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Oct 10, 2011

Ceridwen rated it:

I got this copy from the First Reads program.

I figured out why I keep coming back to Richard K. Morgan: it's his essential Scottishness. I have no idea whether he's actually Scottish, like born in the borders kind of Scottish, but he is in his soul, for very sure. Maybe what I'm about to say is bullshit, and I'm okay with that, given the subject, but the Scots for me embody a certain kind of elegant profanity, a level of cussedness that makes the insult into a martial art. Celtic doze More...

37 comments like (25 people liked it)

Dec 06, 2011

Linda rated it:

Although this is a fantasy book, it's really the far, far future Earth after cataclysmic events have set civilzation back to the horse and sword era. For those of you who have read Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs books (Altered Carbon, Broken Angels and Woken Furies) you'll see this IS the Takeshi Kovacs Universe and he is a participant (one of the dark gods, sky dweller Takavach). What the people living on earth think is magic is alien tech, but we see everything from their pov, so it's ambiguous. V More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jan 24, 2012

Alan rated it:

Richard K. Morgan's novel The Steel Remains originally seemed to me to be a interesting, if not exactly groundbreaking, approach to the tired genre of sword-and-sorcery. With a likeable and unusual protagonist, heavy hints of science-fictional backstory, and a definite feeling of release from the constraints of traditional genre fiction, the first novel in Morgan's A Land Fit for Heroes series left me feeling hopeful, despite my general preference for standalone works. I also liked the ambiguity More...

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Jan 20, 2012

Ruth rated it:

c2011. Now THIS was a book! I can't tell you what a pleasure it was to read such a well crafted book after so much drek that I have recently read. This book is violent, make no mistake, however the way it is introduced and dealt with fits in to the story, the characters and, strangely enough, serves a purpose. Totally different to the way it has been dealt with in some recent publicaltions (The Prince of Thorns comes readily to mind). There is light and shade, pathos and harshness, humour and se More...

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Jan 02, 2012

Lightreads rated it:

So it's weird, but I don't really get fantasy-scifi. I like fantasy, and I like scifi, and I love cool genre-bendy remixy mashuppy things. So you'd think putting scifi in my fantasy would be like putting peanut butter in my chocolate, but it's actually more like putting cottage cheese in my chocolate. Just because someone on Top Chef thinks it's a good idea doesn't mean we plebes actually want to eat it, amiright?

I dunno, I've also seen this as a bit of a personal failing, a weakness o More...

4 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 15, 2011

Contrarius rated it:

The Steel Remains was the first Richard K. Morgan book I ever read, and it hooked me from the start. I'm happy to say that The Cold Commands has firmly cemented my new addiction.

Morgan has a gift with prose writing. I mean really, who can resist lines like "the blade tore sideways through the pliant lips of the scabbard, made a blurred arc around and down off his shoulder, was there at guard in front of him, like steel laughter in the light.". Couple that prose with fascinati More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 10, 2011

Ranting rated it:

http://www.rantingdragon.com/the-cold-co...

This review contains minor spoilers for The Steel Remains.

The Cold Commands is the much anticipated sequel to The Steel Remains, the 2008 fantasy debut of now-acclaimed science fiction author Richard Morgan. After a three year hiatus, the second installment of A Land Fit for Heroes has finally arrived—and it will not disappoint. No holds are barred in this fast-paced genre shake-up, its pages veritably bursting with passion, act More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Oct 25, 2011

Judd rated it:

The worst part about this book was the inside cover copy. That blurb was misleading and is going to piss people off with its bait and switch tactics. I loved the book but fair warning, the inside cover of the hard-cover or back-cover of what I'm assuming will also be the soft-cover was poorly chosen.

That said, its nice to see Gil, Egar and Archeth back in action. Once again, it took too damned long for them all to get into the same place but I enjoyed the journey there so much that More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 26, 2011

jess7ica rated it:

I loved this book. Gil is back in full bitter glory, trying to make a difference in a world that, in spite of the series title, does not seem like a land fit for heroes. Morgan writes phrases I want to steal or wish I'd thought of first. World, characters, plot and prose are all tightly woven. My only disappointment with this book is that the ending didn't feel like an ending. No denouement and so many unanswered questions. This book concludes like what it is, the second entry in what is now def More...

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Oct 22, 2011

Liviu rated it:

As this is another book I will soon do a full FBC review to be c/p here, I will just put some points for now; I will mention that I read The steel Remains end to end before reading this - actually after reading the first 50 pages of TCC and realizing that I forgot most about its universe except for a few details and of course the main Morgan twist, which surprise, surprise is present in The Cold Commands too, though for once is done in a subtler way

- like TSR, TCC is a book that mixe More...

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Sep 27, 2011

Daniel rated it:

I give this book 2 1/2 stars. I acquired this book through the Goodreads First Reads. This is a book for fans of adult fantasy. The story is well put together, the characters are great and there are some great fight scenes.

characters are great and This story is about Ringil and his friends. Ringil has been hunting a slave trader, Poppy, that broke his cousin and sold her</spoiler>he finds her and gets his revenge<spoiler>. Then he must escape the soliders, and survive t More...

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Nov 30, 2011

Mordant rated it:

"The Cold Commands" by Richard K. Morgan is the sequel to "The Steel Remains" and thus volume two of a planned trilogy named "A Land Fit For Heroes".

The author is mostly known through his debut novel "Altered Carbon" and also worked as a writer for Electronic Arts for the shooter "Crysis 2" and currently on the re-imagining of the game classic "Syndicate". Maybe this is already enough to give you an idea what his books are a More...

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Oct 31, 2011

Megan rated it:

(re-posted from http://theturnedbrain.blogspot.com/)

This review contains spoilers for The Steel Remains

Is it weird that my favourite character in this book was Ringil’s longsword, Ravensfriend? That’s right folks. No longer merely content with crafting some of the coolest human(ish) characters around, Richard Morgan is now imbuing inanimate objects with more personality than your average fantasy author could dream of.

But of course, there’s a lot more to The Cold Com More...

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Nov 17, 2011

William rated it:

I liked "The Steel Remains", Richard Morgan's first fantasy novel in this series, but didn't think it was perfect and thought that it wasn't as good as the best of Morgan's Science Fiction novels. I had a similar reaction to this book, the plot took a while to really get going but did become interesting towards the end of the book and I would say again that it is a good book but one with the potential to be better.

By the standards of fantasy series most of the book isn't par More...

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Jan 28, 2012

sk rated it:

I think, I may have been one of the few people that found this book slightly hard to follow and boring for the first 2/3rds.

All this going in and out of different zones, and different gods and races and peoples and times, things to come things not to come things that have passed, heads on tree stumps, many heads on tree stumps floating islands.. blah blah. Good god, if the author's intention is to make you feel as if you've been floating around with Seethsaw and his peeps... it was More...

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Oct 23, 2011

Michelle rated it:

Also published under The Ranting Dragon

Interview with author: http://bit.ly/qoDtZy

The Cold Commands is the much anticipated sequel to The Steel Remains, the 2008 fantasy debut of acclaimed science fiction author Richard Morgan. After a three year hiatus, the second installment of A Land Fit for Heroes has finally arrived—and it will not disappoint. No holds are barred in this fast-paced genre shake-up, its pages veritably bursting with passion, action, intelligence, and patho More...

2 comments like

Jan 31, 2012

Warren rated it:

Thought it was AWESOME!!! Fantasy genre isn't usually my thing. But I've read the 1st of the trilogy STEEL REMAINS (Will re-read so I can review it on Good Reads)and I was motivated to read THE COLD COMMANDS. I love Richard Morgan's storytelling. The combination of characters, elements, detail and style - create a colourful tale of adventure and suspense. The violence and sexual content is part of the whole story and I disagree to some reviews that suggest it is gratuitous and un-needed. It act More...

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Nov 27, 2011

Neil rated it:

There was a lot of positive buzz about this being an improvement over "the steel remains" and while I think it is a stronger book it still suffers from many of the problems the first book had. One thing I did enjouy more in this book is that the three point-of-view characters all have their own story and they fuse together quite nicely towards the end. While Ringil is clearly the main character, I think Egar actually had some of the strongest scenes this time around.
In terms of th More...

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Jan 28, 2012

Stonemagpie rated it:

It's probably just me, and I'm not saying it's a bad thing but I keep finding similarities between this and Jessie's Kastor Chronicles.

The world's feel similar - there are barbarian nomads, immortal characters and multiple gods that take a little too much interest in the world.

And the Gil/Kastor character is similar - tall, gay, moody, dark-haired, a touch of magic, speaks multiple languages, banished noble, special sword(s), the favor of gods and a berserker fighting spi More...

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Feb 01, 2012

Ben rated it:

Larger in scope than its predecessor "The Steel Remains", this book is also significantly angrier. The violence is overwhelming and certain segments (many quite early in the novel) are almost unreadable for their sheer horror. Certainly a challenge to read, raising questions of morality in more shocking ways than Morgan has ever attempted. The larger scope allows a much more expansive world to develop, but still retains the grim claustrophobia of its predecessor. Everything is done More...

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Feb 20, 2012

Eric rated it:

I picked this book up, actually loaded audiobook into my ipod, knowing it was the 2nd in a series of books. I really enjoyed Morgan's Takeshi Kovaks novels and thought it wouldn't matter that I was coming late to the party, since those novels really stood by themselves. That was not the case with the cold commands. It is clearly a serialized story, with the redundant story telling of the previous novel carried forward, and an unfinished plot line. Although I found the writing high quality, I was More...

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Jan 20, 2012

Alexandra rated it:

I'd like to say that The Cold Commands is a satisfactory or entertaining sequel to Richard Morgan's The Steel Remains, but those who have read the latter would know that I was lying through my teeth; it couldn't be either. So I will go with 'appropriate.' Other adjectives to describe it as a novel include 'enthralling,' 'chilling', and 'relentless'.

You could probably read this without having read the first book, but personally I wouldn't recommend it; partly because things make more s More...

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Jan 17, 2012

Mike rated it:

After just about three years Richard Morgan’s The Cold Commands has been released. Picking up more or less where The Steel Remains leaves this dark fantasy (I almost want to say science fantasy) novel is a bit slower than the previous volume, forgoing major strides in plot advancement in favor of maneuvering characters and events so as they are positioned for further adventures, and likely more action, in the next volume(s). While this makes for a more intense study of our three main leads; Ring More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 21, 2012

Ricky rated it:

There's not much more I can laud about Richard K. Morgan as a writer--he is simply the finest writer of science fiction and fantasy that there is, in my estimation, at present. He writes efficient, interesting stories about interesting, multi-dimensional characters who struggle in understandable ways with the dystopic world that surrounds them--his allegory becomes more pointed than ever, mixing in elements of the free market, state-motivated religious fervor, the idea of nationalism and how it More...

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Feb 04, 2012

Phil rated it:

Here's a extract from my review, full link: http://afantasyreader.blogspot.com/2012/02/cold-commands-review.html

So, are we reading a story were the world will be saved by an unlikely redeemer or the creation of a new sinister overlord or unconscious deliverer? I may repeat myself but having to ponder this even after two books is what makes this great. More so since it's through the characters themselves that this interrogation occurs. When I started reading the book, I had some dif

More...

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Jan 18, 2012

Dee rated it:

I do like books where you can formulate and discard theories on just what the hell is happening as you go along and further snippets of information are given to you. With the fact that half of Ringil's adventure in this book is done in metaphor (or, as he calls them, the Grey Places) it's extremely possible to theorise wildly at every turn. Which is good, because otherwise, I find his trekking through fantasyland slightly tedious.

This remains thoroughly interesting fantasy, partly beca More...

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Oct 20, 2011

Раян rated it:

The first book in this series, The Steel Remains, is probably in my top 10 (were I actually to decide on a top 10 and put it down in writing), so I was really excited for this to come out. I was counting down the days till October 11th. Now, while I'd probably rank the first book above this one by a slim margin, I still enjoyed this one enormously as well. That's probably partly due to the difficulty of making the middle section of a trilogy still cool. It worked with The Empire Strikes Back and More...

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Dec 13, 2011

Joel rated it:

This is probably the best fantasy fiction novel I've ever read. A Game of Thrones would be the only other possible, and The Cold Commands gets the edge for being the second novel in the series rather than the first. The worlds of The Song of Ice and Fire and A Land Fit for Kings are similar in scope, but it would be hard to treat them any differently. Where George R.R. Martin paints every detail with painstaking specificity, Richard Morgan deals in impressions and incomplete brush strokes. We kn More...

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Nov 18, 2011

Alain rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 07, 2011

Betsey rated it:

This is a quintessential 2nd book, sadly. It had it's great action parts and the character development for Archeth and Ringil was well worth it, but it was still very much a middle-of-trilogy book. I like what this book is hinting at for the big finale, and I'm totally excited to read it. I appreciate that Morgan is doing a battle of the different god pantheons in a way that isn't standard. I also suspect that even though it feels like a fantasy book, it will turn out to be more of a hard s More...

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