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Richard K. Morgan: The Steel Remains
Nov. 29th, 2010 10:45 pmI do, in balance, rather like the Takeshi Kovacs novels from Richard K. Morgan. They're sci-fi noir, of a hard-boiled detective type up against the world, more or less. They're also pretty brutal and the language gets vulgar at times.
The Steel Remains is a fantasy novel in the noir tradition, of a hard-boiled fighter type against the world. It's also pretty brutal and the language gets vulgar. I wouldn't be comfortable having this in a school library, necessarily. That being said, the world is fairly original, with a hint of "sufficiently advanced technology, indistinguishable from magic", but then complicates matters a bit and may in fact swing back into the realm of magic of sorts; much of that is left a mystery, to be explored in subsequent books no doubt. Overall the setting is pretty dystopic, with an imperfect empire run by fallible and fallen men despite the veil of a strict church. The main character is gay, and there's a fair bit in the book about that, occasionally pretty, usually not, and rarely subtle. While his motivations are pure, he's frankly not particularly likable.
Beyond that, the book is well written, and comprises a complete story with no annoying cliff-hangers. There's a bit of extra credit in my rating from a certain boldness with which it's written; for me it didn't necessary hit the bulls-eye, but the effort is appreciated nonetheless.
4/5.
The Steel Remains is a fantasy novel in the noir tradition, of a hard-boiled fighter type against the world. It's also pretty brutal and the language gets vulgar. I wouldn't be comfortable having this in a school library, necessarily. That being said, the world is fairly original, with a hint of "sufficiently advanced technology, indistinguishable from magic", but then complicates matters a bit and may in fact swing back into the realm of magic of sorts; much of that is left a mystery, to be explored in subsequent books no doubt. Overall the setting is pretty dystopic, with an imperfect empire run by fallible and fallen men despite the veil of a strict church. The main character is gay, and there's a fair bit in the book about that, occasionally pretty, usually not, and rarely subtle. While his motivations are pure, he's frankly not particularly likable.
Beyond that, the book is well written, and comprises a complete story with no annoying cliff-hangers. There's a bit of extra credit in my rating from a certain boldness with which it's written; for me it didn't necessary hit the bulls-eye, but the effort is appreciated nonetheless.
4/5.
