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Loading... The Cold Commands (2011)by Richard K. Morgan
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. While I remember liking The Steel Remains, I read it a while ago, and found it very hard to remember who the characters were in this book. I found it even harder to care about them, or their situations. And this meant it was hard to continue reading the book, until the last 1/3 perhaps, when it seemed to come back together. ( ) Tagline is misleading. There is nothing of this sorts that comes closer to the first book. Actually, this one is pretty much slow and wordly and has all the fantasy stuff I dislike. Almost normal compared to first. One "problem" though... I will be reading next anyway. And very much likely one after that. And every other that follows. Take any of the many non-descript RPGs of the last 20 years (the games variety, not the tank-busting kind), read its forgettable storyline and there you have it. There's Morgan's Cold Commands - if you add slugginess, endless meandering with no real aim and characters with no goals. Unfortunately, what makes a game good (not very good) is by far not enough to make a book good, since a game has much more than its storyline, while for the novel that is all of it. Three stars? I liked this book. It was very entertaining. Fast paced. I wanted to really love this book, the way I really loved The Steel Remains, but I had one major issue. The Cold Commands is all set up for book three, which will come out who knows when. There are a lot of forces at play, here, things hinted at and whispered about, but Morgan seems to be holding back the big boom for the next book. After I read the next book, if it's sufficiently awesome, maybe I'll revise my rating. I enjoyed this book, but it didn't blow me away. One aspect of this series that I've enjoyed is the ambition that Morgan brings to the worldbuilding here. We don't just have fantasy elements, but we also have science fiction elements, which make this an intriguing world. But what is kind of a bummer in this very unique world is that I don't want to exist in it because almost every character is an asshole and happy moments are few and far between. But that's what I get for reading a grimdark book I guess. Overall, I'm enjoying the progression of Ringil's character to dark overlord, now that I know what to expect. I wish Archeth had slightly more to do. I find her backstory the most compelling and I want to read some books about her people and history no reviews | add a review
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"With The Steel Remains, award-winning science fiction writer Richard K. Morgan turned his talents to sword and sorcery. The result: a genre-busting masterwork hailed as a milestone in contemporary epic fantasy. Now Morgan continues the riveting saga of Ringil Eskiath--Gil, for short--a peerless warrior whose love for other men has made him an outcast and pariah. Only a select few have earned the right to call Gil friend. One is Egar, the Dragonbane, a fierce Majak fighter who comes to respect a heart as savage and loyal as his own. Another is Archeth, the last remaining daughter of an otherworldly race called the Kiriath, who once used their advanced technology to save the world from the dark magic of the Aldrain--only to depart for reasons as mysterious as their arrival. Yet even Egar and Archeth have learned to fear the doom that clings to their friend like a grim shadow. or the curse of a bitter god. Now one of the Kiriath's uncanny machine intelligences has fallen from orbit--with a message that humanity faces a grave new danger (or, rather, an ancient one): a creature called the Illwrack Changeling, a boy raised to manhood in the ghostly between-world realm of the Grey Places, home to the Aldrain. A human raised as one of them--and, some say, the lover of one of their greatest warriors--until, in a time lost to legend, he was vanquished. Wrapped in sorcerous slumber, hidden away on an island that drifts between this world and the Grey Places, the Illwrack Changeling is stirring. And when he wakes, the Aldrain will rally to him and return in force--this time without the Kiriath to stop them. An expedition is outfitted for the long and arduous sea journey to find the lost island of the Illwrack Changeling. Aboard are Gil, Egar, and Archeth: each fleeing from ghosts of the past, each seeking redemption in whatever lies ahead. But redemption doesn't come cheap these days. Nor, for that matter, does survival. Not even for Ringil Eskiath. Or anyone--god or mortal--who would seek to use him as a pawn"-- No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.92Literature English English fiction Modern Period 2000-LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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