Richard Morgan and I don’t always get along.

And no, I don’t mean on a personal level. It’s not like I’m claiming to have met him or even chatted with him under the most informal of circumstances. I’m sure I’d think he’s a terrific guy if I ever got so lucky, but that’s kind of beside my point here, ’cause I’m talking about his fiction. I’ve currently read three books by this guy (this one included) and while I loved “Altered Carbon” to bits, I had a roughly opposite reaction to his latest SF thriller, “Black Man”.

So when the guy announced that he’d have a go at writing a gritty epic fantasy series that would, by all accounts, be something out of the ordinary (well, who claims otherwise? Aside from Terry Brooks…), I went ahead and pre-ordered a copy. I figured that “The Steel Remains” was probably going to be one of the most exciting things in the Fantasy genre this year, and a quick look at the early reviews gave off a similar impression. It looked like another home-run for Morgan.

However, for me it was a swing and a miss, even if I’ll admit that I did enjoy the show.

(If the book cover looks familiar it’s because the Swedish prog. band “Opeth” used it first for their album, “Blackwater Park”)

“The Steel Remains” is another fantasy books in the same vein as Joe Abercrombie’s “The First Law” trilogy, Glen Cooks “The Black Company” series and to some extent, Steven Erikson’s “Malazan” saga. It doesn’t feature any elves, there’s no moral high ground, no black and white pitting of evil against evil and the three main characters are all terribly flawed. In other words: there’s not much left of the familiar Tolkienesque trappings, even if Morgan manages to fall face first into some of the slightly more vogue clichés that have been so faithfully deployed by the names I mentioned above.

The plot doesn’t seem very fresh, either. Ringil “Angeleyes” Eskiath is a war veteran that’s retreated to quiet countryside to live - if not comfortably - then at least enough to get by on his fame and reputation as a hero. However, all is not well in the capitol of Trygalle, and Ringil’s mother arrives to get him back to the society who judged him a degenerate because of his choice of bedmate, so that he can help her find his lost cousin. There is, of course, more to that story than what it seems… In the south, the Yelteth Empire gets news of devastating destruction at one of their port cities and the emperor tasks Archeth - the last of a mysterious race called “the Kiriath” - to find out who the hell has the audacity to attack him. Lastly, there’s Egar Dragonbane (pretty self-explanatory name, innit?) who’s returned to his barbarous folk to be their chief, but not everyone is pleased by his leadership…

The book is only 345 pages long in trade-back, which is quite a lot below the normal for the first volume of an epic fantasy series. However, the content in those 345 pages is exactly what you see coming after Morgan is finished setting up the plot and gets down to executing his story lines. Actually, it’s not even that, because I actually expected more from an innovating guy like Morgan. There’s just nothing new or cool or awesome about “The Steel Remains”. It’s got a good beginning and a typical ending, and when I closed the book I thought, “is that it?”. Am I supposed to be entertained or surprised, like the author tries to at times, by the fact that Ringil is gay? Or that they do drugs in this world? Or that there is slavery? Am I supposed to think that it’s weird to see people cuss like normal people do?

Because, you know, I just don’t see it. These are all things I’ve seen done before, and done better to boot. In the end, this book boils down to nothing more than an off-the-shelf gritty fantasy story with nothing to more contribute but Morgan’s effective prose and a talent for describing the visceral parts of sex and war. Nothing new under the sun there.

But the biggest failure that this book has to sport is its characters. Maybe I should give Morgan a book more before I judge them, but so far I can’t spot a single likable or interesting person anywhere in his world. Sure, Ringil and Egar are pretty kick-ass in the sword-wielding brute kind of way, but nothing makes me feel for them or even offer them a shred of sympathy as they march to their inevitable doom. Hell, I rooted for the bad guys towards the end just to find a party I could connect with.

All this being said though, I won’t go as far as saying this is a bad book. Some parts of it drew me in like the little escapist I am and most chapters kept me wanting to read on, even if it became abundantly clear that no redemption was in sight. The thing is, it’s simply not a good fantasy book, either. Everything about it is mediocre, and I’m sorry, but I expected more, and I don’t think I was wrong to do so.

Richard Morgan and I might not always get along, but when we do…

I’ll be the first one to tell you he’s a great writer.

6.5/10