The Steel Remains

By: Richard K. Morgan

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 15 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

In just a few short years, Richard K. Morgan has vaulted to the pinnacle of the science fiction world. Now he turns his iconoclastic talents to epic fantasy, crafting a darkly violent, tautly plotted adventure sure to thrill old fans and captivate new readers.

A dark lord will rise. Such is the prophecy that dogs the footsteps of Ringil Eskiath - Gil, for short - a washed-up mercenary and onetime war hero whose world-weary cynicism is surpassed only by the quickness of his temper and the speed of his sword. That sword, forged by a vanished eldritch race known as the Kiriath, has brought him unlooked-for notoriety, as has his habit of poking his nose where it doesn't belong.

Gil is estranged from his aristocratic family, but that doesn't stop his mother from enlisting his help in freeing a cousin sold into slavery. Grumbling all the way, Gil sets out to track her down. But it soon becomes apparent that more is at stake than the fate of one luckless young woman. Grim sorceries that have not been seen for centuries are awakening in the land. Some speak in whispers of the return of an all-but-legendary race known as the Aldrain, cruel yet beautiful demons feared even by the Kiriath.

Now Gil and two old comrades are all that stand in the way of a prophecy whose fulfillment will drown an entire world in blood. But with heroes like these, the cure is likely to be worse than the disease.

©2009 Richard K. Morgan (P)2009 Tantor

Excellent! A brilliant fusion of genres

Morgan is best known for cyberpunk, and here he brings the gritty, noir-ish "realism" of that style of writing to medieval fantasy. Set in a detailed fantasy world that plays with tropes as much as it embraces them, Morgan nevertheless peppers this world with the same characters from the seedy underbelly of life that add the distinct color and flavor to cyberpunk. Take away implants, give them spells and swords, and it's no different.

As an antihero/protagonist, Ringil works. He's just gruff enough not to be a sympathetic Noble Homo, but challenges the conventions of how people typically view homosexual men. Ringil is a man's man... and that's the way he likes it.

Morgan peppers his dialogue with profanity, but it never seems affected or out of place. The sex scenes aren't graphic; I think the reaction people will have to them is born out of the Other-ness of homosexual sex rather than any inherent graphic nature to Morgan's description. I didn't find them to be a detraction or a gimmick at all. They were a natural extension of Ringil's character and behavior, and making him a prude wouldn't have fit the story well.

Great book, same as Takeshi novels but fantasy

It's amazing to me that the people who like other works by Morgan don't like this one because of the sexual content. Most of his work has explicit sexual content! This just happens to be the first that portrays flesh touching flesh were both the subjects involved have the same plumbing, his other works are just as sexually explicit. It's also amazing to me that such intricate and complicated subject matter can be liked or disliked purely on the basis of what shape the sexual subjects body parts have. I wonder how readers would have felt if one of Morgan's virtual reality sex scenes from his Takeshi novels were done with two men entering the virtual reality construct but one of them taking on the aspect of a woman and having hetero style sex with the other man, would that still be gay sex? Would people still be offended? It's a shame such a great book, which "The Steel Remains" is, should be criticized with such nonsense. If you like Morgan's other books, almost all of which have some explicit sexual content, you will like this one too, unless of course you are bigoted towards homosexuals.

Best new fantasy since Erikson and Jordan

Best new fantasy series since Steven Erikson's "Tales of the Malazan Empire" and Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time". Original and great story line and awesome fighting scenes.

Amazing writing, story, and narration

Full of suspense, action, twists, battles, and a damn good story! I purchased book #2 immediately!

Vance nails it

Ringil's "we stop them here" rant is some of the best narration performance I've had the pleasure of hearing.

Not your everyday fantasy

Umm... so.. ok... it had gay sex. Not really my thing, but I don't gamble or whore either and lots of characters in other books do both. So, /shrug.
I think having the main character be gay is actually a benefit to the story however. It adds something to his personality and reactions. He has VERY good reasons for his attitudes and behavior. Morgan's idea for his characters were insightful. Risky, but I think it paid off in how this story is definitely NOT like anything else you've ever seen.
Unfortunately I think Morgan spent all his time creating incredible characters, great dialog, inventive plot, and not quite enough time on world building. In Altered Carbon, the world is futuristic earth. Its easy enough to imagine and he only had to describe the new tech and general living conditions and we got the idea. This is not set on earth, or at least not as we know it in any way. I found myself wishing for more world building descriptions.
Overall, this book warrants a little more than 4 stars, but not 5. Hopefully the next book in the series earns 5.

Voices violate the eighth amendment

What sin did Richard Morgan commit to warrant the count chocula and Mel Brooks voices used for the characters in his amazing book?

excellent

excellent. Morgan does not disappoint with his storytelling. I was enthralled from the very beginning.

Ignore The Negative Reviews If...

I was a bit nervous about beginning this series due to the negative reviews and somewhat low overall rating. Now that I've completed the entire series, I figured I should come back and offer my opinion for others who may also have reservations. In short, the series is fantastic. I've read the Altered Carbon series and really liked it, but actually like this series even more. If you're read Morgan before, then you generally know what to expect. This book and the entire series is well-written, intellectual, multi-layered, philosophical, and has great action. The characters are also extremely interesting, particularly the three main characters, who I continue to miss now that the series is over. Truly great stuff and I'm confused why some reviewers have been so critical of the story. It may be because of the foul language (which I loved, because it's always artfully and appropriately done) or the gay sex, but that has nothing to do with the quality of the story or characters. I'll admit that the gay sex did at times make me uncomfortable, but to the extent that's a problem, I figure the problem is with me. Good fantasy writing should make us think and push us to really consider why we feel the way we do, and I think this book served that function for me. If you like smart, gritty fantasy (e.g., Abercrombie, Stevenson, Bakker, etc.), there's simply no question you should check this out. Also, as for performance, Simon Vance knocks this series out of the park (as usual). That dude is seriously talented.

.....From the Ridiculous to the Sublime.....

Richard Morgan has a way with words and a great sense of pacing. His depiction of action sequences, especially hand-to-hand combat, is unsurpassed. His characters are well fleshed out; you will get to know them as the story unfolds—get to know them perhaps a little too intimately for your comfort level. You may cringe every time they have a scene, but they will not bore you.

As I alluded to above, this book fits nicely into the category of Modern Fantasy. Gone are the world-saving quests of Middle Earth. There is no Elven magic ™ here; no grand struggle between good and evil. What you will find here is a story set in an un-kinder un-gentler world; a world where the heroes are unlikely and oft times unlikable, but, for that reason, all the more believable. Richard Morgan has a real sense of the inherent depravity of man which he employs in character creation that makes everything he writes essential listening—this is proved by his mastery of first Science Fiction, in his earlier books, and now Fantasy.

And now for something completely different: a bit of awkward philosophical introspection. I first read this novel in print after reading the amazing Takeshi Kovacs series. Fantasy is not my usual thing but Morgan is so good that I thought it was necessary to read. On that first pass, I was revolted by the explicit depiction of the deviant sexuality of the main character, Ringil. I examined my outrage and discovered that it was founded on my sense of morality, a sense that should have elicited the same level of disgust when reading depictions of fornication and adultery, which is prominent in much modern fiction. Take for example two very popular fictional characters: Ian Fleming’s womanizing spy, James Bond or Donald Westlake’s murdering thief, Parker. If morality is the basis for outrage then these need to be considered offensive as well. So my self-righteous outrage was misplaced. It was based on my personal proclivities on such matters. Now that I have dabbled in other modern fantasy novels I find this level of sex to be a common feature in the genre. Joe Abercrombie’s First Law series comes to mind as another example. The thing is, these novels are not about sex, the author uses it as a device to provoke a gut response in the reader — once you realize that, you can see it for what it is and try to enjoy the story. Morgan has chosen to populate this book with characters that are rude and crude and worldly. If they did not engage in despicable acts they would lose their credibility as ruffians and blackguards. Without crossing the line of decorum let me try to give another observation. A tabulation of the hetero acts that are explicitly depicted in this novel will reveal only those “positions” that can be performed by homo practitioners as well. This indicates to me that Morgan is tweaking the audience. Yes he has an agenda of promoting tolerance based on his anti-Christian worldview. No it is not done gratuitously. Morgan is systematic in his agenda, deliberately forcing us to examine our own hypocrisy in having selective outrage. I am still not comfortable with the scenes in question, but my second pass through this novel has made me realize that they are effective in evoking an emotional response from the listener; no mean feat for a seemingly simple Sword and Sorcery tale. .

Simon Vance has the air of a proper English gentleman. His vocalizations help smooth out the rough patches and make them less irritating. When a particularly harrowing, or particularly explicit, scene is being read by Mr. Vance (or is it Sir Vance?) I cannot help but think of Monty Python who could make the ridiculous seem sublime.