Book Review: The Cold Commands, The Dark Defiles (A Land Fit for Heroes Books 2/3)

Okay, so I read through the second book and third of Richard K. Morgan's A Land Fit for Heroes series (of which I reviewed the first book, The Steel Remains, in a previous post).  I'd have to say, iiiiiit's AMAZING!

Not so much the second book -- it had the unfortunate burden of setting things up for the third and, supposedly, last book.  I couldn't be bothered to come up with a review for The Cold Commands (Book 2), because, well, Skyrim happened :P, but I did go straight to the third book, The Dark Defiles.  It's been over a week and I still find myself wishing there's more to the series, though I think we should just leave it at that (since we usually regret getting what we ask for).

So, in a sentence, the Dark Defiles is everything that makes Richard K. Morgan great in his earlier works, particularly Altered Carbon.  You can almost think of Ringil Eskiath, the main protagonist in this particular series, as a dark fantasy 'faggot' (in his own words) analogue for the sci-fi body swapper Takeshi Kovacs.  The rage is there, the sociopathic, watching-the-world-burn-because-I-could attitude, and the well-hidden heart and sentimentality at its core.

The whole novel is a roller coaster ride, with victories, defeats, deaths, near-deaths and everything else in between.  Up until the end I wasn't sure how things would go, and even after putting the book down, you're pretty sure things are still going on in that world of theirs.  Not the best world building out there, but it's solid and everything makes sense, more or less, in the end.

The ending was satisfying and pretty fitting -- it wasn't some tacked-on, happily ever after piece of fiction made to please readers.  It was what the character wanted, and deserved. It was awesome :D

In the end, I'm glad Richard K. Morgan remembered how to write as Richard K. Morgan.  For a while there (a long while, it was book 1 and most of book 2) I felt that the author was trying to be clever for its own sake.  But the deconstructionist nature of his work works, and while you can feel that the author is trying too hard not to fall into the usual high/low/dark/light fantasy tropes most of us find ourselves reading, reading the work in its entirety justified his approach, made me feel (at least) that he wasn't being too self-indulgent and ultimately comes up with a work worthy of his skill and vision. Blah blah blah.

Listened to all three books in audiobook format.  Simon Vance is my favourite narrator :D (Just not for Aubrey Maturin)

So verdict: 4.5/5 for The Dark Defiles, 4/4 for The Cold Commands and 4/5 for the Land Fit for Heroes series.

TL;DR:
++ Great ending, made all the doubt and annoyances of the earlier books worthwhile
++ Explanations and rationale galore, a lot of the mysteries and histories were made clear, without being too big an infodump
++ Author seemed to have loosened up and had a bit more fun with the last book than with the first two.
-- SPOILER of a sort : Someone died :(

Details:
Author: Richard K. Morgan
Genre: Fantasy, Noir
Book Length: The Cold Commands 512 Pages, The Dark Defiles 560 Pages (Hardcover Version)
Published: The Cold Commands October 11, 2011, The Dark Defiles November 20, 2014
Amazon Link:  The Cold Commands, The Dark Defiles

Book Review: The Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan

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

Book Review: Spark A Novel by John Twelve Hawks

TL;DR:

++ Very Noir

++ Very interesting character and character development

++ Realistic setting, well fleshed-out world (very Picketty)

++ Well paced, quite a page turner

++ Just the right length

Review:
Imagine all the favourite bits of Luc Besson's greatest hits: Leon the Professional, Le Femme Nikita, Transporter, heck, even Taken, and mix it with a dash of Hitman (the game series, mind) and set it in a Strossian x Picketty near future sci-fi noir fest and that's Spark: A Novel for you.

The story is pretty simple: an assassin whose neurological disorder allows him to accomplish his corporate-sponsored assignments effectively.  He has a set of rules that allows him to barely function as a member of society.  He has no sense of sentiment, no sense of morality, no right or wrong.  Despite that, his seeming alienness, he remains quite relatable, particularly in his unintentionally humorous:

“The music was as tasteless as the rice pudding. People sang about losing love instead of something important—like losing their car keys”

I especially like how he breaks down seemlingly complex situations into charts, just like your favourite game or book review.  One unusual thing about the novel are the many-numerous figures and drawings peppering the text (describing various ways by which the protagonist copes with the world around him).  It reminds me of that Hyperspace novel with its even stranger drawings.

I haven't had this much fun with a book since Altered Carbon and while the book ends quite satisfactorily, I'm not sure what I'd feel about sequels (should there be any) or more books in series: just like your typical Luc Besson movie, he would've done the world a favour by not making Transporter 2 or 3 (4 and 5 are actually planned out, according to IMDB).

Details:

Verdict: highly recommended 5/5

Author: John Twelve Hawks

Genre: Science Fiction, Noir

Book Length: 320 Pages (Hardcover Version)

Published: October 7, 2014

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Spark-Novel-John-Twelve-Hawks/dp/0385538677