A decent book overall,Richard K. Morgan’s The Steel Remains adequately blends dark fantasy, with the sex and violence of often found in pulp-ish noir titles. The general plot reminded me a lot of Glen Cook’s current Instrumentality of the Night series. Ancient and presumably evil forces are trying to enter the the same plain of existence as humans and it’s up to a rag-tag hero to stop it. The Steel Remains is chock full of filth, vitriol, and some not so subtle criticisms of organized religion.
Overall, I could’ve gone for significantly less bumming and a quicker pace. I think when they were marketing this book the publisher tried to make a big deal about the lead character being gay, but honestly, it was none too shocking, and I really didn’t see how that made this so special. Similar to Morgan’s previous novel, Thirteen, there were chunks of The Steel Remains that felt like trudging through molasses. Unlike Thirteen, I actually finished reading this book, so it does have that going for it. The up side is that eventually all of the drudgery pays off in the last seventy-five pages or so. I don’t want to ruin it for anyone, but I will say that it is a blood bath.
The main characters where believable to the extent that they were flawed almost to the point that you lost any and all sympathy for them. This is especially true for the main character, Ringil, who is constantly wavering on the cusp of being a cunning seducer and blindsighted idiot, as well as selfless hero/murderous cold-blooded bastard. There were parts that made me want to root for him, but mostly I figured he deserved what he got for being such a prick.
All in all if you are a fan of Morgan’s particular style of noir than check it out. Personally, I’m still waiting to see what comes next before I decide whether or not to abandon the good ship Morgan.
If you’re interested, visit my Shelfari page to see what else is on my bookshelf.
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