THE STEEL REMAINS by Richard K. Morgan review

This Richard K. Morgan book is the opening volley of a trilogy. In it we are introduced to Ringil the Eskiath warrior; with some unseemly personal habits. But boy can he swing a sword. Ravensfriend, Ringil's sword, is of fine Kiriath steel, of which there are scant remains. He is the hero of Gallows Gap and the much vaunted blade slinger of his village. He is sent away on a mission by his mother, to rescue his cousin. This novel is the recounting of his mishaps along the way. The novel also tracks two other characters: Egar the Dragonbane, is one of Ringil's former comrades in arms and a leader of his clan. He has made one too many enemies, his brothers, and finds it best to leave when magical forces rescue him, by killing his brothers. The third member of Ringil's troika is Archeth, a female Kiriath half-breed. All are united in the end for a fending off of the dreaded Dwenda, a humanoid alien race of dimension jumping, half-crazed, would-be world conquerors.

This book is best during the action sequences, of which there are many. Morgan's forte is in recounting the violent exploits of his more misogynous characters such as Ringil, and Takeshi Kovacs. I found some of the early sequences so unfamiliar that I could not easily track the story. And it took me about half of the book to latch onto the plot. But once it got going it was quite good. It is difficult to judge this novel since it is clearly just the introduction to a broader story. My opinion of it will either be elevated by the sequels or lowered by them. I could recommend it to you if you like Sword-and-Sorcery books like Conan. But if you are looking for Tolkien, beware. This book is rated NC-17. So, as it stands after reading only the first, THE STEEL REMAINS gets an OPTCS rating of 65567.