The Dark Defiles

A Land Fit for Heroes #3

by Richard K. Morgan

The final part of Richard Morgan's fast-moving and brutal fantasy brings Ringil to his final reckoning and sees the world tipping into another war with the dragon folk. And, most terrifying of all, the prophecy of a dark lord come to rule may be coming true very close to home ...

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, LGBT, Dark Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Science Fiction, Audiobook

488 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Richard K. Morgan (sometimes credited as Richard Morgan) is a science fiction and fantasy writer.

Reviews

[Overhaul · Rating 1 out of 5]

Finalmente, el tan ansiado momento de desahogar en esta reseña, sin rastro de piedad, cuidado con los restos..🪓🔞


¡¡800!! putas páginas soporíferas y horribles de personajes cansinos, corriendo de un lado para otro sin ningún tipo de sentido y un cierre "definitivo". Me gustó, qué digo, me encantó el primer libro de la saga. Se trata de uno de mis libros favoritos. Richard Morgan muestra una crueldad sin reparos, escenas de sexo brutales, hetero y homosexual. Con muchos momentazos y personajes muy grises. Nos introduce criaturas y ciudades, presenta un mundo cruel y lleno de crudeza tanto en actos como diálogos afilados.

Llegué al segundo libro con ganas y me la pegué sin frenos. Pegó un bajón enorme, en todo, esa esencia y la garra de Richard Morgan que dio nacimiento a un pedazo de libro épico como es "Solo el Acero", se perdió.

No estaban por ningún lado. Ni la más moderna tecnología humana, alienígena o lo que se os ocurra podría encontrarlos.

Dudé seriamente si leer este. Pero es Morgan y me encanta. Aunque me la pegué, me dio en anteriores libros y sagas horas de disfrute.

Y llegamos al tercer libro, esta cosa. Había cosas "salvables" en un libro tan insípido como el agua. Pero la confusión general de una trama de bostezo con unos personajes inútiles, fue de pesadilla.

Tercera entrega situada a mundos de distancia, en realidades paralelas y universos distintos del primero, una joya, quedaros con ese que por suerte es autoconclusivo. A la altura del mejor Abercrombie.

Todo comprimido en el libro formando un cóctel radiactivo que sólo logró diluir las cosas que se podían considerar "buenas" cubriendolas con una capa de mierda que simplemente no pude tragar. Horrible.

Le sobran más de 300 páginas tranquilamente.

En una trilogía que comenzó con una magistral y gran promesa, y esta última entrega arrojó todas esas promesas por el váter sin tirar ni de la cadena. Llegó a un punto en el que realmente me importaban una mierda los personajes o lo que estaban haciendo. Correteando sin ton ni son. Un sin sentido aburridamente atroz.

Es una pena, me gusta en general el trabajo de Richard Morgan. Pero parece que aquí perdió la garra y el rumbo. Como crear la mejor receta del mundo y cambiarla. Lo perdió todo.

La mayor parte del libro fue un inútil, aburrido e innecesario deambular a través de personajes que solían preocuparme e interesarme. No fue ni divertido, ni emocionante, sólo letal para mí mente.

Cuando lo empecé pensaba que estaba leyendo una historia sobre.. Bah, si es que no tengo ni idea de que trata la historia en este libro, todo el misterio de los Timonel, de la magia y los ya muy cansinos Dwenda después de tres jodidos libros con lo mismo. Moriros ya, leches..

Uno aqui espera que se mueran. Se pudran y desaparezcan de la existencia y no volver a oír esa palabra. (Son los antagonistas, "elfos")

Pero no, vuelven, son como Terminator o Michael Myers. Vuelven y cada vez es más lamentable. Tres libros con los mismos enemigos y sin ningún cambio destacable, ni el más mínimo. Vengaa..

Un viaje interminable, inagotable, eterno e infinito con momentos de sueños que ni con setas alucinogenas ves eso.. Un regreso a las estepas en busca de una venganza por algo que apenas (ni me interesa) recuerdo.

No entendí prácticamente nada de este libro y en general nada del rumbo que tomó esta saga, bueno, saga no, ya que no tiene nada que ver con el primero.

El segundo libro fue desconcertante, muy lento y errático. Este fue un desastre enorme que ni un milagro de la virgen lo arregla.

Decepcionante. Y luego, bueno, ese final, osea no me jodas, sencillamente terrible, todo estuvo mal. Fue cerrar el libro y entrar a valorar que hacer con ese ladrillo que tenía delante.

Seguí leyendo viajes largos, lentos y tortuosos para mi mente y estado de ánimo en un cuerpo y mente embriagado por el café como ayuda. Y todo porque estaba seguro de que al final sería recompensado. Que en algún momento Morgan y esa garra aparecería. Algo, lo que sea..

Entonces llegó la guinda del pastel, fue como si Morgan hubiera cogido todos los fragmentos ya sean interesantes y emocionantes del segundo y tercer libro y los hubiera agrupado a presión y dolor en las últimas cincuenta páginas.

Un deus ex machina, tras deus ex machina, que te deja pensando, reconsiderando, si es real lo que tienes delante o es la cafeína y la lectura de tanto sueño alucinógeno. Ni los milagros que aparecen en la Biblia. Unas respuestas que no tubieron nada que ver con nada de lo que había sucedido en las más de mil páginas que he leído o tragado en dos libros.

Un volcado de información ahí puesta sin ton ni son, destinado a formar un final, fue tan seco que ni con lubricante entra bien. Se necesitaron dos capítulos adicionales para intentar darle algo de "chispa".

Vamos, que esa chispa no prende ni con todo el fuego del infierno. Ninguno de los dos libros tuvo sentido, o yo no sé lo pille. Bah si es que me da igual.

Solo el Acero, primer libro de algo que jamás llamaré saga, y además autoconclusivo. "El Gélido Mando" y "La Impía Oscuridad" no existen. Niego la existencia de esa herejía e ida de olla en caída libre.

Si disfrutaste del primer libro y te apetece seguir, oh pobre alma descarriada, lee aquí mí advertencia, si decides seguir.. rezaré por ti.

Diría que si fueran cortos, pues oye, que tenían algo positivo, son cortos. Pero no, no, no, encima este es un tocho de 800 páginas... En fin, voy a guardar el hacha e intentar limpiar los restos de esta humilde matanza, ya quede a gusto..✍️🪓

[Pallav · Rating 1 out of 5]

700 fucking pages of characters running around without any kind of definite closing. I loved the first book of the series, i tolerated the second book and the third book, this, it fucking pissed me off.

there were good things in the book, but the overall confusion of the plot and the useless characters stuffed in the book just dilute the good things and cover them with a sheen of bullshit that i just can't swallow.

reading this left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

i am so angry, i don't even want to finish this review. fuck this.

[Mayim de Vries · Rating 2 out of 5]

“It is there, in the dark recesses, in the cracks through the surface of things, that you will find what you seek. Ask yourself instead how deep into the defiles you are prepared to go.”

In spite of my rating, the final journey to the Land Fit for Heroes was the only one I truly enjoyed. In fact, I surprised myself having so much fun up until the very end which was so terrible that it spoiled the whole trip.

OK, where were we? Our trio of anti-heroes is now aware that the antics they have been part of are not some random skirmishes but a prelude to the end of the world. Their quest for the dark lord of legends is interrupted by an unexpected war and our team is not only stranded in a totally wrong place deep into the enemy territory but also becomes separated to make things even more interesting.

In The Dark Defiles, the personal dramas stop being significant and things gain decisively existential flavour. It becomes apparent as the consecutive chapters switch from POV to POV. And yet, character development is one of the weakest aspects in the book; of the three arcs, only two got Author’s proper attention, while the third one (Egar) grew kind of obsolete and somewhat devoid of substance. This leaves the readers with Ringil and Archeth and a choice between a special snowflake and a special snowflake. Decisions, decisions.

Ringil, with his dark hair, scarred, gaunt face dead eyes and sexy swords (yup, both of them) is not only a declared outlaw and self-appointed societal scandal but also now becomes a sorcerer ascendant. In the previous book he acquired the very useful cold command; in this volume, he has the magic of ikinri’ska glyphs. You are not surprised to learn that he is a natural: “somehow he knew which ones to read, where to look for them, how to interpret them” and the magic just sinks into him and saves him every single time he needs it. It all comes down to the fact that even disguised in gore, snot and sperm, Ringil steel remains an exemplary Gary Stu.

Archeth, which we knew as jet-skinned, 209-year-old half human, somewhat burned out and addicted to toxic substances suddenly and somewhat out of the blue, gains a new edge. Her development from an outsider to a leader is not entirely credible but interesting. This is your typical anti-hero distancing themselves from the anti- and transforming into a beautiful black swan.

These two stories are set against the background of a wider intrigue. There are the political shenanigans of the Empire and the League, the helmsmen with an agenda of their own (and they don’t do half-measures), the dark pantheon of godlings and the menace of the dwenda. But this path of heroic doom going from the Grey Places to lost Kiriath cities to the Wastes to the Majak steppe and back to the Grey Places is surprisingly… well, flat.

The plot doesn’t really matter because the moment the snowflake enters into the equation, everybody knows the final outcome. Additionally, other factors (and other actors) are rendered irrelevant and so, don’t be surprised that several motifs are abandoned like Ringil’s reckoning with his family is perfunctory, Egar just dies without sorting out his family or love life, and the looming figure of Emperor from an active agent changes into a prop convenience. The info-dump that was meant to be the finale was so dry that additional two chapters of a coda were needed to give it some spark. Neither of them makes sense.

I am not crossing Mr Morgan of my reading list. Who knows, I might come back to him in the future. Nonetheless, I wouldn’t call this series a masterpiece worth knowing. You might try it if you are a die-hard grimdark fan or someone looking for LGBT protagonists. However, in both cases, there are better books out there.

Also in the series:

1. The Steel Remains
2. The Cold Commands

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could hardly put down this dark sword and sorcery tale from it being so engaging and disturbing. At 700 pages I admit I had to put it down sometimes to sleep and eat and work. When I reached its satisfying conclusion, I settled on three stars to balance feeling guilty getting so much pleasure from all its outrageous anger and violence, betrayals and retributions, surprising sexuality, and thrills of battling dragons and monsters. But after a couple of weeks, I was still missing this world. I have to up my stars. Your mileage may differ.

I loved the three main characters, all feisty, trash-talking outcasts of one sort or another rising to the occasion of saving the world. Ringil is a highborn of the Empire, weary of wars, but always energized to a just cause or the chance to strike the greater of any two evils. His comrade in arms, Egar, of peasant stock from the rural steppes, has been driven from his path of becoming a clan leader by family violence and betrayal. The third is black and beautiful Areth, a warrior princess of the Empire. She is blessed with an immortal lifespan due to being half Kiriath, the race of “Sky People” who nurtured the Empire, engineered marvels of the cities, and then departed. Ringil is in bad favor with the court in part because he is gay. Areth readily accedes to her human brother sitting on the throne, but is in some disfavor for her low-class military pursuits and her lesbian ways. More character development and world building can be had no doubt from reading the first two of the series, but enough back story was presented here to keep me happy.

All are in early stages of harnessing magical powers or magically enhanced weapons. Ringil and Egar have learned some limited spells from “trips” to a dreamworld, the Grey Places, with cliffs bearing runes preserved by the mysterious Book-Keepers. Areth is mastering the use of knives that can leap to her hands when needed and help project trajectories in combat. But what little magical skills the trio have gained often seem inadequate to the powers of creatures who call themselves gods and seem to appear from some other dimension. Or to the zoo of dangerous critters that inhabit the seas of this watery world and the wastelands of some terrible ancient war against beings known as the dwenda.

At the beginning of the book, the trio’s party is sent on sea expedition to a distant land to seek artifacts in the grave of an ancient avatar of the dwenda. But their party is attacked by a privateer fleet. Ringil gets separated from Egar and Areth, each in desperate straits they must surmount. The narrative alternatingly follows their paths through much of the book. They learn the Empire is now at war with a coalition of trader nations, the League, which the dwenda are corrupting for their task of world domination. Fortunately, at least some of the gods and a partly crippled A.I. left behind by the Kiriath do not favor that prospect. In their forms of intervention they seem to have their own mysterious agendas. With lovely chutzpah and hubris, our heroes find righteous paths to stand up to being used as chess pieces.

If you are unsure if this plot scheme will float your boat, perhaps some prose samples can help clench your choice. Such as here when
Egar lives up to his nickname as Dragonbane:

Across the wind, out of Kiriath pits below them, it came and split the air. A shrieking, piercing cry he’d thought he’d never hear again outside of dreams. A cry like sheets of metal tearing apart, like the denial of some bereaved warrior goddess, vast, immortal grief tipping over into the insane fury of loss. Like a drawn-out, echoing rage of some immense, stooping bird of prey.
“It’s a dragon,” he told them simply. “Pretty big one, too, by the sound of it.”

And here is Areth when she finally gets a chance to press one of the goddesses, Takavitch (the “Lord of the Salt Wind”) on their meddling and manipulation of people, and gets some quite human pushback:

“How about a little respect” … Not too much to ask, it it?
Archeth shrugged, “Respect is earned.”
“Earned?” It came out in a whisper, built rapidly to a rasping fury. “Fucking earned? You cheeky half-blood bitch. You know what? I give up. No, I’m done. Really. This is too hard. It isn’t fucking worth it. Cannot believe you just said that. …We run around, we answer prayers. We grant wishes and favors by the shovel-load, try to fucking balance everything along the way … You know what that is, daughter of Flaradnam? It’s fucking ungracious.”
“I don’t pray. To you or anybody else.”

And here is Ringil, humbled by how little he really knows what’s going on after a pep talk from another goddess, the “Mistress of Dice and Death”:
…the Truth, it turns out, is a delicate, ineffable thing. It will not fit in his head any more than the wind will fit in a helmet. It tumbles and falls away instead. Bruises on impact, like fruit off some heavily laden market barrow, while Ringil Eskiath, sorcerer warlord apparent, runs around grabbing and groping for the scattering. rolling pieces.

His fondness for a vision of a future society in blissful peace is something the goddess pooh-poohs:
Do you think they could stand to have you in their midst—a bloody-handed monster, a living, breathing reminder of all they do not appreciate or understand?
..But this—this is a lie to yourself that you carry around in your heart because you’d rather not face the truth. …That there is rest and there is motion. And once set in motion, none of us are ever truly at rest again as long as we live. That the only truly important thing is to move well while you can, to go to rest only when rest is all that remains.
“Yeah? So where does that leave me?”
The dark queen looks almost embarrassed for him. “Well”, she says. “What else, aside from slaughter with sharp steel, are you really good for?”
……”I suppose a blow job’s out of the question”, he says at last.

I have long snobbishly avoided fantasy books with magic and rode with “hard” science fiction because of its illusion of plausibility. Even if, say, teleportation is highly unlikely, its use in fiction doesn’t feel like an arbitrary phenomenon that magic usually seemed to me. But if the story was good enough, as with Lord of the Rings or the Harry Potter books, I would readily cross the lines. These days there is so much writing talent devoted to fantasy, it’s foolish to deprive oneself from reading pleasures with such barriers of sensibility.

What was it Arthur Clarke said about magic? Aha, thank Google: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” And, oh look, a blog discussion headed “Technology isn't magic: Why Clarke's Third Law always bugged me”. Lively discussion there, with one respondent posing the counterpoint, “Any magic sufficiently analyzed with sufficient rigor is indistinguishable from science.” Anyway, it is no wonder that a sci fi fan might be taken with this noir fantasy tale. Morgan is the author of the noir science fiction novel, “Altered Carbon”, which earned 5 stars from my pleasure meter (less luck in my aborted attempt on a sequel volume).

This book was provided as an e-book loan through the Netgalley program.

[Gavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an OK ending to Richard Morgan's A Land Fit for Heroes trilogy. The pacing could have been better but the story itself was good and, importantly, the wrap up was well done. This was a satisfying way to finish what has been a pretty good dark fantasy series. Morgan always got the balance right between the brutal and dark happenings and the moments when the reader got to cheer for the characters so this did not end up as one of those depressing misery-porn style of stories that plague the modern "grimdark" fantasy genre!

The plot just picked up from where things left off in the second instalment. Ringil, Archeth, and Egar went on their Helmsmen sent mission to find the Illwrack changeling's grave. Things did not go smoothly as the party were being manipulated from all sides by the Aldrain, the Dark Court, the Helmsmen, and other mysterious forces all intent on furthering their own agendas.

I felt like the story was entertaining enough and, as always, I liked the three POV characters. They are not always likeable people but they were always interesting characters and it remained easy to root for them most of the time which I think is a key factor that a lot of authors miss when writing dark fantasy books like this. I liked the explanations we got for the likes of the Aldrain and the Helmsmen. This series finale gave answers to most of the ongoing mysteries. I also really enjoyed the mix of fantasy and sci-fi in this series. It might be nothing new to mix both genres but it can still be a lot of fun when it is done correctly!

If this series has a flaw it is the fact that the world building does not feel as solid as what we got in Morgan's Altered Carbon books. It hurts the series that stuff like the Grey Places and the other otherworldly stuff remain vague and hard to picture. I never had those issues while reading Morgan's regular sci-fi stuff so I feel he was being purposely vague but I still think that hurt the story a bit and ended up being a big weakness for the series.

All in all I'll remember this as a solid dark fantasy series. It had tons of bad language and brutal violence but it never tipped into being an overly depressing read. Most of the themes touched on in the story were things Morgan covered in his Altered Carbon books but they still felt fresh enough as different issues got more focus in this series. It likely helps that I'm on board with most of Morgan's messages and social criticisms!

Rating: 3.5 stars. It is probably a 4 star book but I lost a bit of enthusiasm for this one halfway through. I blame that on having read all three books in the trilogy back to back and the fact that I picked up this series just after finishing my favourite read of the whole year. I'll round up to 4 stars for my Goodreads rating.

Audio Note: Simon Vance did an OK job with the audio. He will never be a favourite narrator of mine but he did not hurt my enjoyment of this series.

[Choko · Rating 3 out of 5]

*** 3.44 ***

I hate giving less than 4 stars to a book with a very interesting premise and fascinating world. However, as much as I was hoping for an amazing end to the trilogy, it just didn't happen... And the worst part about it is that the ideas behind the ending were really, really good, but the execution just fell short... I am good with how things ended, I was on board with the Sci-Fi/Fantasy hybrid elements, I was OK with all the deeply flawed characters and not one of them being a true protagonist, really liked the LGBT angles, I was fine with the time jumps, Gray Places, Dark Court G-ds and even with time paradoxes which didn't make much sense if you really thought about them. I always trust the authors to tell us their story in the way they want it told. What made no sense to me was leaving the most interesting and important elements of the story to the very end, where they were rushed and failed to have the impact they would have had, had they been unraveled slowly during the story, instead of pages and pages of trudging through seas, swamps and prairies, on business of revenge with no hints of the big reveals at the end. It made those reveals feel like out of nowhere deus ex machina, although I see where the author wanted to go... I get it, as imperfect and horrible as we may be, we are Human and that is the most important thing... We are the creators of our worst nightmares. And those are perfectly fine points, but let's make them in a bit more organized fashion. I felt like I was rooting for the author to do a better job of it than he was trying himself... I wonder if there is such a thing as a thematic fatigue, and after giving us a pretty great first book, a fairly decent second one, by the third book he just wanted to be done with it and this world? I would hate it if it's so, but I could understand... Either way, I feel like an opportunity for a great book was missed and we got an OK one... 🙁😐🤨

Now I wish you all Happy Reading and may you always Find what you Need in the pages of a Good Book 👍📖😊

[Alissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you made it this far, you probably like the tale and its hyperbolic elements. This last installment is not going to disappoint: the action is still very explicit, the story is a triumph of cynicism and excess, the character development reaches its apex and the author builds great tension across all the protagonists’ story arcs, delivering an epic finale and skillfully leaving some ends open to speculation.
I liked the overall experience with this story and its damaged characters. I particularly enjoyed the political intrigue, the focus on the pitfalls of transition after a victorious war, the reflection on people chained down by social mores and their own competence; I also appreciated the sci-fi touches, the many quotable passages and the overarching drama.

Plotwise, I raised a few eyebrows at one of the main characters’ all-encompassing prowess (who’s hell-bent on a my-destiny-is-not-mapped-out-for-me course of destruction) and there were some confusing events which I struggled to interpret. Granted, that’s probably normal considering there was little linearity and the tale did become even more tangled with all the stakeholders openly joining the game board, so maybe it was just me not getting the nuances as I should have.
I believe the whole story was plotted from the outset; however, I can’t shake this sense of something missing.

I don't mind difficult/oblique (nay, I love it) when there is coherence, purpose and the author succeeds in making me care for the characters and for the reveals, not to mention applaud the execution and the world building. This is not an easy feat to pull off because it is but a short step from “subtle” to “abstruse”, and Morgan treads a fine line between clever gory entertainment and highbrow-ish pulpy drift.
In this regard, I still have mixed feelings about the trilogy, although the third book is my favorite and it also marks an improvement over the narrative flaws of its predecessors.

Some fantasy literature background helps in getting the most out of all the anti-hero tropes, counter-tropes and fantasy clichés at large that the author plays both with and against, since this series is clearly grimdark but it’s also a criticism to the “conventional” fantasy narrative and its readers’ expectations (and to the anatomy of fantasy names, unless he’s genuine about all those perverse Kiriath terms and that’s not a thought I want to entertain).
Problem is, while some of his choices were fun and thought-provoking (the Gods, priceless!), Morgan often goes overboard in his challenge to “mainstream” tastes with the escalating bloody rampage, some paint-by-number plot devices, the bleaker-than-black reality, the devaluation of sexuality and his emphasis on shock-value for shock-value’s sake.
He laid it on a bit thick when dealing with Ringil’s proclivities, too, but I’m not really complaining here.

A Land (un)Fit for Heroes is not a light-weight series for both themes and structure, and it’s surely best appreciated back to back because it relies on the audience’s memory and perceptions.
I would recommend it only to irony-minded readers who like sex&dirt&gore, because there is plenty, and unbowdlerized.
It’s also more rewarding to those who enjoy complex, character-driven grimdark stories with memorable casts. Not only Ringil, Egar and Archeth, but also the Emperor, the Kiriath, the Dwenda, the Gods and several supporting characters are well-rounded and effective.

Morgan is an unquestionably gifted storyteller and character writer, therefore I truly wonder about the point behind such exacerbated violence&vulgarity in an otherwise interesting (if a bit convoluted) story.
Maybe this series is deliberately designed to make you doubt your intelligence, or maybe it’s a ground-breaking grimdark which I failed to fully appreciate. Nonetheless, I liked it. I was engaged and I had fun, so the point is probably moot.


"What else, aside from slaughter with sharp steel, are you really good for?"

There’s a long, quiet pause, broken only by the roar and suck of the sea. Ringil feels the sound stuffing itself into his ears, emptying him out. They stand, goddess and man, a foot and a half apart, like two statues carved from the granite underfoot.

"I suppose a blow job’s out of the question", he says at last.

[Lady*M · Rating 3 out of 5]

One long, rambling and vague (to avoid spoilers) review ahead.

I will have to think more thoroughly about what I have read and, possibly, re-read the series once more, but... I am disappointed. The book illuminates the flaws of its predecessors. I enjoyed the books both times I've read them, but that is the thing - you cannot judge a part of the whole completely until the whole is in front of you. Having read all the books now, I am left dissatisfied.

The lost opportunities are the first thing that comes to mind. Starting as a personal quest (first book), only to turn into possible fight for the fate of the Empire and possibly the world (second book), I expected the trilogy to end with the big bang. With all three protagonists being scarred and irreverent war veterans, the forces that rise against them and gods circling around like vultures, with fantasy merging with science fiction (see what Arthur Clarke says about technology and magic), I expected The Dark Defiles to explode and blow our minds. What we got was not a bang but a whimper.

The first third of the book was slow, but than it rushes on so fast you can hardly catch up with it. As the pages vanish, you start to wonder how will Morgan have the time to give you a satisfactory ending. Well, he doesn't. Our (anti)heroes are sent on their meandering ways, they stumble across a few info-dumps, get the power boosts that seem tacked on, have a few, admittedly, great fights (though not as great as the ending of the second book) and... never fully reach the promised potential. I wanted to be on the edge of my seat worrying about them, I wanted to scream at the pages when something bad happened to them, I wanted to see the depth of their friendship and weight of their shared history. Morgan never managed to get me fully involved with them as he did in the first, and to some extent the second, book. I had to remind myself several times why they were doing some things. When he ended one of the protagonists less than two thirds into the book, instead of feeling sad my reaction was: What? No! That's it!? While some might feel it was a poetic ending, I just thought that it was wasted potential.

Morgan holds the cards close to his chest to the last possible moment and then hits you with revelations/resolutions one after another without leaving time for anything to sink in. I had to go back several times to re-read the parts of the book to clarify what happened and still at the end we lack conclusion. It was nice that our protagonists pretty much say "Fuck you!" to the powers that are trying to use them (the ones that survive at least), but the things are set up in a way that makes you believe that at least one of them will eventually play into their hands. In the end, one dies, one's story remains open-ended, one gives you 'WTF' headache. Yup, not what I was looking for. I don't mind when bad things happen to the main characters, I don't need everything resolved at the end of the book, but there has to be some resolution. The characters have to change in some fundamental way (I'm not counting power boost as a change). The world in which they live in needs to change in some way.

Do not get me wrong. This is not a bad book. But, until the very end, it doesn't read like the last book. It was as if we lost some integral part of the story along the way, hence my feeling about the previous books' flaws. Even my ratings reflect that: first book - five stars, second - four and this one - three. It could be that I had too high expectations. It could be that I shouldn't have read this book after Malazan series (Erikson is the king of vague and mysterious, but the payoff is mind-blowing). I would have to re-read the entire trilogy again at some point to see if my impression would change when I read the books back to back. At this point, I feel that this was a valiant fantasy effort on Morgan's part; the potential for being great is there but it was unfulfilled.

[Cathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a bad book and a very bad ending to what I thought was a trilogy. Most of the book was pointless wandering around by characters I used to care about. It wasn't fun and it wasn't exciting. Then Archeth took on a quest that made no sense to me. I thought I was reading a story about...I have no Idea what I thought the story was about by this book, to tell you the truth, but the mystery of the Helmsmen and magic and the dwenda definitely not an endless trip back into steppes for revenge for something that I barely remember happening and don't care about. I seriously didn't understand so much about this book and about this series. I loved the first book. The second book was puzzling, slow and wandering. But this was a huge, disappointing mess. And then the end was just terrible, everything about it was wrong. I kept reading the long slow journeys because I was sure I'd be rewarded in the end. But then it was as if Morgan had saved all of the interesting and exciting bits of books two and three and clumped them all in the last fifty pages. It was deus ex machina after deus ex machina, the answers had nothing to do with anything that had happened for the thousand plus pages I'd read for three books. Why was I supposed to be excited, thrilled or interested in any of that? The series wasn't full enough of mysterious creatures and rivalries and human politics and physical wars and rivalries, so let's toss in a few more things to confuse everyone? But let's do it too late for anything interesting to be done with them after I've wasted the last thousands of pages that I've just made my readers slog through, great idea! It` was supposed to explain some things to me, where the Gray Places came from, who the dwenda are, but it made it even more complex and confusing. I like complex when it's useful. But no, now it's a whole new story.

The book really, really needed recap and reminders. I had no idea who Hjel and his people were, who the gods supposedly were, I vaguely remembered the dwenda from the first book but barely remembered anything from the second book at all. I needed to be reminded who Anasharal was, that was really significantly important. It was all super confusing. It wasn't just that I have a terrible memory, which I do, it had been an extra long time in between books two and three, but the author plunged in and carried on throughout like I knew exactly what was going on. The only time there was a reminder was when a minor character who had a grudge against Ringil was introduced. It was very frustrating very often. What's a Helmsman? What's the deal with Ringil's sword again? I did finally get some of it after about two hundred pages, but I just bits and pieces. I'm very glad not to have infodumps, but there should be a happy medium.

And just as a design issue, I couldn't tell the difference between italics because it was people, primarily Ringil, thinking to themselves and italics when people are having conversations in the Gray Places or various other circumstance or it was another language or honestly I just couldn't tell what was going on and what the italics are supposed to mean, it was just very unclear. It just added to to my overall confusion with this book. I couldn't make rhyme or reason of it. There's a point where Ringil makes a speech in italics, then thinks to himself in italics a few lines later. I can't tell what's internal and what's spoken. And the point that he was making a speech was important, but it got lost, the italics de-emphasized it, I just don't understand the point of them. Also, there are no quotation marks in these sections, though they're used in other parts of the book, giving me even less cues to what's going on. I just don't understand this editing choice or convention, or maybe it was the author's choice. I'm sure there was a logical system to it that I just didn't take the time to figure out, because I shouldn't have to. After 600 pages it should have come clear and made sense, not been a constant annoyance. It was constantly visually and comprehensively confusing in a book that couldn't afford any extra confusion.

There's a scene very near the end where Archeth stares through the empty air still trying to figure out what just happened. After a while she gave up trying to figure it out and just walked away. I know exactly how she felt. Throwing in a bunch of new elements in the last fifty pages of a huge fantasy trilogy isn't fun. Changing all of the rules and switching up all of the explanations for your mystical elements isn't fun. Reveals are fun but there has to have been some hints, some build up so you can feel in on the reveal, be amazed by how cool it was and how all of the pieces came together to form such a cool puzzle. Not be amazed at what bizarro curves the author keeps throwing out at the last second one after the other after the other. I put the time into the long, slow slog of this book because I thought I'd be rewarded in the end and I was very disappointed. The bulk of the book wasn't fun and the end wasn't fun. There are a lot of intriguing elements that suddenly appeared at the end that it would have been fun to know more about, but the way that they're introduced takes all of the enjoyment out of them. I just don't understand what Morgan was trying to do with this book. And if there is going to be another book in the series I won't be reading it, he's lost me on his fantasy books. I'm terribly disappointed to say it, I've been a huge fan of his, but I just don't want to waste my time on these books anymore.

[Liviu · Rating 5 out of 5]

started this and seemed a bit "interesting dialogue but who cares" and I started reading forward and then the ending which is really, really powerful so I went back to read it end to end; has some great stuff so far, though it is really dark no question about it

I finished Dark Defiles and on first read I felt it was very good - maybe not fully satisfying as I thought RK Morgan went a bit overboard in trying to do "anti-fantasy" so there were moments the book read like a parody where Ringil (or the other two main characters, Archeth and Egar though somewhat less evident there as Egar was still an impulsive barbarian and Archeth a cool superior-race - ok partly as she was half human after all - intellect) did something utterly contrarian just to do it and say "f.. you" to everyone (while RK Morgan implicitly said f.. you to the fantasy reader so to speak); but there were tons and tons of powerful moments, most of the stuff from earlier 2 books was explained, and there was a mostly definite conclusion;

As the novel stayed with me, i felt i needed a full reread of all 3 books (Steel remains, Cold command, dark Defiles) and after that I notched up my appreciation of Dark Defiles and the series overall and now i feel that it is indeed one of the best fantasy series of recent times: very powerful, very well developed and thought out and full of memorable quotes.

While the content is modern, the structure is really old fashioned with all 3 books forming a huge one novel tapestry - while more recent top notch series started fragmenting the storyline into definite parts and either expanding the universe or raising the stakes, rather than pretty much introducing all the main stuff in book 1, however indirectly and veiled there, with books 2 and 3 mostly piling revelations, action and depth; the one drawback is that a lot of the finer points are appreciated only at the end when one knows what's really what and with 6 years from book 1 to book 3 one really needs the full series reread...



here is one such quote that is not that spoilery, as I blanked the names:


"Ringil rubbed his chin. “Did ***** do something to you?”

“Please—”

“And yet you sent him to die on a spike.”

“That*…” A spasm of pain twisted **** face. “It was the law.”

“So is this. It’s recent legislation, you may not have heard. Harm those I care for, and those you care for will be harmed. How does it feel?”


and one more:

"Supposing I could take you to that city—how would you live there? Your blade would be behind glass in a museum, and no use for it even if it were not. The languages you speak would be millennia dead. What would you do for money, for food? Do you see yourself cleaning tables, perhaps, in some eatery whose owner does not mind your halting attempts at the local tongue? A brief career as a tavern whore, maybe, while your looks last? Do you see yourself washing dishes or mucking out horses, as you grow old and gray? Does that appeal?

He grimaces. Well, now you come to mention it … 

Quite. And here is our difficulty. Your daydreamed retirement is no more honest than the daydreamed heroics of young boys who’ve never picked up a blade. It is a fantasy staple—stale, learned longing, incurious of any human detail, a mediocre hand dealt out from the grubby, endlessly reshuffled myths and legends and comforting lies you people like to tell each other. There is less weight to it in the end than in all your boyhood fantasies of a life with the gypsies, out on the marsh at Trelayne. That at least was something you might once have attempted, a path you might have taken. But this—this is a lie to yourself that you carry around in your heart because you’d rather not face the truth.

And what truth would that be?

........................

I want them dead, he says quietly. I want them all ****ing dead.

Ah. The Mistress of Dice and Death puts a companionable arm around his shoulders. Her touch bites through his clothes like freezing iron. Now that’s more like it."


Overall a fantastic series

[Amarilli 73 · Rating 5 out of 5]

E una volta in moto, nessuno di noi ritrova davvero pace finché si vive. L’unica cosa davvero importante è muoversi bene finché si può, e tornare a riposare solo quando non resta altro da fare.

Leggere, dopo una lunga attesa, il capitolo conclusivo di questa saga strabiliante è stata una delle gioie di inizio 2022.
In questi anni ho sfiancato i lettori fantasy che conoscevo raccomandandogli Morgan (sentendomi spesso rispondere: ma non è quello di Altered Carbon? Sì, è lui, è meravigliosamente lui, ma questa saga è davvero ben altro!) e COSA RESTA DEGLI EROI come la mia serie del cuore.
Per il fantasy moderno, ci sono Morgan e Abercrombie.
Sono là, i miei due pilastri, quelli che non mi stancano mai e che continuo a rileggere.

Detto questo, il terzo volume (che leggevo per la prima volta) è stato davvero difficile da digerire.

Sono 816 pagine toste, fitte di eventi, dove ogni riga non è messa lì a casaccio, ma ha uno scopo, rimanda a qualche altra parte, ti svela qualcosa. E tu devi stare lì e e assorbire tutto, senza poter scattare avanti a scoprire che succede, anche se hai una paura tremenda di voltare pagina e scoprirlo.

Mi verrebbe da dire che Morgan non ama i suoi personaggi, visto come li tratta. Invece credo che in questo libro si sia consumato nello sforzo di lasciarli andare.
E non poteva farlo con un'uscita di scena uguale per tutti: ciascuno si congeda a suo modo, forse come avrebbe sempre voluto o forse come, purtroppo, si sarebbe aspettato.

Ah sì? E quindi cosa ne sarà di me? La Regina Oscura pare quasi imbarazzata per lui. Be’, dice, in cos’altro, a parte massacrare con l’acciaio affilato, sei davvero bravo?

La trama di questo volume è talmente ricca, che un altro autore l'avrebbe usata per ricavarne due libri, almeno; invece Morgan è generoso, non si risparmia, ci racconta la guerra, finalmente, il passato inglorioso, il presente aspro, il futuro molto umano, ci svela i segreti su razze aliene e su divinità arroganti e timorose d'essere dimenticate, ma anche su fili tesi che si tendono e rimangono uniti, nonostante le dimensioni, e su sentimenti polverosi e fuori moda come amicizia, onore e lealtà.

C'è un doppio, triplo finale, che richiede riflessione e comprensione.
Io mi sono presa due giorni per capirlo del tutto e comunque ero davvero commossa, tipo quando sei in stazione e vedi un vecchio amico partire.
La rileggerò presto, perché voglio che sia un arrivederci, non un addio.
Nel complesso, confermo il giudizio che già avevo: una saga strabiliante.
Letta, riletta, assaporata. Sanguinaria, trash, ironica, scorretta.

Il mio nome è una cosa complicata… Sono la benvenuta nella Casa dei Corvi e dei Divoratori di Cadaveri nella veglia dei guerrieri. Sono amica delle nere cornacchie e dei lupi. Portami con te e uccidi con me e muori per me fin dove termina la strada. Non sono la dolce promessa di una lunga vita negli anni a venire, sono la ferrea promessa di non essere mai uno schiavo.

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing, at best. I really enjoyed the first book, and I enjoyed my first read of the second book.

Very little happens in the second book, and this one is even worse. The main characters spend most of the story slogging through pointless journeys that serve no purpose in terms of the plot. The characters don't develop in any meaningful way. In fact, all of them regress a bit by the end. The writing is repetitive and a bit bland in many places. How many times do we need to read about how shocking it is for someone's Kiriath steel blade magically jumping to hand without conscious thought? You would think that our smart, jaded, world-weary heroes might learn the nature of these blades after several dozen educational experiences.

The most disappointing thing is that most of the mysteries in the story end up falling by the wayside or dismissed with unsatisfying explanations. The scifi/fantasy hybrid that seemed to offer so much potential in the first book doesn't receive the attention it deserves, and has no real impact on the story.

There's very little in the way of dramatic conflict. It's hard to even tell who the protagonists and antagonists are, because everyone is so grim, dark, and deplorable. The primary threat in the story is supposed to be the Dwenda, but the fact that they never really do anything makes it hard to find them particularly threatening.

The choice to make Ringil gay is interesting, but ultimately serves very little purpose aside from providing a bit of explanation for his me-against-the-world, contrarian attitude.

Not recommended.

[John McDermott · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed The Dark Defiles . It was a big improvement on The Cold Commands but still not as good Steel Remains. I'll certainly be looking to read more from Richard Morgan as I do like his style of writing. How I rate his books depends on how successfully he delivers it ...........uhhh.....obvs. 3.75 stars.

[Freakout · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent !!!

[Roberto Vaquero · Rating 5 out of 5]

“La Impía Oscuridad” cierra la trilogía de “Tierra de Héroes”, y de qué manera. Mucha gente me dijo que era el peor libro de la saga y que no era un buen cierre para la misma, o que eso les habían dicho. Os aseguro que no, leed el libro, os va a merecer la pena.
Es un broche final perfecto para toda la historia, bien estructurada, con profundidad de los personajes y con mucha crítica, con mensajes claros y directos. Resumiendo, cumple con las expectativas que Richard Morgan nos ha creado a lo largo del tiempo con el resto de sus libros publicados. La trilogía es un ejemplo a seguir de cómo ha de hacerse la fantasía oscura.
En esta ocasión, se terminan de describir y desarrollar las razas de monstruos, como los gules. También hay un capítulo en donde por fin se deja de hablar en pasado de los lagartos y sus guerras con los humanos, del famoso Pueblo de las Escamas, y aparecen para combatir a dos de los personajes principales. Se conocerá a su vez la naturaleza de la estepa y de sus diversos pobladores. Las temibles Akya también tendrán su papel, adentrándose más en su naturaleza real.
El protagonista indiscutible, desplazando a los demás, será Ringil, en su camino por convertirse, o no, en el brujo guerrero, en un señor oscuro. El tiempo y cómo transcurre en los “Lugares Grises” tomarán una importancia capital para entender el funcionamiento del universo creado por Morgan.
Los dioses también tendrán un papel más relevante, aunque se verán también sus limitaciones y sus propias motivaciones. Especialmente al Señor de la Sal, con el cual Ringil tendrá un episodio especial. La naturaleza de los timoneles también será descubierta, a través de ellos conoceremos un poco más de la civilización Kiriath. Además, el origen de los Dwenda también será revelado.
Este libro representa la culminación del antihéroe, de los personajes que, a pesar de sus lados oscuros, sus vicios y sus limitaciones, consiguen sobreponerse y casi, sin ni quererlo, consiguen salvar la situación para provecho de la sociedad humana, usan su propia oscuridad para hacer el bien.
En el libro, como no podía ser de otra manera, Richard Morgan realiza una crítica al poder, a la burocracia, al extremismo religioso, a los oportunistas, al racismo y a los prejuicios por condición sexual. La crítica social y política es algo frecuente en las obras de este autor.
Estamos ante un libro que me recuerda al final de “El Retorno del Rey”, una historia en la que se prima la humanidad. No quiero hacer spoiler, pero para aquellos que leáis el libro veréis a lo que me refiero. Os recomiendo encarecidamente que deis una oportunidad a esta trilogía, os aseguro que no os va a decepcionar.

[C.W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The conclusion to Richard K. Morgan's monumental dark fantasy brings our heroes full circle - and then some. It took me longer than usual to finish reading this last entry, due to extenuating factors, but it was worth the investment of time and hand-wringing as I realized where it was headed.

While Egar and Archeth plunge into a bizarre trek through the wastes from the abandoned city of the Kiriath, where a cunning Helmsman offers assistance with a hidden agenda, Ringil enters into the most challenging, sinister phase of his transformation from jaded warrior to dark mage.

The Dragonbane's bond with the long-lived Imperial advisor he's sworn to protect is put to the test as they team up to lead a ragtag band of surviving mercenaries through a region devastated by the ancient war against the Dwenda. There are some astounding set pieces here, from a savage evening encounter with lizards to a heartbreaking denouement with a full-grown dragon in a vast ruined city. You'll be on the edge of your seat.

Meanwhile, Ringil's quest to help his friends, unaware they're thousand of miles away after being shipwrecked, takes him on a no-holds-barred liberation of a vengeful pirate and the premeditated sacking of his natal city, as well as the long-overdue confrontation with his estranged family. He's very pissed-off, in no mood for regrets. What he's encountered in the Grey Places has imbued him with an awesome power that's leeching away his humanity and he's intent on vanquishing the Dwenda at any cost. The Dark Court plays its obscure wicked games around him, and he has to sidestep their shenanigans to reach his showdown with the vicious foes who've turned his existence into, quite literally, a living hell. He's also accepted that what's been done to him is irreversible.

There is so much to admire here. Morgan's penchant for vivid imagery and brazen lack of sentimentality remain on full display. This is, fittingly, the most grim book in the trilogy, with the build-up to the ultimate fate of his trio of unwilling heroes making for propulsive reading, but reading the first two entries is a must to understand the entire picture - and even then, it's complicated. Morgan has constructed a dense mythology, and he leaves chunks of it unexplained. You have to pay attention and draw your own conclusions.

Perhaps the most controversial outcome is Ringil's. Our gay hero with the chip on his shoulder turns into a divisive figure as he grows into his magic, but Morgan depicts him true to character, and you can't help but admire Ringil's resolve. The alternate reality and time of the Grey Places has altered him, and with nowhere left to go and nothing to bind him to his former life, he doesn't look back, propelled by his zeal to defeat the Dwenda - his sole reason for carrying on. And his final confrontation with their forces is epic. You wish he'd find some peace, but we've known from the start that he's too damaged for it. His choices can't lead to anything else, even if he does get what he always wanted: to give this hostile enemy and world his middle finger, no matter the sacrifice.

Readers may come away slightly exhausted and confused, bewailing the twisted ending. Not that we should expect anything else; Morgan doesn't go easy on us. His characters are flawed, driven and complex, pitted against impossible odds, with the supernatural vying for power and playing mortals like pawns. You'll wail at the loss of one. Revel in the ferocity of another. And shudder at the third's rampage. You'll also never forget them.

It's been quite the journey for me. I treasure the experience.

[Matt Watkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Final(?) novel in RKM's fantasy trilogy. The trilogy as a whole has some nice features: each novel tells a complete story and can be read stand-alone, though they do form a complete narrative arc across the trilogy as well. The trilogy is appropriately grim-dark for this particular age of fantasy; the heroes aren't actually, the monsters and mythology are menacing and interesting, and the violence is quite gritty. Two of the series's three main protagonists are gay, and the graphic depictions of sex in the novels respect this ratio. The action is unrelenting and the books are entertaining.

Here's the thing though. Perhaps some of Morgan's project is going over my head, but this all feels like ground that is already well trod and somewhat tired at this point. You have a dark anti-hero, cynical ruminations about the dark side of human nature, quests that turn out to be futile, destinies that are actually mockery, a distinct lack of identifiable morality, and motivations that run the gamut from selfishness to revenge to malice to pure wanton destructiveness. In other words, the same themes that have been explored by Joe Abercrombie and Steven Erikson and R. Scott Bakker and, of course, George RR Martin, etc etc over the last decade or so. Ringil (the main protagonist of Morgan's trilogy) is monstrous. But so are Caul Shivers and Karsa Orlong and Anasurimbor Kellhus and Daenerys Targaryen. I don't notice any particularly new insights from Morgan's characters along these lines: Erikson has an environmental and historical vision that eclipses Morgan's, Abercrombie's The Heroes and Red Country are far better meditations on war and colonialism than Morgan's, Bakker's ruminations on politics and religion and the human psyche outmatch Morgan, and Martin draws better characters. Morgan just doesn't seem to be saying anything new. And he relies too often on deus ex machina rescues (more than once the gods actually show up and stop time to get characters out of pickles), world building through exposition, and liberal use of New Powers As the Plot Demands. (Ringil is an especially egregious example of this trope, though Archeth also is a beneficiary.)

All that said, Morgan has constructed an interesting world here, with a potentially fascinating history, which he unfortunately explores only through dribs and drabs, except for a vague and unsatisfying few paragraphs of exposition near the very end. The Helmsmen, the Margins, Hjel, the Kiriath, the Scaled Folk, the Talons of the Sun, the Dark Court and their relationship to the Bookkeepers are all fantastic concepts, a rich tapestry of imaginative ideas populating a well-drawn world.

[Jaclyn Hogan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ahh, they moved the publication date! Ahh, no, no, no! Whhhyy?!
***

I received a digital ARC from Netgalley.

I waited forever for this book, and once I got an ARC, I waited another forever to finish it because I didn't want it to be over. (I also have what I call book specific ADD, but really I just didn't want it to be over.)

This might be my new favorite fantasy series. The world Morgan has built in these novels is so dense and multi-layered. We get enough of a glimpse to guess at some of the aspects that the main characters don't understand, but we remain nearly as in the dark as they are, fumbling around and saying, "Hey, that looks familiar..."

Ringil, Egar, and Archeth are wonderful new-style fantasy characters, and Morgan has clearly taken the time to consider diversity. Ringil is a homosexual, as is Archeth who is also black skinned and the last remaining member of an alien race. Their differences are considered and essential to the plot, not just tossed in for tokenism.

Maybe the overarching theme of Land Fit for Heroes is 'no one gets a happily ever after.' Clean and pretty endings are the exception, not the norm. George R.R. Martin knows this as well. If we take a fantasy world seriously, there is going to be some nastiness. How much is up to the writer, but if humans live in this world, it's going to have problems.

This is a satisfying end to a fabulously well conceived series, and if I'm sad it's over, I'm also really glad I got to go on the ride.

[Kaora · Rating 4 out of 5]

RTC

[C.T. Phipps · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Dark Defiles is the third and final novel of A Land Fit for Heroes, which has the interesting quality of being the first grimdark story that I recognized. I'd read A Song of Ice and Fire and The Witcher beforehand but it was the excerpt from this book which convinced me I wanted to explore the genre more fully. In the story except, Egar Dragonsbane beats a bunch of randy soldiers senseless for interrupting his brothel time.

I'm not going to lie: I have issues with the way Richard K. Morgan's series progress. I love his work as a whole but he seems to have serious issues following up on his initial story points. I loved Altered Carbon, disliked Broken Angels, and felt ambivalent about Woken Furies. I have a similar feeling about this trilogy having loved The Steel Remains, enjoyed the Cold Commands, and really hated this book until the final quarter. Indeed, it took me months to finish this novel and if anyone has ever read my reviews, you know I can usually plow through the thickest doorstoppers in a week.

Part of this is the first three-quarters of the manuscript have nothing to do with the pressing questions of the series: who are the dwenda, what happened to the Kiriath, what about Ringil's relationship to his family, will the insane Caligula ruler of the Divine Throne be overthrown, and so on. Instead, there's an epic treasure quest which satirizes the typical Lord of the RIngs quests by having the heroes getting themselves lost and having no clue where to go for the majority of the trip. Which is funny when it's a chapter or two and boring when it's most of the book.

The book finally picks up near the end with characters dying, epic battles between humanity and the dwenda, answers to all of our questions, and a good idea of where the world is going to be going in the next few centuries. It has a Michael Moorcock "*** the Gods!" sort of feel, too, which I'm not much of a fan of since I find the idea of humans telling destiny to screw itself off self-entitled since if you can tell destiny off then it's not much of a destiny to begin with, is it? Certainly, too much of the book is spent on Ringil telling the Dark Court (the local pantheon) off and you can guess any action he's going to take by asking, "Did a god tell him to do the opposite?"

I also have to say much of the book depended on Egar as comic relief. He seems to be the only character who is having any fun in the story and seems to accept the world as is. Both Ringil and Archeth are Byronic heroes who loathe the world as it is. This is fine given the world sucks but their constant never-ending contempt for the way civilization is and the people inside went so far past grimdark it went around to Gene Roddenberry. "Oh, why must we be surrounded by such a disgusting race that is humanity?" Yeesh, you'd think both of them would catch a clue they're jerkasses themselves.

Did I find the ending satisfying? Yes, mostly. I found the idea of a conspiracy to put Archeth on the throne less interesting than the author did. Archeth is a haughty, self-absorbed, frankly racist elf who I only realized is supposed to be considered a moral paragon. It's kind of like Terry Goodkind's books where I only realized I wasn't reading a parody deconstruction of fantasy heroes about halfway through. Likewise, the book loses a lot of energy whenever Egar isn't on page and what happens to him costs the book dearly. Still, I have to say Ringil got as good an ending as any grimdark hero.

Richard K. Morgan is at his best whenever he is doing shocking scenes, torture, and nasty betrayals of what we expect from our heroes. Whenever Ringil is killing slavers, insulting dwenda, or murdering the hell out of people like an NC-17 rated version of the Punisher--the book is very good. The same with Egar making fun of Archeth for being horrified at the soldiers beating up the villagers when she's done nothing but sit in her tent and sulk the entire time versus leading them. Character moments carry the novel. Unfortunately, there's also a lot of magical A.I. and gods talking down at our hero which sinks the narrative like a stone.

There's something to say about Richard K. Morgan: he finished his series. A Land Fit for Heroes wraps itself up in this novel. We find out what happens to every character, the world, and all of the major plots are resolved. With so many other books artificially extended or having uncertain futures, it's nice to have a book which really does answer all of the questions which needed answering. Unfortunately, it required a lot of filler to get to that point when the book could have been a 1/3rd less its size and lost nothing but padding.

6/10

[Fantasy boy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Dark Defiles is The conclusion of TLFfH series and has done well. It not only expands the length of pages also answer some confused questions from previous two books. I've scarcely seen a fantasy series is filled with miserable, manic and brutal characters, still in the finale installment of TLFfH series,three main protagonists encountered vicious old sworn enemies and capricious gods etc; This factor cause the finale book of the series that is oppressive reading experience but still provides some exhilarating moments to having adrenaline rush. The dark defiles has plenty of plot twists that muddles readers's mind like Ringil had been manipulating half way thorough The Dark Defiles. Those plot twists not easily have been seen among fantasy books, although the structure were divided into 2 parts from the whole story ,and in the end it seems not to converge together. I'm still not sure the story is likely to be told by two separated section (the one from Ringil, another from Egar and Archeth) is that a prudent choice or not however, for me, I think It suits for The Dark Defiles.
Ringil was still as violent as previous books, (slightly less a bit) in short description: bad ass when someone was in his way. Egar saved the team but was eaten down to bones by dragon's venom. Archett was pondering Manathan, the Helmsman could be trusted ? since She sooner discovered that the expedition was a scam to keep her away from Yhelteth Empire during the earthquake.
The dark court is kind of god in this world. I know little things about the dark court, they show up as stimulate plots, similar to Helmsmans who manipulate Ringil and Archett a lot but less vague present in TLFfH. Atually, Main characters shouldn't trust those gods or Intelligent artificial crafts( this series has described Helmsmans are some sort of AI as assistance to human) I think this is one of the main reason why readers could be confused in TLFfH because too many obscured descriptions about those dreadful creatures instead explain details to readers.
In summary, The Land Fit for Heroes Is a unique fantasy seires, a hidden gem in Grim dark fantasy genre. For those readers who love the darker shade of fantasy books. Who wants to be transmitted into a complex world with treacherous humanity.

[Jed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Last night I finished The Dark Defiles: I'm reading an ARC thanks to the publisher and it's a great conclusionof the Ringil Eskiath story.

As one would expect, this book which I rate as extraordinary, would be greatly weakened without reading the first 2 books but even if your memory is as dubious as my own, it should serve well enough to get you into this chilling conclusion.

Having said that, I will not put anything spoilerish here because I found this to be utterly absorbing and I would not deprive you of one moment of the thrills. It is very clear why it took so long for this book to be released. It is complex and resolves many question from the earlier books. It also does a great job of concluding the trilogy - sure, I love the world setting but at least no cliffs are let unhung.

I found this book to be the most emotional of the 3. I had to stop and recover from time to time.

Of all my grimdark collection, this trilogy has even displaced such masterpieces as The First Law. It's just a perfect story and it grabs the heart and doesn't let go.

If you haven't read the first 2, I'm sorry to learn how incomplete your life is. Be grateful that they are in print and you won't have to travel to the grey places to find your copy.

I will buy the hardcover the day of release and will buy the audio version as soon as available and listen with my grimdark lady friend who calls herself Archidi.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

“𝘔𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘪𝘵 𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭.”

The Dark Defiles is the final book in Richard Morgan’s A Land Fit For Heroes trilogy and what a finale it was! This is by far my favorite of the three books and is the best one by miles.

We join Ringil, Egar and Archeth as they are months in on the mission discussed in The Cold Commands. Events come to a head as the book opens, and they are separated once again. Ringil struggles with his new power as a dark mage, Egar holds together a fragile alliance between factions forced together by circumstance, and Archeth aims to decipher the path the Helmsmen have laid out for her. Unexpected surprises and deaths, meddling gods, and prophecies fulfilled make for a truly fantastic read.

Most issues I had from The Steel Remains and The Cold Commands were not present in this book. There was no long meandering first half. It was actually very eventful with steady, reliably brisk pacing. There was a lot of action spread throughout and not just at the final 10%. The book was also not as confusing because all the plots are finally unfolding, and we finally get some answers (although some are not as straightforward). Richard Morgan also restrained himself since there was only one graphic gay carnal scene in this entire book.

The Dark Defiles delivers a great conclusion to the trilogy and made my slight struggle through the first two books completely worthwhile.

[Dustin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to say, I am rather disappointed with this book. I quite enjoyed the first two parts of the series, but I feel like this one is not on the same level. The storytelling is needlessly complicated, he opens up tons of new questions, only to finish all of them of in the last 20 pages. The pacing in general is sub par, he builds up to a grand finale but compresses the finale itself to maybe 20-30 pages. Another point that quite annoyed me was the character development of the protagonist. While Ringil still showed some errors resulting in consequences in the first two books, now he is seemingly invincible. Whenever something bad is about to happen some mythological buddy of his jumps out of the bushes, shouts hoorah and the problem is solved. The character as he is now strikes me as quite the Mary Sue, tbh. Excuse my ramblings, but English isn't my first language and I'm writing this at my workplace, but I'm just rather disappointed, I was expecting more of this. Though I have to admit, the second book wasn't nearly as good as the first either.

[Mihir · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Dark Defiles is the concluding volume of the Land Fit For Heroes, in this volume we begin directly after the events of The Cold Commands. Ringil Eskiath, Archeth, and Egar Dragonbane are back and in worse shit than before as the author manages to mix some heavy SF elements such as semi-sentient computers and aliens along with magic, battles and fantasy races. Richard K. Morgan manages to combine these different aspects and yet makes this story work. There's also the heavy action sequences along with gory violence and language (very Richard Morgan-esque). Lastly the only thing that detracts from the this concluding volume is that the way the story ends, it's a tad unsatisfactory and leaves a lot of threads up in the air.

So keep that in mind, but nevertheless this series is a different read from most series out there and for dark fantasy fans, you definitely can't go wrong with this one.

[Kdawg91 · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have not read Richard Morgan's trilogy A land fit for heroes, stop what you doing and get them and read them.

Incredibly good dark fantasy for grown folks, its a great read from top to bottom.

[Shonipamp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy moly that ending gave me chills. What an exceptional conclusion. One of the best grimdark series i have read. Highly recommend.

[John Scroggins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I give this trilogy as a whole 4 stars I really enjoyed the characters and their arcs and the books as a whole felt very consistent with beginning middle and end and they really lived up to their title as grimdark so reading them right after the r Scott Bakker prince of nothing series really scratched my current grimdark itch I enjoyed his writing so much so I might give some of Richard k morgans si-fi series a go as I haven't really read any si-fi up to this point

[Fabiano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recensione per tutta la trilogia.

Oggi vi parlo della trilogia “Cosa resta degli eroi” scritta da Richard K. Morgan tra il 2008 e il 2014. È una serie che ho letto due anni fa e che, tra pregi e difetti, mi è rimasta nel cuore. Incarna l’essenza più pura e oscura di quello che per me significa Grimdark.

Il mondo in cui prende vita la storia è il classico mondo Grimdark: feroce, marcio nella sua opulenza, corrotto, decadente, sempre sul filo della guerra. Richard K. Morgan lo approfondisce e lo presenta in tutto il suo violento splendore, inserendo con maestria degli elementi di Science Fiction nelle vesti di una razza aliena tecnologicamente e culturalmente avanzata.

L'autore racconta le vicende da una prospettiva interessante ovvero quella degli eroi al termine del conflitto. Un punto di vista ancora oggi originale, approfondito alla perfezione da Richard K. Morgan grazie a tre personaggi iconici. Tre eroi grigi le cui gesta sono state dimenticate, il cui ricordo è scomparso dalla memoria degli uomini. Non sono altro che vestigia di un passato sanguinario, presto caduto nell’oblio. Hanno salvato il mondo, ora sono reietti, disprezzati, isolati, privi di identità e scopo, in preda ai sensi di colpa del rimpianto. Egar Rovina del Drago, capo tribù, incapace di guidare il suo popolo, incapace di ricostruirsi dopo la guerra che ha vissuto da protagonista. Archet è l’ultima superstite della sua specie, non ha più una famiglia, annega la solitudine nei fumi delle droghe. Ringil Eskiath è un rampollo in esilio, discriminato per la sua omosessualità, divorato da una furia rossa che sfoga nella violenza.

Non è un'opera perfetta, sia chiaro. L’omosessualità di Ringil viene sviluppata a dovere per quanto riguarda la discriminazione e le sue conseguenze sociali e psichiche, mentre l’aspetto sentimentale non mi ha convinto in quanto si limita a sessualizzare la cosa. Infine, la narrazione mi è parsa a tratti eccessivamente confusionaria, astratta, onirica e quasi allucinogena. Questo dettaglio può risultare pesante e rallentare la lettura. Nonostante ciò, non posso non riconoscere e sottolineare l'importanza che questa trilogia ha avuto e tuttora ha nel panorama Grimdark. Fondamentale

[Arthur · Rating 5 out of 5]

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." And that's just the way Ringil "Angeleyes" Eskiath would have it. This book is an ode to the visceral pursuit of violence and carnage. Ringil rampages through the book, tearing his way into the annals of great fantasy.

Morgan (and in turn his character Ringil) is clearly someone who understands vengeance. Never have I seen such brutal comeuppance been served in a book nor have I ever been so perversely glad to see it. This book is sumptuously dark and action-packed and had me turning the pages frantically until its conclusion and then some.

Ringil is one of the most tragic and darkest characters I've ever had the fortune to follow and in this conclusion to the trilogy, he has fully stepped into his role as a power in his world. He weilds the ikinri'ska and his Kiriath blade with deadly results and whenever he appears in the book, he exudes deadliness and murder.

Similarly, the other two characters, while not the primary focus, are also great fun to read. They have their own unique personalities, cultivated and grown over the course of the three books and it is easy to feel for them.

The only other book series I feel truly comparable with this one is Mark Lawrence's Broken Empire series. It's similarly dark (both series belong to the grimdark genre begun by Joe Abercrombie) and both feature post-apocalyptic worlds where technology has warped and destroyed the world, creating magical horrors. Both feature extremely dark protagonists and involve saving the world, albeit involuntarily. And of course, both involve the protagonist ultimately sacrificing himself to do so.

This book and its series I feel are Morgan's current magnum opus and I can't wait to read his future works.