The Cold Commands (GOLLANCZ S.F.) (original 2011; edition 2012)

As good as The Steel Remains?

No, not quite, but pretty good. The book starts off slowly, with the characters spread out over the world. But the pace gets faster, the writing tighter, and the plot lines intersect as the book progresses.

The big problem is that it finally hits its stride and comes close to perfection in the last 50 pages or so, leaving you praying for the as-yet-unannounced (but highly desired) sequel. Hopefully the wait will be less than 4 years this time. ( )

The sequel to Morgan’s gay barbarian swordsman book The Steel Remains, this one is at least as grimdark—there are notable amounts of rape and other atrocities, many instigated by the main characters/closest thing the book has to heroes. Morgan combines sf (apparently high-tech machines with agendas of their own) with fantasy (elvish/fairy types who were kicked out of the human realms and aren’t too thrilled with that situation, along with dragon invasions and other sundry magic), and in this book he adds in a riff on the Arthur myth that works because of its brazenness. If you like GRRM, this might appeal (and is a lot shorter), but heed the warnings. ( )

The Cold Commands definitely has the middle book syndrome going on. The three are separated. Ringil is off doing some slaver slaughtering, Archeth is involved in politics working on keeping people alive and putting together an investigation into a strange island. Egar is busy getting into trouble with other people’s wives and discovering Dwenda cults.

So a bit on the slow side at times with things not coming together until the end with Ringil becoming rather more Kane-like as time goes on.

http://freesf.strandedinoz.com/wordpress/2011/12/the-cold-commands-richard-morga... ( )

A good read, the same modern, gritty, brutal fantasy that was The Steel Remains. The ending was a bit contrived to my linking and rushed too, with a major storyline abandoned mid-way -- but then, that's somewhat typical for Morgan. ( )