The Steel Remains Review

I was eager to write my review about The Steel Remains. As you may know, this was a tremendously expected new entry in Fantasy. Richard Morgan showed us what he was capable of in a Sci-Fi setting and when he announced he was trying Fantasy, most people thought it was going to be "cliché-breaking" Fantasy. The novel is really different stuff but not always necessarily for good. In the end, and I mean it... the end, I finally liked this book a lot. It's not the breakthrough I was expecting but it may be worth your time if you're not too "sensitive".

I have read all the Takeshi Kovacs novels (Altered Carbon, Broken Angels and Woken Furies) and they are among my favourite Sci-Fi books. Kovacs is a great character, nicely developed, an unforgettable hero. Although I still have Black Man (or Thirteen in the US) waiting for his time, I had a good feeling about this new Morgan novel. I knew it was going to be gory, gritty, full of sex and with plenty of use of the "f" word. When I read on the cover the statements from Steven Erikson and Joe Abercrombie about the book, I thought that Richard Morgan would be able to impress and destabilize us with something fantastically disturbing. Here is what we are looking at.

The Steel Remains' story is mostly about three veterans (it's a character driven novel, not completely epic stuff) of a difficult war still struggling with their memories of it. I think Morgan really wanted to show us the personal conflict affecting war survivors. The trio is having a hard time getting over it. There's a lot of flashbacks, slowing the pace in the beginning but that help in establishing the background of the protagonists firmly. The three storylines are completely separated until the last few chapters. So you don't really know what's going on in the long run until the end. The convergence of all the plots is not coming as big surprise but when that happens, the pace increases and the book becomes hard to turn down. The epilogue made me expect great things to come.

The novel is narrated with three PoV. Ringil is the hero leader (with a marvelous sword) of the previous war against lizard folks. He was a gay, noble born, rebellious youth who eventually left his family to hang out with the Trelayne mob and train in the academy. He's drinking his past in some backwater village inn when his mother comes asking for his legendary help to find what happened to one of his cousin. He will find out that returning to his old acquaintances is a hardship he did not expect. Eventually, he will meet with Seethlaw, a dwenda and then things will begin to go weird. Archeth is a half Kiriath half human who was left there when the Kiriath left the world. By the way she's a lesbian and often on drugs. She's the emperor personal advisor and his eyes in a town destruction. Finally, Egar is the northern barbaric berserker killer of dragons tribe chief. He's pretty much losing his time with his people. He doesn't respect the traditions anymore and it pisses off his brothers and shaman. His story is not the most compelling... and by the way, he is having lot of sex with a young milkmaid.

As for the world building, I felt that The Steel Remains is very "Sci-Fi-ish". You can feel that the world has history but it's not overly described. The dwenda race looks a lot like some kind of white aliens and the Kiriath had truly evolved technology (even some kinds of AI). Still, there's horseback riding and sword fighting. There's magic in the book, but it's not explained much. You have to assume that it's there. The only exception is the Grey Places used by the Aldrain (Dwenda) and technologically used by the Kiriath.

This book is full of grimy, gory and not just gritty stuff. The battle scenes are well described and very graphical. If you don't like the details of the sword/lance/dagger penetration in someone's head or belly, explicit sex scenes and swearing, then avoid this book. I think that Joe Abercrombie makes a better use of these "tools" (if I can say that), probably more lightly. Morgan's writing feels more voluntarily offensive but in the end I felt that the integration within the world he created feels right. This world is dark and there's not much humour. A friend of mine said that while reading this book, he felt like if Morgan was poking him in the ribs. I have to admit that it's a good way to describe my feelings at some moments. A number of the sex scenes are not really necessary but I felt that when the story started to go full speed, all these details were not important anymore.

Why should you read this book? Firstly, if you already like Richard Morgan's writing, it's a must. If you like to be slightly disconcerted and read something that feels different in tone from the classic fantasy storytelling, this is a book for you. But my advice would be to really make it to the end before judging, it's worth it. I think the author started something fascinating.

Technically, the Gollancz cover really looks like an horror movie poster or a metal album cover (I read that somewhere...), but the cover for the Subterranean Press release is nice. There's no map and no appendix but like I posted previously, a gorgeous map is coming with the MMP release. The book stands at 344 pages.

The Steel Remains review score :

Characterization............. 8 /10
World building............... 7.5 / 10
Magic system................. 6.5 / 10
Story.............................. 7.5 / 10
Writing........................... 8 / 10

Overall (not an average) 8 / 10

Enjoy!

Richard Morgan Page

Buying books for the covers and new poll

It seems that publishers should spend even more energy on chosing the covers for our beloved fantasy books. From what you answered, 83% of the respondent acknowledged that they have a least once buyed a book for its cover. However, I don't know if this is frequent.

As I said previouly, I did it too and I'm not sure it's the best idea to do it. It's always nice to have beautiful books sitting on the shelves even though I normally pile them so that I only see the side... and when I read a hardcover I usually put down the jacket to be certain not to tear it.

Now, a new poll: "What do you mostly look for in a review?"

- The score
- A complete analysis
- A brief take

Myself? I like a complete analysis (not too long although sometimes I know it's impossible to explain an opinion briefly...) even though every now and then I don't have the time to read all the reviews for a book and simply look at the score (if it's there) or the last paragraph.

The Steel Remains Map

Nice news for map lovers in fantasy books.

The new MMP version of The Steel Remains will have the map of the Trelayne League and Yhelteth Empire territories created by the winner of this competition Orion books.

The map is gorgeous, here's the link if you want a peak (you have to register to see it):

http://forum.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=4741&highlight=steel+remains

This was posted on Richard Morgan page.

Mr. Mailman, Thank you sir!

I received a nice package today. Here's what was inside :

I could ask you what you would read next in my stead but my choice is already made... with all the hype around Best Served Cold and since I enjoyed The First Law trilogy a lot, there's no competition, I go with Joe!

Anyway, I can't go with Fall of Thanes, I haven't even begun the series, but the whole trilogy now sits with many unread books on my shelves.

And to illustrate my clumsiness, you can have a look at the Red Wolf Conspiracy cover (it may not be that much visible but the white line under the mast of the bigger ship is a profound scratch)... I opened the package with scissors and I went too deep... It's a little bit silly but I like my books in good shape before I start reading them...

I hope the next shipment will include Dust of Dreams by Steven Erikson, this is probably the only book that will make me drop whatever book I'm reading.

Any comments on this selection?

The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone Review

The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone is author Greg Keyes most famous work. I had read good reviews about this saga and finished reading it near the beginning of the year. I took some time to add a review but it's never too late. The first book, The Briar King was published in 2003 and the last one, The Born Queen in 2008. The series is ended. Without further ado, here's my take and why you should give it a try.

This series has all the elements of the conventional fantasy style writing. Good vs. evil, a princess to save, big empires, some kind of elvish people (the Sefry) and a knight without reproach to name a few. Nonetheless, the main interest in these books is in the characters and all the little details around this classic fantasy core like the importance of music given by the author and the ever present "linguistic science" use. By the way, maybe I'm slightly too harsh with the Good vs. Evil tag. The novels contains some complex characters and they make decision (and often seem to change side) base on their beliefs, not on pure evil or pure good motives.

Let's talk about the plot in general. This is epic fantasy set in a world 2300 years after the liberation of mankind from demonic Skasloi slavery by Virgenya Dare. The world described is divided between two major empires (Hansa and Crotheny) and some peripheral nations. Crotheny is the biggest of the empires and is lead by the descendants of Virgenya Dare. The royal family is in danger from within and Princess Anne will have to flee with Austra. At the same time, a young man will try to earn his knighthood by becoming the bodyguard of the queen. Meanwhile, due to strange monsters sightings, Aspar the king holter returns to his beloved forest and meets with Stephen, a young monk. In Vitellio to the south, a young dessrator is looking for fights to entertain his days. So as you can see, all these people will eventually become all part of the same struggle for the survival of the world and the race to special thrones of power.

The narrative is set with multiple PoV, most of them being the principal protagonists throughout the series. Here's the main cast:

Anne Dare is the daughter of King William of Crotheny. She is the central character and in the beginning, a little bit too classic an annoying. Anne is the little princess to whom everybody should bend the knee. Hopefully, she grows up a lot in the two years or so during which the plot evolves. Her maid and best friend, Austra should have been more developed… her PoV would have been a great addition in my opinion.

Sir Neil MeqVren is the dutiful and honourable young knight protecting the queen and her daughter. He's really really devoted but still, he is believable. Aspar White is the king holter, a veteran and the wise protector of the king forest. With Praifec Hespero (the church representative in Eslen), he's the character with the more interesting background and motivations.

The three most fascinating are Cazio Pachiomadio da Chiovattio (and his sword master Z'accato) the fencing seducer with nothing to loose, Leovigild "Leoff" Ackenzal the altruistic composer with inconceivable ideas for his musical creations and Stephen Daridge the young scholar for whom no languages is a mystery of even a challenge.

Speaking of this language thing, Greg Keyes gives it much importance throughout the books. Stephen uses his skills to decipher old prophecies, translate old map names to find lost locations or learn about the history of the inhabitants or creatures from all over the world. I think this is well used, a refreshing idea nicely incorporated in all the novels.

The magic system function with "fanes" or "sedos" which are the resting places of old saints where a priest may walk (through a "faneway") to receive special powers depending on the fane. At least, this is how it's explained at first but more is revealed (and I don't want to spoil...). This is an interesting way for the author to "control" the power he gives his protagonists. There's more to it, like the effects of music. It can move the soul (not really magic, but a king of magical effect) or even kill people (like the Black Jester used to do a long time ago, this is the kind of stuff I like). Finally, Anne and her nemesis can access a greater power from a parallel world.

The world building is well done but to some extent, the resemblance between "Vitellio" and old Italy or Spain is too obvious and the church is mostly based on old Christian clergy. However, the world is "fantastically" (I'm not sure about this word) believable and rich. At the end of the series, we have heard about most of the world in which all the storylines evolves. The Sefry race is a nice touch but some of the roaming creatures are based on real life myths (I would have liked something more original). This does not apply to the Briar King, a fascinating invention.

Technically, apart from the cover for The Blood Knight, the whole Del Rey books covers are very standard looking stuff. You know you're buying fantasy books but they're not going to catch the eye first in a library. However, the map is gorgeous, fine stuff! There's no appendix and it was not necessary. The whole series is approximately 2000 pages long.

To resume my feeling on this saga, I can say that it was a satisfying read and a worthy one for everybody who likes good old fantasy with some touches of creativeness. The pace is great (except for the fourth novel), the writing is engaging enough to keep me from putting it down, a good dose of humour is present and the sword fights are well described. I enjoyed the characters and all the original touches the author added to his classic fantasy setting. The main negative point is the quality of the last book. Here are more of my thoughts on each novel:

The story start from the general plot I talked about earlier. Anne is sent with Austra to a monastery in Vitellio to learn about dark arts to protect herself. She'll eventually meet with Cazio and Z'Accato while on flight. Aspar, after meeting with Setphen, will look for a greffyn (a kind of gryphon mixed with a cockatrice…) killing people in the forest on the count of a renegade Sefry, Fend, Aspar old nemesis. The queen in Eslen will try to hold her throne, mainly against Hespero. Neil will do his best to protect her while a member of the royal family is trying to assassinate them. The Briar King is awakening…

The first book could almost have been a stand alone novel since there's a real ending. I felt when I read it that storywise, there was something lurking behind the curtains but I think there wasn't enough to really get the feeling of a series beginning (this should not be a stopper). As I said, the cast is good. The flamboyant Cazio and his old sword master are fun to follow.

The setting exposed in this book is a good base for expanding the story in a grander scale.

Characterization............. 7.5 /10
World building............... 8 / 10
Magic system................. 7.5 / 10
Story.............................. 7.5 / 10
Writing........................... 7.5 / 10

Overall (not an average) 7.5 / 10

In the second book, we still follow the Anne/Austra/Cazio/Z'Acatto quatuor as they try to make their way back to Eslen. The Aspar/Winna (Aspar love interest)/ Stephen trio is investigating about the whereabouts of the Briar King. Meanwhile, Leoff makes his appearance. He's a great addition to the series. It's interesting to have a character and is sub plots based on music. It's probably not a first but it's imaginative.

You can feel that the plot is getting more complicated and bigger in scale. The characters are still the bread and butter of this book. The story is still shaping up well and the pace is excellent. This is my favourite of the series.

Characterization............. 8.5 /10
World building............... 8 / 10
Magic system................. 7.5 / 10
Story.............................. 8 / 10
Writing........................... 7.5 / 10

Overall (not an average) 8 / 10

To describe it simply, this book is the continuation of the previous (yeah I know, truth revealed! What a statement!). I mean that there are no new sub plots or storylines. As a follow up to The Charnel Prince, all the elements that made the last one interesting are present. This is what I expected for a transition book and it was delivered almost as well as the first two but not quite. There should have been one more book in the series like this to expand some storylines. The story evolves smoothly and I could feel that the author was in good control.

In this one, Anne realise that she'll have to take back the throne. This time, she'll have the help of Neil and Cazio. Meanwhile, Robert (Anne uncle) is forcing Leoff to create dangerous music that could destroy everybody. Aspar and Stephen are still looking (separately this time) for the real purpose of the Briar King. Hespero begins to show his cards. You can start to feel the convergence. There's should have been more spotlights for the empire of Hansa though…

Characterization............. 7 /10
World building............... 8 / 10
Magic system................. 7.5 / 10
Story.............................. 7 / 10
Writing........................... 7 / 10

Overall (not an average) 7 / 10

Anne is now going to war against almost everybody. Her mother and Neil are sent to Hansa (the northern empire) to negotiate. Aspar is now on the trace of the Briar King birthing place to restore life to the forest. Stephen and his new love interest, Zemlé (a Sefry) are now looking for the faneway of Kauron, to receive the powers of Virgenya Dare, but he'll find out something he couldn't have predicted. Cazio and Z'Accato are trying to rescue Austra. Hespero will join the fray and three almighty beings will try to gain control of three thrones of power.

I do not believe that this book represents the series particularly well. There's should have been more books to really finish this in a more impressive and complete way. The ending is present but the author got to it way too fast and it falls flat for me. The pace of the first three books is increased a lot. I felt that some of the storylines were cut short and I don't understand why. Still, in the end I had a minor sensation of closure. This book is worth its share mostly to find out what happens to the characters I came to like.

There's also an awkward situation not handled very well. Two of the main characters are seers. They can see in advance what the other one is doing. There's even someone who ask one of them if this is an infinite circle.... the explanation is not very satisfying.

Characterization............. 7 /10
World building............... 8 / 10
Magic system................. 7.5 / 10
Story.............................. 6 / 10
Writing........................... 6 / 10

Overall (not an average) 6 / 10

Series score : 7.5 / 10

Greg Keyes page (not up to date...)

Reading and reviewing

While I was reading a couple of weeks back, I think it was The Adamantine Palace... I thought about something that I had to note immediately to be sure not to forget it for the review. In itself, it's not really surprising or extraordinary. But then, I told myself that I had to stop thinking about that review and just enjoy the reading. The review can wait the end of the book.

Since I was young and started reading Choose Your Own Adventure books, comic books and then novels, it has always been about the pleasure I had while I read, to be immersed into all these fantastic worlds.

For a second, this moment made me feel like old times in school when you had to read a book and make a dissertation about it or answer questions. That was not much about fun... By the way, my girlfriend is a french teacher and she lets her students read without questioning them. I think she will get more of them into reading that way.

I thought at first that I was altering my pleasure of reading, but finally it didn't. Did any of you guys ever had the same feeling? Do you think that sometimes you read books only to review them? Is the pleasure still the same?

I think that when I started this blog it was to share my thoughts and help a little bit the readers who, like me, are looking for other fantasy readers opinions and reflections to find new interesting books to read. I can easily do this and enjoy my reading time.

Well in the end, I love it and I think that the fantasy readers blogosphere is a great place to virtually hang out!

New poll

The first poll is over, with only 6 votes. Problem of topic or only a slow start? I voted for Karsa but it was Anomander Rake who won. Here's the count :


Now for a new one.... "Have you ever bought a book because of the cover?"

I have to admit that I have, but not often. And I was lucky to make interesting new discoveries. I remember to have bought the first Black company omnibus mostly because of the cover... (the synopsis is really too short)

Kick ass moment #5

I don't know about you,' he said, 'but this feels fucking weird.'
'Tell me about it.' I filled my own tumbler and proffered the bottle. He shook his head. I went back to the window shelf and sat back against the glass.
'How the fuck did Kadmin stand it? Ortega says he used to work with himself all the time.'
'Get used to anything in time, I suppose. Besides, Kadmin was fucking crazy.'
'Oh, and we're not?'
I shrugged. 'We didn't have a choice. Apart from walking away, I mean. Would that have been better?'
'You tell me. You're the one who's going up against Kawahara. I'm just the whore around here. Incidentally, I don't reckon Ortega's exactly overjoyed about that part of the deal. I mean, she was confused before, but now - '
'She's confused! How do you think I feel?'
'I know how you feel, idiot. I am you.'
'Are you?' I sipped at my drink and gestured with the glass. 'How long do you think it takes before we stop being exactly the same person?'
He shrugged. 'You are what you remember. Right now we only have about seven or eight hours of separate per­ceptions. Can't have made much of a dent yet, can it?'
'On forty-odd years of memory? I suppose not. And it's the early stuff that builds personality.'

[...]

'Look,' the Ryker copy said. 'I'm you. I know every­thing you know. What's the harm in talking about this stuff?'
'If you know everything I know, what's the point of talking about it?'
'Sometimes, it helps to externalise things. Even if you talk to someone else about it, you're usually talking to yourself. The other guy's just providing a sounding board. You talk it out.'

[...]

'Remember anyone else threatening you, do you? When you were small, maybe?'
'I am not going to talk about this any more.' I reached for the bottle and filled my glass again. 'Pick another subject. What about Ortega? What are our feelings on that score?'
'Are you planning to drink that whole bottle?'
'You want some?'
'No.'
I spread my hands. 'So what's it to you?'
'Are you trying to get drunk?'
'Of course I am. If I've got to talk to myself, I don't see why I should do it sober. So tell me about Ortega.'

Richard Morgan - Altered Carbon

Kick ass moment #4

Lamentation Review

Here we go with another new author, lucky us! This is not his first work but it's Ken Scholes first novel. I had not read any reviews before starting this book so I didn't know what to expect. I was happily satisfied!

The book begins with the complete destruction of the city of Windwir, the center of the Named Lands and home of the Androfrancine Order. This catastrophe is unknowingly caused by Mechoservitor Number Three. Nebios, a young apprentice is the only human witness of the devastation. The desolation of Windwir will attract Rudolfo, the Gypsy king, Sethbert, the Overseer of the Entrolusian City States, Jin Li Tam, the consort of Sethbert, Petronus, the hidden pope, and all their followers. Alliances will form, everybody will plot and war will follow.

This is a character driven story and it's well done. We follow 5 or 6 PoV (actually pretty different in tone) and none of them are boring. I grew attached to the protagonists very fast. Some of them are a little bit stereo-typical, like the Gypsy king, who is the free spirited "rebel" leader and the mechoservitor (an android) who "emotionally" wakes up. Speaking of Rudolfo, I feel that he's getting too close to perfection. But then, I think the author really wanted him that way and a good part of the story is about explaining why. In a few words, the story is mostly about how people can be shaped the way they are by someone with a grand design.

As I said, the narrative is done with about 5 or 6 PoV. All of them are thinking a lot. It's a bit repetitive in some instances but it's a substantial access into their mind. There's action but I don't sense it's the reason to read the book. Most of the storytelling is about the motivations of the characters. Almost everybody seems to be clever except for Sethbert and one of them is ultimately the god of cleverness.

The world building is finely integrated within the descriptions. The history of the land is rich and we learn about it throughout the story. However, I would have liked to know more about the world outside the Named Lands since it's referred to a couple of times. As for the magic, there's not much more than the special powders almost all the scouts (nearly all the soldiers are scouts) use to boost their skills and become invisible. There's talk about mighty ancient magic but the only use is the "Seven Cacophonic Deaths", the spell delivered by Isaak, the mechoservitor. These mechoservitor and all the "technology" in the book are a nice addition.

I found two uncommon details in this book. First, the characters eat at a regular rate, which is not really unusual, but each meal is thoroughly described (maybe just a little too much in my taste). Also, the city that is destroyed, Windwir, is the host of at least 200 000 people. Having numbers about the population and even then, to have cities of 200 000 people is not frequent.

Finally, religion has a decent place in the tale (the title being a proof). When you know about the background of Scholes, it's not really a surprise. It's mostly based on the old Catholic religion. But even if it's important, it's not the central theme.

Can't wait for Canticle!

Technically, the Tor Books cover is nice, illustrating the main scene of the story. The map is simple but enough for the small lacks of imagination. There's no appendix but the book doesn't need any.

Characterization............. 8 /10
World building............... 8 / 10
Magic system................. 7 / 10
Story.............................. 7.5 / 10
Writing........................... 8.5 / 10

Overall (not an average) 8 / 10

Enjoy!

Ken Scholes page

Top 3 2009 so far

Many bloggers have listed their "provisional" top 5 for 2009 in the last week. James at Speculative horizons among the latest (Provisional top 5 reads this year). So far this year, I haven't read enough 2009 books to list a true top 5 (I read many 2008 books that were sitting on my pile) put I can still put my top 3, it's more representative.

I think the rest of the year will probably give us many books that will make their way up the list. Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie, Nights of Villjamur by Mark Charan Newton, Dust of dreams by Steven Erikson, The Gathering Storm by Sanderson/Jordan (you never know....), Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson or Canticle by Ken Scholes just to name a few. And I haven't read Twelve by Jasper Kent, Retribution falls by Chris Wooding and The city and the city by China Miéville...

So much books, so little time!!!

Here we go :

The Judging Eye - The aspect-emperor book one - R. Scott Bakker

***

Lamentation - Ken Scholes

***

The Warded Man - Peter V. Brett

So what's yours?

Also, since he's one of those who posted their list and his blog is great, I added Dark Wolf's Fantasy Reviews to my blog list.