Archeth is the last of her kind, surviving mainly in the service of a capricious emperor who is trying to hold on to an empire he doesn’t seem to deserve. This is something, in fact, that all three main characters share in common. Ringil doesn’t get much recognition or respect even his family normally keeps him at a distance. Despite his prowess and skill in the service of his people. Ringil has killed a dragon, but unlike his Majak friend Egar, who has also done this, Ringil doesn’t get the title Dragonbane. Go marry someone, if you like” to “Well, we’ll stone you now, and then you will burn in eternal hellfire!” Although the same is somewhat true in the world of The Steel Remains, most responses lean towards the eternal hellfire end of the continuum. Of course, in our world there are varying responses to homosexuality, ranging across a continuum from “OK.

Ringil also happens to be gay, which in a better world than ours would be nothing to write home about either, but because our society remains stubbornly heteronormative, a gay protagonist (and gay sex! gasp!) in an otherwise “mainstream” book is significant. Oh, and a lot of Kiriath artifacts, like the sword of Ringil Eskiath, the other protagonist of The Steel Remains.

Humanity used to co-exist with a species known as the Kiriath, but after the Scaled Folk were beaten back, the Kiriath decided to attempt the long journey back whence they came, leaving behind a single, solitary, half-Kiriath woman named Archeth. There are steppe nomads with their own religion that doesn’t see eye-to-eye with the empire’s official monotheism. There’s a powerful empire and a network of free cities nominally at peace after working together to repulse an invasion a decade ago by reptilian people from across the sea. The basic mechanics of Morgan’s fantasy world are nothing to write home about. As a novel, however, The Steel Remains still leaves much to be desired. But I was pretty certain Morgan would deliver. Much like in the shooter genre of video games, the term gritty as applied to fantasy can get tossed around a lot without much accuracy. I was intrigued by the promise of a gritty approach to epic fantasy. Morgan’s foray into fantasy, and knew I needed to give it a try. Goodness, it’s been a long time since I read Altered Carbon, and nearly as long since I heard about The Steel Remains, Richard K.

Richard morgan the steel remains