Where do I begin?

First in the interest of full disclosure I have to say without a doubt Richard Morgan is my favorite author currently and possibly ever. His books hit me in a way that none else do. When he first hit the scene with his dazzling debut "Altered Carbon" I knew this was someone whose voice I wanted to follow. From there we got the biting "Market Forces", the noirish military sci fi "Broken Angels", the concluding Kovacks novel "Woken Furies" and finally the triumphantly challenging and Arthur C. Clarke award winning "Black Man". Richard freely challenges the politics of oppression, bigotry and religious zealotry in his work. It's almost a primal urge to rage against the machine. His characters are either victims of these things or in the case of "Market Forces" willing participants. There is collateral damage and hyper violence, but there is always a message delivered underneath the high tech settings, inventive technology and memorable characters.

So when I first learned Richard planned on taking a break from sci fi to take a crack at writing a fantasy series I wasn't sure what to think. In an interview we did, Richard mentioned applying noir tendencies to this world and characters and I began to perk up.

I'm not a fan of fantasy per se. I enjoyed the Lord of the Rings movies but found the books a bit tedious. I also freely admit to not liking the way characters stereotypically speak in fantasy novels, the "thee, thine, thou", just not something that works for me. So I wondered how I would find Richard's new novel "The Steel Remains" considering it is in a genre I generally don't care for.

Well I loved it.

In fact I think it may be the best thing Richard has written so far in his young career. It takes fantasy and turns it on it's head. The back cover of my advance review copy says "Fantasy Gets Real" and that's an accurate way of describing it. This isn't Lord of the Rings with happy hobbits. It's a war torn world that is reeling from an epic war, uneasy truces, war heroes forgotten and abandoned to a life of homelessness and generally not a great place. The characters speak with a modern voice that might throw some but worked perfectly for me.

Richard introduces us to his three major characters, Ringil Angeleyes, masterful swordsman, overall hero and a bit of a wildcard. Since the war Ringil now lives in a frontier town and lives above a bar where he regales the crowds with war stories. He's not particularly happy.

Next up is Egar the nomad. Barbarian and tribal leader who got a taste of civilized life and misses it terribly. He doesn't want to be stuck leading a tribe of animal herders. He wants hot coffee, clean sheets and the civilized society of life in a massive city.

Last is Archeth Indamaninarmal, engineer and adviser to the Emperor of Yhelteth Empire. Archeth is also half Kiriath, a technologically advanced race who helped humanity in their great war. Now feeling abandoned by her clan leaving her behind and serving an emperor she doesn't respect Archeth is feeling a bit lost.

While this is certainly set in a world where at least at first glance is normal for a fantasy novel, you get glimpses that there might be going on here, Kiriath fireships that were piloted by Helmsmen, who have also been left behind, Kiriath weaponry that might be supernatural or might just be technologically advanced, reality bending weapons left behind...the nice thing here is you aren't hit over the head with it. As he did in "Altered Carbon" Richard teases you with little details that another author could make an entire book out of.

Once you've met the cast the adventure gets underway where Ringil's mother sends him out to rescue a long forgotten cousin sold into slavery. Along the way you have beings who might be magical, conspiracies, wholesale slaughter and another sinister plot meant to throw this world back into chaos.

Old friends are reunited, blood is spilled and you end on a perfect note. If this wasn't exactly for you there is closure but if you want more you get the distinct feeling Richard knows where he's going with this.

I don't want to go into anymore detail than that since this world and it's characters are best left to discover on your own.

The worst thing for American fans of Richard's work is that this won't be available in the US until Feb. 2009. Yep you read that right. The Steel Remains is released to the UK in August and if ever there was a book worth buying from AmazonUK this is it.

I cannot recomend it strongly enough.