In preparation for my reading of Richard K. Morgan's third book in the the Land Fit for Heroes, titled The Dark Defiles, I re-listened to The Steel Remains, which is the first book in this series. I've read/listened to this volume four times now, and my impressions remain the same: Richard K. Morgan transplanted his kinetic style of writing, which I first encountered in Altered Carbon, and applied it to a fantasy/noir setting. The results are a bit mixed: Morgan's style keeps the story moving in a fast pace, no sentence wasted, no unnecessary chapters. It worked well in Altered Carbon, whose 'hard sci-fi' noir elements read like an action thriller in book form (rivaled only by the Expanse series by James S.A. Corey), and you can almost imagine how it's going to look like in movie form. Here in The Steel Remains, you don't really have much time to smell the flowers, since the characters are busy moving from one point to another, kicking ass all the way through.
You have three protagonists, reminding gamers of Bioware games (Mass Effect, Dragon Age) in their banter as well as placing them into 'character classes' (you get a warrior type, a berserker/barbarian type and a thief type). There is sorcery, though it's limited to 'an elder race' with science of a sort being a specialty of another 'race'. The book serves as an introduction to these characters and eventually their paths meet, in their attempts to figure out what's going on.
I appreciate the (relatively) low stakes here: no end of the world stuff (yet); everything's personal (another Morgan trope) and violence and sex abound. The latter bit deserves a bit of caution: if you are bothered by depiction of gay sex, you might want to skip a chapter or two. This is especially disconcerting in audiobook form, since I had to listen to Simon Vance describe the act in quite explicit detail; made the worst by the fact that the prolific Vance also reads a lot of my other favourite books, and I could not quite get the image out of my head as Vance reads Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series (it can be a bit disconcerting, to say the least).
But, the world building is there and it's extensive: you have an alternate earth (conjecture mine), with multi-dimensional travel, at least three cultures / countries taken from your usual historical Earth sources. You have some form of magic and scientific system sketched out, as well as a pantheon of gods and a couple of religions -- extensive stuff!
Unfortunately, given RKM's tight writing style, it feels as if you have blinders attached to your head: you just don't get to look around while you're passing through: no plot fat to speak of, it's all lean story-telling from start to finish.
There was a bit near the end though, where the all too sudden transition felt jarring: one minute the characters are apart, the next, they're all together: (SEMI-SPOILER: at least we can blame divine intervention for that I suppose END SPOILER).
This book is only slightly better than Woken Furies (Takeshi Kovac's Series, Book 3, of which Altered Carbon was the first of that series) in my book (pun intended). Woken Furies was the weakest book in that series, which felt more like a money grab -- an attempt at exploiting the goodwill of Takeshi Kovac fans (as well as the character himself) for monetary gain. You can almost feel the author's weariness as he gamely soldiered on in his efforts to finish the story and cash in his paycheck. Perhaps he needed to pay off a Porsche, or settle a lost bet.
Even so, I am merely nitpicking: I loved The Steel Remains on first reading, just not head-over-heels the way I was with Altered Carbon (the bar was set rather high). The next book isn't bad (I'll write up another review, of course), and I can't wait to reach to the third and final book in this short, but sweet series.
Verdict: Recommended 3.5/5
TL;DR:
++ Well written. Fast Paced. Not an ounce of plot-fat.
+ Interesting characters, and there are three protagonists
+/- This book is sometimes classified as LGBT fiction. Consider yourself informed
+ Extensive world-building, though I wish we could spend more time in that world RKM built, instead of zooming through
- Author uses the word BANDLIGHT (sort of like Moonlight, except there's no moon and the 'band' is probably made up of materials from the moon blowing up. Or something) too many times
Details:
Author: Richard K. Morgan
Genre: Fantasy, Noir
Book Length: 432 Pages (Hardcover Version)
Published: January 20, 2009
Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Steel-Remains-Richard-K-Morgan/dp/0345493036/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=
Followed By: The Cold Commands
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