The Cold Commands [Hardcover]

Richard K. Morgan (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 11, 2011

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for The Cold Commands:
"Morgan brings a fresh approach to epic fantasy, giving his world a hard edge and blending in such sf elements as machine intelligences and extraterrestrial races...Morgan’s protagonists, with their tough outward demeanor and lofty ethics, lend depth and seriousness of purpose to high fantasy and should appeal to fans of George R.R. Martin’s “Song of Ice and Fire” series." --Library Journal


Praise for Richard K. Morgan’s The Steel Remains,
Book One of A Land Fit for Heroes
 
“Bold, brutal, and making no compromises—Morgan doesn’t so much twist the clichés of fantasy as take an axe to them.”—Joe Abercrombie
 
“The award-winning author of Altered Carbon and Market Forces brings the same iconoclastic approach to his fantasy debut as he did to his sf technothrillers. . . . Morgan’s storytelling talent and his atmospheric, hard-hitting prose make this a strong addition to mature fantasy collections.”—Library Journal
 
“Spellbinding . . . There’s so much to like about the adventure.”—The Star-Ledger
 
“Morgan has taken traditional sword and sorcery tropes and given them a hard, contemporary kick. The antithesis of the cosy fairytale, this one is for big boys.”—The Times (London)
 
“A powerful turn-everything-up-to-eleven reading experience . . . Morgan is a gifted writer, and his gifts are lavishly on display here.”—Adam Roberts, author of Yellow Blue Tibia
 
“It compels you to read on with its gritty, visceral writing and intelligent plot. It’s tense and fascinatingly peopled, and given that the follow-ups will doubtless be tremendous you’re encouraged to jump on from the start. Just, ahem, steel yourself.”—SFX

About the Author

Richard K. Morgan is the acclaimed author of The Steel Remains, Thirteen, which won the Arthur C. Clarke Award, Woken Furies, Market Forces, Broken Angels, and Altered Carbon, a New York Times Notable Book that also won the Philip K. Dick Award. Morgan sold the movie rights for Altered Carbon to Joel Silver and Warner Bros. His third book, Market Forces, has also been sold to Warner Bros. and won the John W. Campbell Award. He lives in Scotland.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey; 1St Edition edition (October 11, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345493060
• ISBN-13: 978-0345493064
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.7 x 9.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #549,339 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Richard Morgan was, until his writing career took off, a tutor at Strathclyde University in the English Language Teaching division. He has travelled widely and lived in Spain and Istanbul. He is a fluent Spanish speaker.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 40 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A furiously enjoyable fantasy novel October 13, 2011

By A. Whitehead TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

A year ago, the famous swordsman Ringil Eskiath, hero of Gallow's Gap, prevented the return of the Dwenda, the ancient rulers of mankind, to the Earth. Ringil and his wartime allies, Egar the barbarian warrior and the half-Kiriath agent Archeth, stand vigilant against any future incursions by this foe.

Now Egar, Archeth and Ringil face separate mysteries. A bar-room brawl and reports of slaves being held in unusual circumstances leads Egar into an ill-advised confrontation with the Empire's dominant religion. A warning from the Helmsmen sends Archeth on a mission into the wastelands to recover a valuable item, an item which comes with a dire warning. And a chance encounter between a runaway slave and Ringil results in blood, mayhem and revelations of a dark kind.

The Cold Commands is the long-awaited sequel to Richard Morgan's The Steel Remains, the author's first foray away from SF and into the arena of secondary world fantasy. The Steel Remains was a blood-soaked, swords and sorcery adventure, black of humour and fairly brimming over with violence and sex (most of it graphic and gay, to the disquiet of some readers). It was solid enough stuff, though perhaps not as good as the billing suggested. Morgan's SF is so good because he writes with anger, flair and passion, and is at its best when he is clearly ticked off about something (in Black Man, particularly the self-destruction of a society which cannot talk to itself, only throw up barriers and tear itself apart). The Steel Remains, though a reasonably solid novel, lacked the vitality of his earlier SF.

The Cold Commands has that energy back, and in spades. Here Morgan confronts the issues of religious fundamentalism and blind dogma as the Citadel attempts to garner more control over the Empire than the young (and notoriously uncompromising) Emperor. Archeth recalls the religious disagreements that almost tore apart her parents' marriage: her Kiriath father's mounting horror as his calm, rational scientific explanations for everything are rejected by his human wife in favour of rote-learned rhetoric. These issues give the book a bit of a philosophical and thematic kick to it that sees Morgan's writing return to the top of its game.

Whilst this issue is present and explored intriguingly, it does not overwhelm the plot. This time around there is a three-pronged storyline with each of the major protagonists having their own story arc to follow. Ringil probably has slightly more action than Archeth and Egar, but the division of responsibility between the three is more equal this time around. This approach contributes to the book's greater length (more than half again the size of The Steel Remains) and also allows Morgan to bring in the noir-like investigative tone of his earlier SF work. We also get a lot more backstory and revelations about the mysteries of the world, which further the hints in The Steel Remains that this is as much a far-future SF story as it is a fantasy epic.

Morgan's skills with characterisation are extremely strong, as usual. Ringil remains an unreliable and flawed protagonist, whose motivations are fascinating and complex, whilst Archeth is conflicted and guilt-driven, unsure of her place in the world now the rest of her people have departed. Even the relatively straightforward Egar has his frustrations and demons that drive him to make some spectacular mistakes which drive the plot onwards. The secondary cast, this time consisting of mostly new faces with only a few returning characters, is also extremely well-drawn, particularly the increasingly punchable young Emperor and the new character of Anasharal, who is amusing and annoying in equal measure.

This is a character-driven and intelligent fantasy novel, but Morgan doesn't forget to bring the mayhem. There's a midnight raid on a temple that Robert E. Howard would have approved of, more swordfights and murders than you can shake a stick at and a few rare but impressive displays of sorcery...though the dividing line between 'sorcery' and 'vastly superior technology' is intriguingly blurry.

In fact, the only thing lets The Cold Commands down is that a major storyline is kicked into gear in the latter part of the novel only to be put on hold for the impressive finale. With this story presumably left to be picked up in the third book, this means that The Cold Commands does not stand alone as nicely as the The Steel Remains, and is not as self-contained. This is a relatively minor issue, but one worth bearing in mind.

The Cold Commands (****˝) sees Morgan back on top form and delivering a book as passionate, fast-paced, smart and furious as any of his SF.

30 of 37 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Get on With It! October 21, 2011

By Nickolas X. P. Sharps VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

What a truly disappointing task it is to write a mediocre review for a highly anticipated sequel. I finished reading Richard K. Morgan's The Steel Remains last week. The book had some rough edges that needed some buffering but it was a promising start to series by a well established author. I read the book as quickly as possible so that I could start The Cold Commands the moment it arrived. Sadly, this is one sequel that left me unfulfilled. This review contains some things readers may consider SPOILERS, so please read at your own risk.

This is from the Amazon product description of The Cold Commands: "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."

Here is the problem. This expedition? This expedition never gets under way. In fact the expedition is never even outfitted. Shoot, it's two hundred pages into the book before the purpose of the expedition is brought to light. Afterward a group of expeditionaries is assembled but nothing else comes to pass, leaving readers to assume that this expedition will be part of the third novel. This is the biggest problem with the novel. At the start you can feel the momentum, the characters being guided toward this plot beacon. And as the pages fly by the characters only seem to creep closer by the inch. The gun is introduced in the first act but forgotten about completely by the third it seems. As I got closer and closer to the end I found myself imagining the cast of Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail screaming "GET ON WITH IT!"

Like the last novel I found Ringil and Archeth's perspectives to be the most compelling while Egar's story failed to hold my interest. Sadly Ringil's perspective seemed to flounder during this novel as well. Ringil starts out with a bang, rescuing slaves and killing evil doers. But then he winds up in the Gray Places, and his perspective loses focus. The real gem of The Cold Commands is Archeth. Once again I found myself enthusiastically waiting for her chapters, eager to learn even the smallest bits about the Kiriath or the Helmsmen. The are some new supporting characters introduced but there is no real effort to develop them any further than their direct relationships with the main POV's.

The best part of this series to date has to be Morgan's inclusion of science fiction elements into this fantasy world. The Kiriath and their technology, specifically the mysterious Helmsmen are intriguing. Unfortunately the horrifying Aldrain have a limited presence in the novel, even if their machinations are clearly going on in the background. My favorite overall moment of the story is when the Helmsman responsible for delivering the warning to Archeth and the Empire explains the earliest history of the world and the origins of the Kiriath/Aldrain conflict. More of this would have been welcomed.

The novel is not completely without pros. Ringil is, as ever, a fascinating character. Fans of the genre are unlikely to find an anti-hero as unique as Ringil Angeleyes. As ever, Morgan's anger and sharp wit is at play. Fundamentalist religion takes a heavy hit, as does imperialism. The forces of the world are painted in shades of black. There is darkness in the world and Morgan does not shy away from violence and more controversial issues. The Cold Commands is not a bad novel. Richard K. Morgan is a highly skilled writer, especially when it comes to dialogue. That said, The Cold Commands strikes me as irrelevant, a prime example of "middle book syndrome." The stage is set for the third book in the series, but this installment seems superfluous. I'll go ahead and buy The Dark Defiles, but I'll be more careful with my expectations.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than The Steel Remains -- and that's saying a lot January 31, 2012

By Kes

Format:Hardcover

I almost didn't buy The Cold Commands. I had adored The Steel Remains so much, and did not want my experience ruined. It wasn't. This book is outstanding. Why is it so good? I'll list a few facts for those who have read the first book in the series -- The Steel Remains. (If you haven't read that, I and many others recommend you do.)

1. This book is "tighter" than the first. Each storyline is interesting. I tuned Eg out in the first book; here he's central to the action. Every chapter, just about, is action-packed -- be the action be active battle, or artful banter, such as Archeth excels at - and Ringil, too, for that matter, when he takes command of a group of unruly merchants.

2. The story is a tight mystery, as Archeth, Ringil and Eg all -- in different ways -- pursue the mystery of the Dwenda and the Dark Court. I found this fascinating. It pulled me through the book, made me linger on every word. What are the Dwenda up to? Can we trust the Dark Court, who seem to oppose them? And what of the mysterious visitor Archeth receives? That snide little helmsman from the sky, who queries Ringil, "Where'd you get that murderous little thing?" (My wording might be slightly off). Ringil starts to tell him where his sword came from. The helmsman answers, "I was talking to the sword." Ha!

3. Egar is very likable -- a true hero and gentleman in this book, and Ringil, still an anti-hero, still bad-ass, but more human, even as he grows to be more than human. Archeth is sharper, clearer. As one reviewer mentioned, her character and storyline are perhaps the most interesting.

4. I like the sex scenes. Another reviewer mentioned this: they are natural. The stuff you'd find in a lot of sci-fi for adults, and certainly anything by Morgan. Ringil is gay, which I count as a plus -- a big one in this world of hetero-obsession, and a big one for Ringil's character, as it gives him more to fight against internally and externally in the brutal and homophobic world in which he resides. In this book he's a lot more accepting of it himself, and the book treats it as another part of his character. (If you like sex scenes, I'd say you'll get about as much as in the Steel Remains.) The only problem: Why the heck isn't Archeth getting as much sex as the men? She can more than pull her weight in this area if Morgan would allow her.

There are a couple of wobbly moments. One or two things that don't quite make sense to me -- but these are very minor. I liked Ringil's travels in the grey places. They only take up a couple of chapters, and then he's back in the action, but they are packed full, particularly if you are interested in the building mystery of the Dwenda and the Dark Court.

Morgan, thanks for this one. I have it on my Kindle, but I'm going to also buy it in book form, too, so I can keep it on my shelf. It's that darned good. This and the Steel Remains.