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The Dark Defiles (2014)

by Richard K. Morgan(Favorite Author)

4.06 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0575077948 (ISBN13: 9780575077942)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Gollancz

series

A Land Fit for Heroes

review 1: If you like George R.R. Martin, you're clearly Morgan's target audience here. (Note that I'm covering the entire trilogy here, rather than writing separate reviews).Land Fit For Heroes has the same moral ambiguity and even more grit.It also has a high level of genre ambiguity. Although it's marketed as high fantasy and definitely wears a high fantasy outfit, the underpinnings of the world seem entirely too science fictional. I was even left wondering if the world was actually a simulation and the "gods" the users.Now, I happen to like genre ambiguity, but to some people it might read as if Morgan tried desperately to write high fantasy because it's hot and kept drifting back to his cyberpunk roots.Despite that, the worldbuilding is excellent. The standard tropes of fantasy... more are nicely subverted (not that I don't sometimes enjoy a D&D type book, but that isn't what this one is). This is definitely a dark story. There are no good guys and no heroes - which is probably why the series itself is titled as it is. I would definitely recommend this book to fans of both grimdark fantasy and truly bizarre science fiction. The trilogy can easily be read as either. (Are those demons or AIs? Are they both?)One caveat: This book is definitely suited to a mature audience - there's some fairly detailed m/m sex in it, some somewhat less detailed f/f, and a lot of talk about sex. And a lot of bad language. And a certain slur aimed at gay people is used a lot. Morgan uses the words his characters would use with no regard for how offensive they might be. Many people will be fine with that, but if you find either form of the f word on every other page uncomfortable, or if you're triggered by some pretty extreme homophobia (usually aimed at the very, very gay MC)...then you might want to stay away. This one pulls no punches.
review 2: Raggedly torn between savage genius and murky-to-impenetrable politics, this is a book that grabs you by the balls and doesn't let you go. Morgan is another one who use of simile and metaphor is truly glorious, and the cadence of his language is mesmeric in some places.In others, well... From dragons shitting themselves in combat, to the graphic spit and stubble of hot sex, to catapulting comets (no I'm not explaining, go read it) all the way to spatteringly gory violence, this isn't for the fainthearted. Having said that, I really enjoyed it!Let down a little by its closure - took me all my wits to keep pace with the political interweavings, which then had solutions all crammed together into a pile at the end - but the sense of letdown was small compared to the rest of the book.It may be an idea to read all three back-to-back! less

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