The Steel Remains by Richard Morgan

Posted: 13 December 2009 by Tyson Mauermann in Labels:
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The Steel Remains by Richard Morgan





ISBN 13: 9780575085497 
ISBN 10: 0575085495


Ringil, the hero of the bloody slaughter at Gallows Gap is a legend to all who don't know him and a twisted degenerate to those that do. A veteren of the wars against the lizards he makes a living from telling credulous travellers of his exploits. Until one day he is pulled away from his life and into the depths of the Empire's slave trade. Where he will discover a secret infinitely more frightening than the trade in lives. Archeth - pragmatist, cynic and engineer, the last of her race - is called from her work at the whim of the most powerful man in the Empire and sent to its farthest reaches to investigate a demonic incursion against the Empire's borders. 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. Anti-social, anti-heroic, and decidedly irritated, all three of them are about to be sent unwillingly forth into a vicious, vigorous and thoroughly unsuspecting fantasy world. Called upon by an Empire that owes them everything and gave them nothing. Richard Morgan brings his trademark visceral writing style, turbo-driven plotting and thought provoking characterisation to the fantasy genre and produces a landmark work with his first foray.


This is my first novel by Morgan and it should be stated that this is Morgan's first fantasy novel. Morgan is well known for his science fiction novels and from what I know he is very good at writing science fiction.  That said the novel was not a masterpiece but it wasn't completely garbage. It was simply mundane.  


The main character, Ringil, is your hero from battles past. A man coming to terms with the the horrors that he has faced. The only difference from the cookie cutter sword welder is that he is a homosexual. While one could argue that his sexual preference was thrown in for shock value it was also done to give him a reason for avoiding society and sticking to the outlying towns and villages.  While there are some semi-erotic images and sex scenes thrown in the book they didn't make much of an impact on me. I don't think that they served any real purpose other than to shock the reader. But it fell flat when I read the passages. 


The other two main characters where much more interesting, a female half-breed from a long lost race and a famed warrior from the plains (which we seem to see a lot of these barbarian/Mongolian warriors recently in fantasy literature as of late). These two characters had a more interesting background and storyline. The three main characters were all heroes in the last great battle and were friends because of the war only to drift apart when peace was reached.


The book has our three heroes on their own separate quests only to be drawn together at the end of the novel. The story and the world building were decent, in fact the overall novel was decent but, it just didn't leave a lasting impression on me. It was just your standard, average fantasy novel. 


In the end, I can't say it's a must read and I cannot say it is something to be avoided. It just didn't sway me one way or another. I think some people will really enjoy it and some will absolutely loathe it. You just have to go out and read it on your own and find out for yourself. I will warn you again if you don't want to read about homosexuality then this book is definitely not for you. 

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