Books : The Steel Remains (Gollancz S.F.)

Rating: - Not the usual Morgan
This is a new direction for Richard Morgan, but he pulls it off well.

To be honest, it's a relief after the boredom and drudgery that was 'Black Man'. Some of the characters and subject matter were new to me in the fantasy type realm, and I think this may have put many people off.

If you're looking for something better thought out and more entertaining to read than your average LoTR derivative, this is certainly worth your while!

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Rating: - Science fantasy grows up at last
Complex well-drawn characters that have real conversations with each other, yeah they fight and have sex, in short they act like real people. The plot is well-timed and keeps you guessing. The story is so well written you won't be able to put it down yet like me you probably won't want to get to the end. I hope this is the first of many fantasy books from Richard Morgan and I would love to read more about these characters, the only downside of reading this book is whatever book you go onto next can only be second rate - nothing compares!

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Rating: - At last!
Though a major departure from his usual turf, this hugely enjoyable book provides at long last a well written kick up the back-side for the pompous and moribund sub-genre of 'Sword & Sorcery'. Thank you Mr Morgan, and can we have some more please!

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Rating: - Richard, go back to what you know.
I'm a big fan of Richard Morgan's work. He has put out tremendous stories -- this isn't one of them. Most of what he wrote appeared to be an attempt to break from the nomral fantasy genre and put some shock value. However, along the way, he missed the fact that you need a strong story and I never really cared for any of the main characters. If you haven't purchase this yet, you should consider it based on the strength of his past success -- you might like it, I didn't. I'll wait until he goes back to the SciFi.

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Rating: - Stick to space opera Mr M
This over-hyped sword and scorcery "epic" is not the innovative and original saviour of the genre that you might have expected from the literary reviews. Three parallel storylines run alongside each other with little indication of the linkages between them. The characters are somewhat stereotyped with cod psychological explanations for their motivations and actions. Joe Abercrombie does it so much better - read The Blade Itself trilogy - or even Scott Lynch or Jennifer Fallon.