as you can.

And if you can live with the swearing, sex, and violence? In that case, Steel will mostly entertain, though it isn't a standout fantasy, nor does it I think rise to the level of Morgan's sci-fi stories involving Takeshi Kovacs, his best work to date.

The story takes place a few years after a devastating war that saw various human groups ally with a race with greater technology (the Kiriath) against a reptilian race--The Scaled Folk. The Kiriath abandoned this world soon after the barely successful war to head home (where home resides for both the Kiriath and the Scaled Folk is explained later). Meanwhile, the humans try to pick up the pieces.

The book follows three characters--Ringil Eskiath, Archeth, and Egar Dragonbane, all of whom fought together in the war then went their separate ways. Ringil grew up highborn and homosexual in a city where homosexuality is punishable by death (for those not so high-born). Despised by the city dwellers and his own father, Ringil nonetheless fought for the city against the Scaled Folk and ended up a hero. Rather than return home, he stays in the hinterlands wasting away. Archeth, a half-breed Kiriath who wouldn't survive the journey home due to her human half, was left behind as an advisor to the Emperor of Yhelteth, though as religious fundamentalism rises in the empire her position becomes less and less secure. Egar is the only one of the three to return home, though as clan chief he does little but rue that decision.

Each has a precipitating event that will cause them to leave their current miserable lives. Ringil seeks a cousin sold into slavery. Archeth, forced to flee the capital after killing a priest, seeks whomever it was that sacked one of the Empire's ports--leaving behind devastation unseen since the Scaled Folk. And Egar's clan gods seem to have come to life with at least one wanting him dead. It give nothing away to say the three characters and their stories eventually merge as they discover a vast threat to their land/world looming, possibly in the form of the Dwenda--a mythic/barely-believed-in race and ancient foe of the Kiriath.

Character is one of Morgan's strong suits in his sci-fi, and the same mostly holds true here. Ringil and Archeth especially are complex characters and much is made of their displacement--Ringil as the avowed homosexual and Archeth as the half-breed of a mythic race. Sometimes Morgan makes a bit too much of it, as the reader gets the point relatively quickly, but it's a minor problem. Egar too is out of place--a book-loving seeker of intelligent conversation in a backwards setting, but he's given short shrift in comparison to the other two. Also, and this may be why he gets short shrift, he never truly felt in-place there. In other words, his character felt the most contrived, as if Morgan built Egar's setting and situation up because he needed a displaced, bitter character, rather than the character being displaced and bitter due to his situation. Ringil and Archeth feel much more natural as characters.

Another small problem is there is a bit of a similarity to the narrative voice in all three. While I do think there's a good reason for it--all three are veterans of a terrible war having difficulty settling into the peace--more differentiation would have helped. That said, it should also be mentioned that this post-war prism is one of the more original aspects of the book and one of its strongest as well.

The setting/world-building is variable. At times we get incredible detail, at others things seems a bit blurry or under construction still. This is true both of the physical setting and the political/historical. This does improve toward the end.

All three plot lines are pretty straightforward though Morgan seems to open up the imagination more toward the end, where we also see some sci-fi elements begin to creep in (if one cares about genre labeling--the book itself seems a hybrid--along the lines of Arthur C. Clarke's famous line about any far-flung technology will seem like magic to those who don't understand it). The ending itself is a bit abrupt, though it has some nice twists. There were some plot elements that I thought didn't gel as concretely as they needed to. One is the sexual relationship between Ringil and a Dwenda--it just never felt like a natural outgrowth of anything, similar to Egar's role, it felt contrived. And the Dwenda storyline in general I felt needed some fleshing out, some slowing down.

Some strong characterization, an interesting blending of science fiction, good flashes of humor, some serious themes, the post-war setting and use of recent veterans, a nearly resolved ending with an intriguing look forward: all of these go in the plus column and make The Steel Remains well worth a read. Some contrived characterization and plot elements and some lack of clarity in a few areas hold it back from being a top-notch book. Happily recommended.

Morgan does an excellent of job showing us how three war heroes are coping with life after saving humanity from an inhuman threat. He pulls off a neat trick (which I wish GRR Martin could master) of making his three main characters approximately equally likable. Too often in novels presented from various points of view, I find myself grinding my teeth when we switch over to a character whose viewpoint I find tiresome, that absolutely isn't a problem here. The plot is intriguing, the world feels deep and mysterious like a good fantasy world should. I found the torture scenes horrifying but necessary for the story, if you are sensitive about these things, this book isn't for you.

On the downside, I wish Morgan was better at writing sex scenes. Both the homosexual and heterosexual sex in this book are a little too focused on the mechanics of it all to be really enjoyable. Hopefully he will be able to improve this aspect in the subsequent novels. I also wish he was better at portraying the characters' emotional lives, he seems like he is reaching in that direction but not quite able to flesh things out; actually this is probably the root of his sex scene problems as well.

All in all, a fun read if you like it bloody and profane.

i own every richard morgan book in hard cover including this one, i bought book two (the cold commands) on my kindle. if i didnt have the kindle i would gladly pay 35$ in hard cover. morgan stands with authors such as iain m. banks and dan simmons and george rr martin (him less so) as writers who are so amazingly good i get depressed when i finish their books. the steel remains represents a major shift in genere for morgan who has previously stuck with sci-fi hard fiction, usually about a mercenary named Kovacs. this new series - book two is just warming to the subject, is gritty sword / fantasy. adult subject material includes steamy sex between men makes this age sensitive but a gay sword wielding knight errant is a nice departue from the bilbo baggins and the rest that ignores sexual tension completely or is strictly hetero soft. if i had a better keyboard and 2000 words i couldnt do this author justice nor this amazing book. i guarantee its worth the 30% of what it would cost at brick & mortar.

Richard K. Morgan is a British fantasy/sci-fi author known for his succesful dystopian cyberpunk-type novels. In "The Steel Remains", he has made a first successful foray into fantasy, while maintaining the usual 'noir' elements and the political cynicism of his works. The result is a highly readable, exciting and compelling work. It is in particular interesting because he takes, as fantasy after all to some degree inevitably requires, a number of clichés from the genre; but he manages to subvert them quite effectively. The reader often recognizes certain elements in the book as typical fantasy tropes (the nomadic barbarians, the Imperial City, the elf-type ethereal creatures, etc.), but the function they have in the story is almost always vastly different from the usual approach, and in this rests Morgan's cleverness. Moreover, despite the young and often educated readership of fantasy books, it is still very uncommon to have a gay protagonist or prominent homosexual themes in a novel. At least, such novels rarely go on to become successful in the mainstream as well.

"The Steel Remains" however manages to do this and in a way that in turn avoids the clichés and tropes of the genre of 'gay fiction', being much darker and much less gratifying than the usual 'gay novel' is. Nonetheless, it is to be expected that the petty, the unimaginative, the closed-minded and the neurotic would make a big deal out of the theme itself playing any role at all in what is mainly a swordfighting book, despite the prevalence of homosexuality and homoerotic elements in real life (especially in virtually all-male settings like armies). But any straight person who prejudges the book as uninteresting for this reason is depriving himself as much as if a gay person were to refuse to read "Romeo and Juliet" because it has straight themes.

Since the book is to be the first of a trilogy, the exact world in which it plays and the setting is not explained much, and the reader has to discover the rules of the world mainly on the go. This keeps the book fast-paced. The plot itself is easily enough explained: it traces the actions and interactions of the three main characters, a barbarian chieftain, a cynical war hero shunned for his sexuality, and a female warrior-vizier to the Emperor who is a last descendant of an ancient race. All are, as the book's cover says, "damaged veterans of the war against the Lizard Folk". Despite the silliness of this concept itself, the actual psychology is worked out very carefully and in great detail in their 'careers' since the last battle of that war, so that the book is already very far underway when the plot target eventually becomes visible. It turns out a strange power seems poised to invade the world from an unseen dimension, and through a great number of plot twists and turns, these three must reunite to stop them. It is difficult to say more without spoiling it, but suffice to say that despite the somewhat clichéd impression such a description might give, it is really quite refreshing, at least for a genre flooded with second-rate imitations and epigonism.

The book is fairly heavy on violence and sex, so this has to appeal to you to some degree for it to be worth reading - but then again, all evidence seems to show that most people do in fact enjoy this. Morgan's writing is fast, to the point, and believable, and his characters compelling. Fans experienced in reading fantasy will enjoy the noir take on the tropes, which (as is to be expected) suggest the atmosphere of the better kind of cyberpunk sci-fi. People interested for whatever reason in gay themes or at least some psychological real-world realism and originality of that kind inserted into a typical fantasy world will also do well to read this book.

Richard Morgan has made quite a name for himself with his science fiction novels, winning several prestigious awards for his books Altered Carbon (2003 Phillip K. Dick Award) and Thirteen/Black Man (2008 Arthur C. Clarke Award).

I have greatly enjoyed reading his Takeshi Kovacs novels, Altered Carbon, Broken Angels and Woken Furies.

The Steel Remains is Morgan's first fantasy novel, and it is pretty terrific. It is the first book in a series that is now to be called A Land Fit for Heroes. There are three main characters, Ringil Eskiath, Egar Dragonbane, and Archeth Indamaninarmal. Ringil is a war hero, the no longer young scion of one of the most important families in the city-state of Ishlin-ichan and a talented swordsman with a famous blade called Ravensfriend forged by aliens. Ringil also happens to be openly gay, which is not accepted culturally or legally. As a gay reader of the book, I was thrilled by this aspect of the character and the book. It is a huge credit to Morgan that he decided to make the most important character in the book, gay, and as a straight author included remarkably well-written (and explicit) sex scenes between this gay character and other men. This aspect of the book has been remarked upon (not often favorably) by mostly straight reviewers. The fact is that explicit sex scenes have been a part of all of Morgan's books that I have read and enjoyed, but as a gay reader I have grown accustomed to reading past those paragraphs. I completely applaud Morgan for creating a lasting (and compelling) work of fiction which will affirm gay readers of fantasy.

Egar Dragonbane and Archeth Indamaninarmal are the other two main characters that complete the trio of veteran warriors who get point-of-view chapters in The Steel Remains. Egar is a huge, muscular "savage from the North" who is well-known for killing (not one, but two) dragons. Archeth is a Kiriath-human "half-breed" who is over two centuries old but who was left behind when the aliens left the world. Archeth is also a lesbian, giving The Steel Remains not one but two main characters who are sexual minorities.

Unfortunately, although the reader might expect the story to be built around this heroic trio, it really is centered around Ringil, and although we get some, we don't get a full understanding of Egar's and Archeth's character. This is fine with me, because Ringil is pretty interesting and compelling a character as created by Morgan. Ringil does have some similarities to Takeshi Kovacs in that they are both extremely adept at meting out violence and they both seem to enjoy bravely picking fights against more powerful foes. They are also not exactly sweetness and light to be around, and have a generally jaundiced view of the world.

The plot of The Steel Remains is not as intricate as Morgan's science fiction masterpieces, but what Morgan does well is provide the setting, background and atmosphere of his novels which make them a fascinating and enthralling place to spend hours of your time. The basic outline of the plot here is what happens after Ringil is asked by his mother to find a cousin who has been sold into slavery and discovers that the criminal elements of the city have been employing an incredibly powerful ghost-like figure called a Dwenda. Ringil, of course, can not resist following the trail of clues to find his cousin regardless of how far afield it takes him or how dangerous the path is.

The Steel Remains is highly recommended, especially for gay readers or fans of adult fantastical novels.

Title: The Steel Remains.
Author: Richard K. Morgan.
Length: 432 pages.
Publisher: Del Rey.
Published: January 20, 2009.

OVERALL GRADE: A (4.0/4.0).

PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: A.
IMPACT: A+.
WRITING: A.

Typically I buy a book, then read the reviews after I've read it. In this case, as I was browsing my e-reader web site, I came across the title (because it was FREE) and decided to look up the reviews on the store. I debated long and hard over reading it because of mention of a) the gay lead and b) the cursing being out of place. I don't have a problem with raw language in books at all, but the reviews I read led me to believe it wasn't well done and was also over done. I also could NOT imagine a gay lead in a fantasy book of this type. So I didn't read it for probably a month or so.

Then one evening, I was bored, and decided to read the opening chapter. And I was hooked. I finished the whole thing in a weekend, and stopped several times consciously thinking about 'where's the raw language'? There is cursing, but it didn't seem out of place to me at all.

The gay sex? Yes, it's there. But it was hot! And not dwelled on. I found it believable and did not feel like it detracted from the story at all. It is actually a pivotal plot point, the lead being gay. It is against the rules in his society, a crime. Punished by death, unless you have a family that can buy you out. Which he does. I found the whole theme quite fascinating, and thought the author did an excellent job.

But I only gave it three stars. Why? Because it ended too quickly, in my opinion. Way way too clear there is another book coming, and I felt that to be a bit of a cheat to the readers. But even more important, three stars because it was frequently hard to follow. There were so many quick references and just things to be taken for granted in the author's text as familiar that were not familiar to me, the reader, that I was lost more than I care to be in a book. Not a great amount, mind you, but I felt he went a bit overboard with his expectation for the reader to "know" how it is in the new world he built that is like but not like ours.

I will definitely read the next book, as the story did stay with me, I did grow to care about all the characters, and I do want to see what happens.

Lurid, trashy, awesome fantasy. If you're into that sort of thing you'll love it.

Everyone is a sarcastic jerk in this world, even and especially the supernatural beings/gods. I was so-so on it until one such god dropped his enigma half talk and exploded in curses about why he has to save "a f-ing goat herder."

The premise (gay hero, medieval morals about gayness) is great. I'm fond of fantasy that skips the metaphor and allusions about race/gender/sexuality and just gets right to it.

It's not high philosophy and doesn't pretend to be. You get what's on the box in all of its loud, bloody, hilarious glory. This is fantasy junk food and it's delicious.

Richard K. Morgan is brilliant. The writing is beautiful, original, and brutally dark. If you like Neil Stephenson, China Mieville, Margaret Atwood, and Peter F. Hamilton then this is for you. The hero's are broken, but you care for them. The viciousness of the world they inhabit hits the reader almost as hard as it hits the characters. Importantly, this is not torture porn like Joe Abercrombie's 'Best Served Cold', whose heroes were simple psychopaths. Instead, the brutality of the world is reflected and honed in the heroes. It's also fascinating that one of the main characters is gay, and that the sex is explicit. His sexuality is not the perverse result of his pain as in some earlier fantasy novels. Rather, it is one of the roots of the schism that drives his alienation from nobel society and from the fundamentalist religion gaining strength in the world. It is the best and most interesting fantasy novel I've read in years.

3/5 Rating Originally posted at https://mylifemybooksmyescape.wordpress.com/2015/09/22/book-review-the-steel-remains-by-richard-k-morgan/

This book has sodomy, rape, sex (both hetero and homosexual); expletive, vulgar, and offense language; and it is graphic, brutal, and at times disturbing. This is how the WHOLE BOOK is. If you cannot handle this, you will not enjoy reading this one bit, regardless of what the story is about.

Ringil is the legendary war hero from the battle at Gallows Gap, where he famously fought and drove back the scaled people. Nowadays, things are different. He lives in small town, has free residents at a local inn for the use of his sword's name, and he sells his war stories down at the tavern for food and wine. One day, he receives a visit from his mother telling him that she needs his help. He needs to rescue his cousin who has been sold off as a slave into sex-trafficking. Now Ringil must return home, where he hasn't visited in many years - for good reason.

From the battle at Gallows Gap, Ringil has two companions. One was a half-Kiriath named Archeth. She is currently working as an advisor for the spoiled and arrogant king of the Empire. When there is an attack on a port, the king sends her down to investigate for the truth. Here she meets a women survivor who claims to have seen black demons of smoke and wind destroy everything. Black demons that she had once summoned.

The other companion is Egar, the leader of a Majak tribe. Edgar has never been on good terms with the priest, Poltar, but one day he may have gone too far. It appears that Poltar has the support of the Gods, and together they may finally take him down.

I rather enjoyed the first couple chapters of the book. It was extremely dark (in many ways), but the opening chapter with Ringil hooked me in, and because I had never read any writing quite like this before, I was interested to see how I would like it and where things would go. After that start though, I was about that close to DNF-ing.

I did not have a problem reading the explicative language or the graphic nature of the book, but it very quickly became an irritating distraction, and completely took me out the story. I understand that people in this world swear more than others, and bad bad things happen, but it was too much. All the langue felt way too over-the-top, forced, and almost unbelievable. For the longest time, I couldn't tell the difference between our three main characters - they were all the same to me! Any type of personality or development Morgan was trying to create for these characters was completely overshadow by my disbelief of how people where talking. Then to make matters worse for me, as this was starting to get on my nerves, we were also beginning to start our world-building.

Let me say: I think the world-building in the story is exceptional. Obviously the language and violence of the world was extremely developed, but just as impressive was the history and lore. After those first few chapters where we meet our main characters, the next part of the story is focused on giving us the background of the events that lead up to where we are now. Morgan does a great job explaining this - the different religions of world; past battles and alliance; the background of Ringil; the Kiriath and Dwena. Everything developed very well and flushed out.

(Actually, one problem with this world. With exception of Arceth, it seem like every women is either a beaten-down, obedient, submissive sex-slave, or a more-than-willing and eager whore. Just saying.)

Unfortunately, this started when right when I was losing my patience with language; I was incapable of taking all this cool history in, because I was stuck thinking, "Okay, I get point: people sweat a lot! You can stop using the unnecessary amount of f-bombs!" Since in this part no real fighting-action was happening, and it was mainly lore, I honestly wasn't interested in what I was reading, and this was where I almost put the down.

However, the action and my interest in the plot did pick up after this part, and while I did still notice the excessive language, it was no longer an eyesore anymore.

Aside from world building, the other strength of the novel I fell was the main character Ringil. When we first meet Ringil, I him pegged him as this washed-up, down-on-his-luck, ex-war hero bum, making a living by selling these old stories for a drink at the bar. He didn't give a F about what anyone said about or to him, and did what ever the F he wanted. I simply hated the man, and wanted nothing to do with him. As time would prove, the latter half (not giving a F) was spot him, but the prior was very off. As we learn of his background, I surprisingly found myself being sympathetic towards him! And if I hadn't been so distracted by all his swearing, I would have easily recognized that he was actually suffering from PTSD at the start.

By the way, he is also gay. You learn that within few pages; it's no spoiler.

Due to my indecisive enjoyment of this novel, I decided that how I felt about the ending would ultimately decide whether or not I was going to continues on with series. Ending was GREAT.

I know I harped on A LOT about the language, but it really was a major distraction for me at the start. Once I got used to it, I think I was finally able to enjoy the story to its fullest. The fighting scenes, the characters, and world are great, and I am very confident if I went back and read this now, or was able to ignore the excessive language, this review would be much different and contain a lot more praise.

So yes, I will be continuing on with this series.

3/5 Rating

-DJ

"The Steel Remains" is book 1 in Richard K. Morgan's "A Land Fit For Heroes" fantasy trilogy. The story centers around Ringil Eskiath, a veteran mercenary and war anti-hero who has settled in a backwater town where he prefers to be left alone. But when his cousin is sold into slavery and goes missing his aristocratic mother enlists his help to track her down. Unfortunately, Ringil's brash and unorthodox ways have a knack for stirring up trouble and he soon finds himself caught in a prophecy that he can't escape. Here are my thoughts on The Steel Remains;

Pros

+ Gritty, adult content and situations.

+ Diverse main characters. Definitely not your cookie-cutter heroes.

+ Great beginning, great ending.

+ Interesting use of mythologies, magic and how they intertwine within the different cultures.

Cons <Contains SPOILERS>

- Some characters come and go and often have no real purpose in the story.

- Author mentions too many people, places and things to early that the reader has no comprehension of.

- Slow and disjointed story, especially the middle of the book.

- Takes way too long for the main characters to be reunited.

- Homosexuality of the main character and his graphic actions may offend the less open-minded. I had no issues with it in the story but I'm sure some might.

- Overuse of profanity, especially the F word, causes the emphasis to lose its impact.

- No world map. Disappointing as always.

Dark and gritty fantasy is my favorite genre but I really struggled to finish this book. The story slowed down significantly in the middle of the book and I had a difficult time staying interested. I enjoyed the diversity of the three main characters and how well they worked together even if it appeared dysfunctional to most. Near the end of the book when our heroes are reunited I found myself reengaged in the story. Unfortunately, it was too late and sadly didn't spark my interest enough to want to read the next book in the trilogy.

Definitely not the usual fantasy fare. No holier than thou heroes , who save the world, no simpering maidens waiting to be rescued, but no women who are so bloody minded they may as well be men either.
Ringil Eskiath lives in self-imposed exile from his native Trelayne, exchanging war stories for board and lodging in a small village's inn; to most people he is the hero of Gallows Gap, but his own family shuns him because he is gay. Lady Cur-Archeth Indamaninarmal, the only human-kiriath half-breed, was left behind when the Kiriath abandoned the world, and finds herself more and more unable to tolerate the decadent court of the Yhelteth Emperor. Egar Dragonbane, a Majak mercenary, returned to his people after the wars, but having seen the wonders of the civilized world he feels out of place as a nomad clan leader in the steppe.

I thought Ringil was a singularly great character. He really isn't a good guy in any sense of the word, but you sympathize with him because you're in his head. His actions are almost always brutal and selfish, though he does seem to have a soft spot for the innocents who are caught up in others peoples war and suffer more than anyone in the aftermath of conflict. A lot of other reviewers make a point mentioning that he is in fact gay( most certainly a word that in it's older meaning cannot be applied to this particularly dark fantasy novel)However as a women of more years than I care to mention, if the sex is not graphic enough to cause me concern then most others should not have a problem either.
The other characters are also well realised,the world they live in is gritty and dirty and real, no fairies and unicorns here. There is plenty of dark humour, and Ringil is more than a little afraid of his mother and that gives the book some amusing scenes.
It can be a little gory, there are plenty of fight scenes in which every sword thrust is detailed, but the writing is such that the action carries you along and it is only afterwards when you stop for breath that you realise just how savage the conflict is.
All in all it is a very satisfying read and I'm looking forward to reading part 2 of the trilogy.

Entertaining, hack-and-slash, pretty much nonstop action. The characters are interesting and compelling (in their own ways), the world seems well-realized, with some interesting quirks (the concept of the Kiriath race is pretty cool). The dialogue is good, snappy, and there is pretty much conflict on every page, which keeps things interesting. Lots of tension and all that.

BUT ... a few buts ....

I like the idea of a homosexual 'hero'. However, I do not like the gratuitous dwenda-sexing that goes on in the book for the same reason I disliked the near-sex scene in Sunshine. Cliche, pointless. Call me silly, but I get tired of books where the main character is captured and ends up having sex with the enemy. Seems to happen a lot, especially in vampire fiction. Maybe it's the books I read.

In addition, the homosexual female hero Archeth is layering it on a bit thick for me, especially because she is ensconced as a prime advisor to an empire that executes homosexuals for their aberrant behavior. Didn't quite jive. But oh well.

I also did not like the plotting. Some of it was quite good, and I liked the complex relationships of the characters. But I really, really, don't like the whole teleportation deux-ex movement of characters. It feels so contrived, like the author was sitting there (after experiencing his first in a series of missed deadlines) trying to figure out how to get character A to point B and he snaps his fingers and says "I got it! They'll be teleported by a mysterious being! Perfect!". Happens to both Ringil and Egar. I also didn't like the intervention by mysterious powers in Egar's case.

Last of all, I got really irritated when I figured out this was a series, especially when I got about 50 pages from the end and realized there was no way in hell that Morgan was going to be able to tie up all the loose strands in the book. There is a certain feeling of finality to the end of the book (and some things get wrapped up, which is nice) but it was definitely a disappointment for me.

Overall, the book was all right. I suppose I'll read the next one that comes out. Maybe.

The Steel Remains (2009) is the first fantasy novel in a new trilogy. It is set in a world where gods walk the plains and strange people appear from other timelines. The humans have developed a religious hierarchy that is beginning to put pressure on other creeds.

The action starts a decade after a great war with a horde of migrating reptiles. The invading lizards had been driven back into the sea by the cooperative efforts of several human domains. But now the Yhelteth Empire, the Trelayne League, and the Majak Clans have reverted to business as usual. Still, some things have changed while the soldiers were fighting the war.

In this novel, Ringil Eskiath is a homosexual warrior from Trelayne. He is also the hero of Gallows Gap. The courtiers tend to despise him for his sexual orientation, but the soldiers and commonfolk appreciate having a leader like him around in case of further conflict.

Egar the Dragonbane is a Majak warrior. After returning from the war, he became the Sharanak Clanmaster. He married within the Clan, but later was divorced by his wife. He made only token objections to the divorce.

Archeth Indamaninarmal is a Kiriath-human halfbreed. When the other Kiriath attempted the return to their home timeline, they felt that their chances of surviving the dangers were not that good. So they left Archeth left behind with the humans.

In this story, Ringil takes his Kiriath sword Ravensfriend out to the cemetery to kill some corpsemites. Although he completes the task, Gil notices that he has lost his edge. He has grown an overlarge belly and is panting from the effort. He definitely needs to get into better condition.

Then Gil's mother arrives at the inn and has her servants rudely awaken him after a full night of carousing. She wants him to find his cousin Sherin, who had been sold into slavery for her husband's debts. Gil is rather inclined to forget the matter, but his mother is implacable. So he goes to Trelayne in the carriage with his mother.

Egar is riding guard on his herd when the long runners appear. The young rider Runi makes a mistake and the steppe ghouls knock him off his horse. When Egar reaches him, Runi is quite dead. Egar and Klarn kill all the ghouls and take Runi home after the arrival of their relief.

Egar presents Runi's body to the parents. Poltar -- the senior shaman -- makes an unfortunate remark and Egar comes back with an effective zinger. From then on Poltar is an enemy of Egar.

Archeth is summoned by Emperor Jhiral Khimran II. She is nowhere within the palace. Later the Emperor's messengers locate her in an old Kiriath fireship, but she arrives back at the court only after an extended delay. The Emperor is impatient, yet resigned to her usual behavior.

Couriers have brought word of a disaster in Khangset. The Emperor sends her -- with a company of the Eternal Throne -- to investigate the incident. They find the port city greatly damaged, but not destroyed as much as the dragons would have left it.

There is one survivor within the city. She had hidden herself quite thoroughly from the invaders. The survivor is reluctant to talk to the men, but opens up for Archeth. She claims that the invaders were dwenda, the rulers driven away long ago by Archeth's people.

This tale takes Gil into the section of Trelayne known as Etterkal to find information on his cousin. But everything goes wrong and he has to fight against the slavers. Then he meets a dwenda and is knocked unconscious.

Gil, Egar and Archeth have a reunion of sorts. They had served together in the war against the Scaled Ones, but went their separate ways after the invaders were driven away. Now they have a more subtle foe.

This is the author's first attempt at fantasy. He brings many of the attitudes of his SF characters -- pragmatism, cynicism, and elitism -- to this genre. While not particularly interested in the homosexual sexplay, the acceptance of Gil as a fellow soldier rings true to me. Who cares about the sexual orientations of a proven leader when the enemy is near?

Recommended for Morgan fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of armed conflict, cultural clashes, and personal relationships.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Crikey, a good portion of the negative reviews here are exceptionally homophobic and have little to do with the book other than making discriminatory and derogatory remarks about the main characters' sexuality. Which is not only insulting to anyone with a brain and an ounce of respect, its sad because the prose and the characterisation in Mr Morgan's gem of a book leap off the page. I haven't enjoyed a character like Ringil as much since reading Dan Abnett's Darkblade books. Intelligent, wry and bold, this is a great piece of writing and a welcome change in a genre that regularly churns out the same old stuff. Ringil's story also resonates with me because he faces much of what he might also experience from society in our own world. With the exception of corpsemites. Great story, off to read the sequel.

Ringil Eskiath, the hero of Gallows Gap, found fame brought notoriety due to his sexual preference, which led to exile from his ashamed aristocratic family as his saving humans from the Scaled Folk is superseded by his being gay. Legally as a degenerate the state should execute him. He remains alive due to his family connections; his heroism; and his speed with the sword that matches the speed of his temper. Angry by the prejudice he faces and the lack of gratitude for risking his life, he has become an out of shape has-been residing in the squalid boondocks Gallows Water where he earns room and board at a dive talking about his glory days and pocket change using his Kiriath sword to battle the mighty mite populace.

His mother Ishil arrives to demand Ringil search for his cousin Sherin, whose husband Bilgest legally sold her into slavery. Reluctantly he returns to Trelayne where he acts like a bull in a pottery shop flaunting his sexual proclivity. He angers Poltar, shaman of the nomadic Skaanak, who wants to dispose of the clan master Egar the Dragonbane for his blasphemous ideas learned in the Kiriath city Yhelteth. The Emperor sends the last Kiriath, Archeth Indamaninarmal, to investigate the destruction of Khangset. She, Ringil and Egar meet as they did once before when they defeated the Scaled Folk, but that seems like a picnic compared to their foe, the Dwenda magical race that ignores the laws of physics when it comes to the time-space continuum.

This character driven sword and sorcery science fiction fantasy focuses on the three heroes, flaws and all, as they prepare for a second adventure of a lifetime. The world is detailed so it seems genuine as a wonderful hyperbole of our country (even with Richard K, Morgan being a Scottish author). Although much of the story line is inner musings and angry diatribes over unfairness, the military battles are exhilarating. From the opening gay encounter, Mr. Morgan provides a deep look at what happens to heroes when they choose to behave differently than the societal expectations of what a champion must be.

Harriet Klausner

Ringle is content enough with his life as bar entertainment, telling his stories in exchange for free room, drink, and the occasional monster-killing. But his mother has other plans. Ringle's cousin has been sold into slavery and she's counting on him to get her back. Archeth does the Emperor's bidding, although she doesn't much like the Emperor or what he orders her to do. This time, though, she can't really argue. Someone, or something, attacked an Imperial harbor city, killed hundreds, sent the rest, including the local militia into flight, and destroyed much of what remains. Worse, the one woman she finds on site tells a story of summoning demons to destroy the Empire that has destroyed her own life. Egar, chief of his clan, wallows in self-hate, in hatred for the petty nature of his people, and in contempt for the tribal gods who do so little for the people. When he offends one of those priests, the days of his rule are numbered, but Egar doesn't give up anything without a fight. Of course, there are other players in the game...players who look a lot like the gods he refuses to believe in.

THE STEEL REMAINS follows these three characters as they explore apparently unrelated events, finally bringing them together as a race of beings who vanished from their planet thousands of years earlier makes its plans for return. It's tough to fight opponents who aren't really there, through whom arrows can pass without doing damage, and who move so quickly that even the most experienced and capable human warrior can barely see the movement, let alone counter it. Still, that's the job Ringle, Egar and Archeth are stuck with.

Author Richard K. Morgan creates an intriguing world full of human conflict, and with a whole beastiary of gods, demons and aliens. All three primary protagonists are damaged, filled with self-contempt, yet they force themselves to go on (it might have been intriguing, though, if he'd varied them somewhat in their attitudes toward life). The mysterious gods who play with their fates definitely deserve more attention.

Ringle's homosexuality plays a significant element in forming Ringle's character, in his attitude toward those around him, and especially in their attitude toward him. A couple of times, this aspect becomes a bit much, as does Egar's carousing with large-breasted teenagers. Still, these sexual aspects of the characters ring true and help define the characters and drive the story forward.

Overall, I found THE STEEL REMAINS to be a strong and well-written story with interesting characters, a fascinating world, and plenty of fantasy action.

...Someone to write fantasy with an edge (other than Abercrombie and Weeks).
Sex, violence, magic...woven together with real talent.
Morgan isnt a Tolkien wanna be... (although invariably all notable fantasy writers draw the comparison) nor is he a George RR Martin shadow using ridiculous decisions to draw out a story (Ned/Circe...Rob & the Freys... Mom Stark releasing the Kingslayer - wtf?).
Anyhoo...
Morgan splashes enough blood to make you appreciate his descriptive powers and allows the characters to be flawed without being flat-out stupid.

Wow-this was a fast read full of interesting characters ( a gay hero). This was an exciting sword and scorcery adventure full of fighting with different weapons and hand to hand combat. It also had interesting twist for magic/science. I certainly will read the next book in the series. A dark book with some humor.

Richard K. Morgan, The Steel Remains. Del Rey. 409p. $26. Richard K. Morgan cut his eyeteeth on science fiction, creating a remarkable series of sci fi thrillers that starts with Altered Carbon (a NY Times Notable Book and winner of the Philip K. Dick Award) and includes Market Forces, which won the John W. Campbell Award and has been optioned for film adaptation. The most recent is Thirteen, which won the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 2008. He also wrote two comic book mini-series featuring Marvel Comics heroine Black Widow. Now he has turned his hand to fantasy, old-style, Conan-the-Barbarian-style fantasy, and a very good hand it is. The Steel Remains is the first book in a projected trilogy featuring Ringil Eskiath, master swordsman and degenerate faggot, and his two partners in adventure, Egar Dragonbane, a steppe nomad, and Archeth, 207 years old and abandoned by her Kiriath brethren when they fled earth because she is a half-breed. None of the three is the conventional hero type, all have been blooded in the wars against the Scaled Folk, barely won by their heroism. Now they are drawn into action again. This time it's against the dwenda, an eldritch race who pop in and out of existence and seem to live in a universe one dimension over from earth. If you've read Morgan's previous books, you know he does action exceedingly well, the violence is explosive and graphically described in his books, he's not afraid of profanity or sex and he likes to tackle provocative social themes (like race). In all these respects, The Steel Remains is no surprise but it's exceedingly well done, a great deal of fun and a welcome addition to the genre. Commentators have compared this novel to the works of Gene Wolfe, Poul Anderson and Michael Moorcock, and of course there are echoes of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian, but this book reminds me most of my favorite fantasy stories of all, Fritz Leiber's rollicking tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser (1939-82). That's high praise!

Some stirring writing, marred by a disappointing narrowness of imagination and lack of complexity. The characters, to the extent they aren't television caracatures, speak and think as twenty-first century Anglo-American urbanites, and Morgan flogs a barely disguised left-wing politics that comes across as sneering. If you want a Guardian or New York Times editorial with broadswords and chainmail, this does the trick. A shame, since he writes pulp fantasy well.

Having never read anything from Richard Morgan before, I didn't know what to expect. After a relatively slow start with some character introduction, the plot just started rolling until it reached the climax and splattered against all moral codes known to me with much more blood and gore than I had been expecting, leaving me a bit disoriented but glad that I had made the effort (and survived right to the end.) I'm glad I'm not religious or homophobic because if I were, this book might have been a bit harder to swallow.

The main characters are all very no-nonsense, making-our-own-rules-and-kicking-anyone's-face-in-who-gets-on-our-nerves type of characters who, despite all the brutaly they have seen and been part of, still retain their own sense on right and wrong, and are able to value life. The plot is interesting, but screams of the sequel(s) to be, and that's why it's a bit more difficult to give it a loud, shoulder-clapping A+ straight away. But I can honestly say that if anything, it's not boring, pretentious or well trod upon, and very much worth a read. Highly recommended!

I think this is a flowing, easy read that actually stays within the bounds of the genre save there is a gay main character. Even though the sex is explicit, it isn't any more so than Martin or Bakker.

The grittiness is actually not that much of a downer to me, and at times Morgan reaches for some beautiful language. The nature of this world parallels our own more than other fantasy worlds in terms of speaking style and sexual freedom, but there remains a strong utilization of themes such as veterans, monsters, fey/elves.

None of this is bad, and should be seen as an assurance that a lover of the genre will enjoy this book.

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 happens next.

Great read. Normally writing in the cyber punk genre with a film noir style I wasn't sure how Morgan would handle fantasy. From the first amazing paragraph it was clear Morgan could merge his style to this genre very excellently. I'm glad I started this when I did since there's another book in the series to read. A very worth read.

If you're a hardcore (pun intended) fan of Morgan you will devour this novel as the author again lives up to his reputation to stay away from the tiresome pablum that is served in most novels. It's fitting that this story that sometimes centers around an exquisitely finely made broadsword and its handler, should deliver cutting pros that entertains with every page. Morgan dares to navigate where few authors have gone and there is no shyness in his journey to these rare places. The character development is grand. The descriptions of the scenes are poetic and the reader is taken to these tribal and imperial lands. Think of an influence from Roman History at the northern frontier in the second and third centuries. Again, if you've read Morgan's novels including the Kovacs series you will find this work most rewarding.

The novel has almost everything. Swords & Sorcery, two or three kinds of non-humans, time manipulation, alternate dimensions, extreme sex and battles. The thing which makes all the Morgan novels stand out from the usual books, however, is the intense, searing detail that make you cringe and grit your teeth. You feel the pain and anger, the revulsion and remorse more than is comfortable and you feel as if you have come through some kind of struggle when you finish the book. Definitely not for everybody.

The Steel Remains, by Richard Morgan, is a gritty and witty novel that takes many of the fantasy genre conventions and turns them on their head to good effect. Similar to the set-up to "A Game of Thrones", the novel takes place some years after a great war as everything seems to be settled down and people have gone back to their lives. The book, the first in a series, follows three war heroes. Ringil, still a young man, lives in a small town where he brings in the tourists with tales of war while alleviating his growing boredom by bedding whatever handsome hunk happens to catch his fancy. Egar, a great warrior, now lives in the countryside helping herd sheep amongst a band of fundamentalist, country-folk. Archeth, who is a beautiful half-breed, reluctantly serves her new emperor in his court. Outside events force our heroes to leave their domesticated lives and begin new adventures. This is a realistic, violent, profane book that refuses to pull punches. The world established here is intricate and fascinating. The dialogue, especially that of Ringil, witty and memorable. I recommend this book to fans of George R. R. Martin who want something to tide them over until "A Dance with Dragons" finally hits the shelves.

The beginning of this book is strong. But then it slowly falls apart. I never really cared about any of the characters. They all talk the same way. And while there are many interesting concepts here (I personally think this is sci-fi, not fantasy)-- and longed to find out if a cameo appearance by a being called Takavach is some far-future version of Takeshi Kovacs-- the slow plot, bad dialogue, and poorly developed characters really disappointed me, given Morgan's previous books. As for the sex scenes, I don't care if they're gay or straight, just make them interesting for god's sake. They felt obligatory and graphic for no reason. Brought the whole, slow-enough-as-it-is plot to a grinding halt. It was like reading about somebody's proctology exam.

To put it simply, most fantasy readers will enjoy this book. Morgan is not in the same league as Martin or Erikson (or even R. Scott Bakker) as far as world building, character creation, and imagination, but the characters are still interesting, the plot never drags, and the world building is pretty decent. My main complaint is that the motivation behind the actions of the main character are that his mother asked him to do it, which seems a bit lame for such a war weary antihero. The only other major flaw in the book is that the main crisis that our heros/anti-heros discover by the end of the book has been done before in Tad Williams' Dragonbone Chair series (and others) so it doesn't seem particularly imaginitive. Definitely worth your money and time in between better series.

Nothing goes on here that cannot be explained by off-world high tech so I don't buy its being called fantasy. Learning more about gay sex was unexpected but quite interesting. The story, however, was very well done and I highly recommend it to all Morgan fans and I want to see a sequel. Wonderful characters. Richard Morgan should be chained to his desk and write a novel every three months.

If you're looking for a contemporary heroic fantasy book to put up against Potter-ism, this would be the one. Gritty and guilty, and very un-Potter-like: it has rekindled my interest in the genre. I am grateful to the publishers that they did not blurb the sexualty of the central protagonist, since I probably would have discounted it while browsing the shelves at Wellington airport. 'Oh great, another against-the-grain-minority-casting to impress a readership...' And I wouldn't have known how wrong I was. At some points in the novel, after you have read and you reflect, some sequences seem to clang a little: but, hell, if they worked while you were reading it, while you were in the flow, well, it's hard to be overly critical. Shall be reading more Morgan in the future.

I love Morgan -- his Kovacs series is first-rate. However, the Steel Remains and its sequel are just fantastic in that they blend swashbuckling and despair in a way that leaves you raging at injustice in your own world, but thrilled for the characters he has created to combat it in his -- Morgan's very unique world. The Cold Commands, the sequel, brings the three characters into more vivid life, but I love this one. There are a couple of graphic sex scenes that are about a page each; the book is violent -- if you've read Morgan, you won't be surprised.

The characters were mostly under-developed and/or complete cliches.
The fight scenes are not very well written.
Just about every other scene in the book is a poor excuse for a very graphic sex scene involving either rape, abuse or gay sex.
The main character's focus seems to be on how he's going to have sex with every new other character entering the story... it really gets old and annoying fast.
The entire thing reeked of a sub-par 70's gay porn flick that could have been written by a 15 year old gay teenager with raging hormones and a crush on the captain of the football team. I'm expecting the sequel to involve pizza delivery and a client with no money... cue wah wah guitar.
If it wasn't so bad, it could almost be funny.

I was a very big fan of his earlier work... this... not so much.

PS: Not being able to enjoy VERY graphic gay sex does not make one homophobic... get a grip.

PPS: Critiquing other people's critiques of other people's books... shows that you really have too much time on your hands and should go read a book or something.

My Kindle arrived. Exciting! Disquiet! I'm in love with the idea but will I be in love with the mechanism?

I browse a few Kindle titles. Ah, a Richard K. Morgan book. What better way to get me started on devouring books in electronic format than one of my favorite authors? I read the reviews and think "stupid homophobes dragging down the rating! Bah!"

I quickly order The Steels Remains, and seconds later it's ready for my reading pleasure. I begin.

Almost right from the get-go it's a slog.

"Oh!" I think sadly, "I must not like reading on a Kindle. But I'll keep going. I'm sure I'll start getting into it soon!"

I drag my way through the book. I stare at the Kindle. Surely it's the Kindle's fault. Surely I would have loved this book if it were the paper version of my favorite pastime. It can't be the book. It's Richard K. Morgan, for heaven's sake!

With a sigh, at 30,000ft above the Pacific and with no paper books at hand, I start the next book pre-downloaded. It's a burner, a page turning, rip-roaring ride that makes the Kindle disappear behind the story it's displaying. Just like it's supposed to.

How unfortunate. I'd almost rather point the finger at the Kindle than at Richard K. Morgan. But now, several more books into my non-paper-reading life I have to say that The Steel Remains just isn't that captivating. There are some truly fantastic chapters... counterbalanced by quite a few chapters in which nothing really happens.

I fear that this book would have been greatly improved from the application of a razor to whole sections of the first half that do not seem to advance the story in any meaningful way. Don't get me wrong -- I'm not some written word adrenaline junkie, demanding action at every turn. In The Steel Remains Morgan has adopted a style of prose that just didn't engage me... and lots of it.

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.

I really enjoyed this one. Gritty and realistic. I happen to like the more adult takes on Fantasy (like George RR Martin, or Abercrombie) so the sex and violence weren't negatives for me. If you are squeamish then you may need to avoid this book; but my true suggestion is to take a deep breath and give it a try.

I am anxiously awaiting the next book. I hope this series catches on as the paperback becomes available here in the States.

This book started with some promise. It is premised on a medieval society that is visited by, and attacked by other, alien visitors. It doesn't become clear until about midway into the book. This was interesting enough though a fairly similar text is the Prince of Thorns series, which is much much better. What really ruins this book is the repeated emphasis on the protagonist being homosexual, which doesn't actually contribute to the plot in any meaningful way, and leaves the reader wondering why he should actually care. Furthermore there are very graphic depictions of homosexual sex which are pointlessly tasteless and again don't contribute at all to the plot. A novel describing heterosexual sex in such a graphic manner would be equally tasteless. And I should say I enjoy reading a bit of sex (why not after all) but here it just reads like a 14 year old's imagination. Indeed any good erotica holds off on the graphic details for the sake of imagination, but this author has no subtlety. Actually I want my $10 back, to be perfectly frank.

No unicorns or bards here. Look elsewhere for maidens who need rescuing, or gallant knights competing in tourneys. Nope; none of that in this fantasy novel!

I've greatly enjoyed the darker, grittier fantasy that has become popular, recently (Bakker, Abercrombie, etc), and this book definitely fits in with that genre niche. Other reviews have revealed the general plot line, so I don't think I need to go into that any further, other than to say that the world building was extremely well-done. I found the the author's conception of the alternate earth (clearly, much later in history than our current times; the moon exploded somehow and has turned into a band of dust particles) very well conveyed. I am very much looking forward to the sequels in the trilogy - the action set up for Book 2 quite well.

I wasn't bothered by the violence or sex scenes; they weren't any more graphic than Bakker, but definitely more graphic than GRRM. However, this is probably not a good book for younger teens, due to the graphic sexuality and violence.

I'm looking forward to the next book!

I've read Morgan's Kovacs novels three times -- they are plain awesome. Go, buy them, enjoy.

The Steel Remains is not really very good ... One, the homoerotic theme (I'm not a homophobic and I enjoy sex in novels) is just a little too heavy, and although it's a "medieval" oriented book, I just kept having the feeling that the protagonist was going to pull a laser at any moment to blast away his foes. And the mixture of swords and space traveling aliens is just a tad confusing. I would have loved a real George Martin style novel from Morgan, with all the rock and roll of the latter, but this one ain't it.

Please, Morgan stick to scifi, please. Hail Takeshi Kovacs.

Morgan could never be considered a gentle author, but that's part of the appeal. His worlds are imaginative and harsh, his characters have brutal histories and broken lives, and the stories explore corrupted ethics navigating bizarre conflicts. So no one should be even a little surprised that he continues to look for ways to shock and intrigue his audience, which he certainly does with The Steal Remains. He has again created an interesting world full of history and conflict, impure "heroes", and, as the story progresses, intriguing revelations. I like it. The looming "BUT" is that he uses the homosexuality of the main character not just to involve tension with the culture of his created world, or to poke smartly at the sensibilities of his readers. That is, unless you consider sequences that amount to gay porn as poking at the reader's sensibilities. Authors push people's boundaries and comfort zones to entice and to challenge, but this reader feels Morgan has massively missed the mark this time. He could have left the story intact, been just as interesting, but left out the unnecessarily detailed sexual descriptions. So this reader likes the book but just doesn't understand the author's objectives for this aspect of the writing. If he thought the book wouldn't stand without these scenes, then he has a lower opinion of his own work than this reader. If he did this to spite segments of our society, I don't think they read his books to begin with. So 5 for a great Richard Morgan story, but 1 for inexplicably lame judgment on the sex scenes, so 3 it is.

THE STEEL REMAINS may just be trickier than it appears on its gore-soaked surface.

I won't summarize the plot. Suffice it to say that Conan the Barbarian meets Takeshi Kovacs in a quasi-medieval fantasy world. Morgan is a gifted writer whose action scenes are unsurpassed in the genre, and he makes his characters 3D, no matter how cliched their roles are. The plot, while straightforward, pulls the reader along efficiently. This book was a lot of fun to read -- there are some real gems of imagery in the descriptions.

BUT.

For the first 4/5ths of the book, despite my enjoyment of the story, I kept wanting to throw it across the room in irritation at the author's relentless efforts to beat me over the head with his enlightened PC ideology. Morgan set out to "rip up fantasy cliches," according to the flap. So, he gives us an emotionally scarred and nihilistic warrior who is also (SHOCK!) a homosexual, a half-alien black female court councillor who is also (SHOCK!) a homosexual, and a barbarian chief who also (SHOCK!) enjoys baths and civilized conversation. Two of the main characters appear to be drug addicts. We also get the revelation (SHOCK!) that corruption reaches up to the highest levels, and the usual portrayal of religion as a fanatical force for evil. There are several scenes that seem contrived for no other reason than to show our protagonists being morally superior to the intolerant, narrow-minded, distressingly conservative people they're forced to live among -- who are portrayed as torturers and slavers for good measure. It all feels like one big straw-man argument, and the author's smug implied invitation to the reader to join him in sneering at those benighted religious conservatives was the single most annoying thing about this book... especially since we're asked to accept that the moral high ground here belongs to Ringil Eskiath, the aforementioned warrior-nihilist. Ringil's philosophy of life: "Believe it, if it's cruel, unjust, and brutal on the weak. That way, you won't be far out."

BUT.

Through the book, Morgan drops hints that Ringil may be confronting the limits of his nihilistic world-view. Asked why he fought in the last war to convulse the Yhelteth Empire, he says, "It was for the children." This is telling, since of course, "doing it to save the children" is one of the last handholds people grab onto before they slide into the abyss of moral bankruptcy. But Ringil's questioner points out that children "grow up to be just as ignorant and brutal and destructive" as their elders, and Ringil admits: "When you put it like that, it does seem kind of stupid." Morgan seems to be acknowledging that Ringil's cynical outlook is actually as destructive as that of the "intolerant" characters he so despises. And then... then... there's the twist at the end of the book. Though I saw it coming, it was satisfying both in story terms and in that it seemed to confirm that Morgan is playing a deeper game with this series than most of THE STEEL REMAINS suggests.

At first, despite its high body count, this novel seems to fit squarely into the tradition of religion-bashing, tolerance-promoting multicultural fantasy. But there's sufficient evidence here to suggest that THESE may be the very fantasy cliches Morgan plans to rip up and set on fire in the sequel.

I'll be awaiting it with fingers crossed.

First, this is a good writer. Altered Carbon was a super read and if you haven't read it it would be a much better choice than this book. The characters in this book are flat. Their motivations remain for the most part, a mystery throughout the book. This is especially true of the female characters. The male characters are stereotypical cut outs that if you have read much fantasy you have seen a hundred times. In fact, if you have read books by Dan Simmons, Joe Abercrombie or George Martin, you have read this book done a lot better.
Did you ever read a book and think, - this author wants a movie deal! That thought ran through my mind constantly when I was reading "The Steel Remains". There are the two main characters who happen to be gay. What're the odds? Then the female gay character is black. Made for Hollywood, how PC can you get? Throw in lots of F bombs, and I do mean lots, graphic gay sex and voila Broke Back Mountain for the fantasy crowd. Except that Broke Back Mountain was about a love relationship and there is no love in any of the relationships in this book. It's just manipulative and uninteresting.
Three stars for the writing as far as pacing and plot development. Zero stars for character development and compelling story.

Morgan could never be considered a gentle author, but that's part of the appeal. His worlds are imaginative and harsh, his characters have brutal histories and broken lives, and the stories explore corrupted ethics navigating bizarre conflicts. So no one should be even a little surprised that he continues to look for ways to shock and intrigue his audience, which he certainly does with The Steal Remains. He has again created an interesting world full of history and conflict, impure "heroes", and, as the story progresses, intriguing revelations. I like it. The looming "BUT" is that he uses the homosexuality of the main character not just to involve tension with the culture of his created world, or to poke smartly at the sensibilities of his readers. That is, unless you consider sequences that amount to gay porn as poking at the reader's sensibilities. Authors push people's boundaries and comfort zones to entice and to challenge, but this reader feels Morgan has massively missed the mark this time. He could have left the story intact, been just as interesting, but left out the unnecessarily detailed sexual descriptions. So this reader likes the book but just doesn't understand the author's objectives for this aspect of the writing. If he thought the book wouldn't stand without these scenes, then he has a lower opinion of his own work than this reader. If he did this to spite segments of our society, I don't think they read his books to begin with. So 5 for a great Richard Morgan story, but 1 for inexplicably lame judgment on the sex scenes, so 3 it is.