The Steel Remains by Richard Morgan
It appears to be a growing tendency of current fantasy writers to at least ignore, but more likely deliberately distort the traditions of the genre. In the blurb to this book Morgan is credited with ‘taking an axe’ to the clichés of fantasy. Clichés or traditions, this book certainly breaks all the rules.
For the most part this book is three separate ‘hero’ tales. Ringal, bearer of the named sword Welcomed in the House of Ravens and other Scavengers in the Wake of Warriors, AKA Ravensfriend, is making a living telling tales of his war exploits and occasionally cleaning up some local trouble. In a most unlikely scene his mother asks him to rescue his cousin who has been sold into slavery. The second tale is of Egar Dragonsbane, a man who has fought dragons and survived. But currently he is Clanmaster, and not very good at the job. He likes the fringe benefits, but administrivia bores him. The third tale is about the half-breed Archeth, a woman abandoned by her family who has some understanding of the ancient Kiriath technology. She has the honour of being an advisor to the Emperor. Each country is experiencing strange deadly events, a city destroyed, a collection of living heads grafted to logs, or simply superstitious mutterings from those that live in the marshes. Something evil is coming, but can humanity stand together to fight.
As you can see this is not your typical sword and sorcery fantasy. Each ‘hero’ is flawed. Ringal is flagrantly gay and delights in watching others squirm when confronted with his sexual preferences. Egar kills four of his brothers in order to retain his position as Clanmaster, but then immediately heads south to warmer climates. Archeth is addicted to the stimulant krin. Personally, I think these flaws make the characters more realistic, but there will be many fantasy fans who will find these flaws too difficult. And the bad guys are just as grey. The Dwenda are humanoid, bent on recapturing the planet, but not above forming an attachment to humans when given the chance.
There are bits of this book that are wonderful. The evening-before-the-battle speech is great. The image of the ‘god’ rising up to rescue Egar with his grass demons will stay with me for a very long time. The fights are almost choreographed on paper, a film director would have no difficulty converting the words to visual images.
There are also bits of this book that are unnecessarily graphic. I would hate to know how many times f@#% is used each chapter. And the sex scenes leave very little to the imagination. This book is certainly intended for a mature audience.
But Morgan, is the Dark Lord who I think it is?
