false 2 3 false false Wed Aug 27 14:38:30 -0700 2008 Wed Sep 10 21:54:22 -0700 2008 once was plenty.
Traditionally, in Noir, it's customary to have a protagonist who is morally compromised, but who at least tries to better himself/herself, the world, etc. Morgan seems to have missed that point with the utterly unlikable Ringel, protagonist of The Steel Remains. Ringel is an empty husk of a human being, a war hero, a killing machine, in search of a reason to kill again. Unsurprisingly, he finds it.

Morgan's fantasy world is replete with brutally nasty ways to die, and not much worth fighting for, no causes, and no resolution to speak of. The only thing I carried away from this book was nausea, and a strong disinclination to re-read the book to try and track down all the loose threads of plot I was seeing. Morgan is a pro. It seems unlikely the corrupt priest he creates with such lavish care is not subsequently used. Likewise the corpsemites which are in the introductory scene, I'm sure somewhere they're used.

I like Morgan's work, generally. I had great expectations for The Steel Remains/Land Fit for Heroes, but all this book amounts to is a nasty sendup of the genre. If you're sick of the whole swords and sorcery meme, and you'd love to see it told the way it probably would have looked to anyone not romanticizing it, then you'll enjoy The Steel Remains. Hopefully you have a strong stomach.]]>