Richard Morgan's Steel Remains

nixie

nixie

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Steel Remains, was one of my favourite reads this year. full of violence, sex, drugs, slavery etc, but it wasn't long enough. I got two thirds of the way through and thought it must be the first in a series but of course it wasn't. The ending for me was rushed, could easily have included another hundred pages. Still over all it was a good read.
 
I have to say I really didn't like this book, despite loving his Kovacks SF books. I realy don't consider myself to be a homophobe, but several pages of explict gay sex seriously put me off both the character and the book. To be honest I can do without sex and certainly explicit sex of any sort in most of my reading including the aforementioned Kovacks books which had some pretty explicit (hetero) sex scenes although possibly a bit more necessary for the story, at least in Altered Carbon. But there you go just me I guess :eek:.
 
I've got this. Bought it a while ago but not read it yet. 'Explicit gay sex'... think I might have to bump this up on my to-read pile. :D

Ok, that's a joke. Sort of. I bought the book because I knew it had gay characters in it, not because of any sex scenes. One of my best mates is gay, my cousin is gay, it's a subject (right word?!) that's close to me and I think it should be in more books and whatnot - not just books specifically about that.

Nixie saying 'too much detail' puts me off a wee bit... I'm still dragging myself through JV Jones's book at the mo and getting bogged down with all the detail.
 
Oops sorry Mouse, there are certain parts in the book that paint a more graphic picture than needed but other bits are glossed over. Its not lengthy enough to answer a lot of unasked questions but at times doesn't need to give such a detailed picture.
 
Hmm... ok. I'll see how I get on with it! Might have to skim read any overly detailed bits like I've started doing with JV Jones!
 
I'm glad to hear it is a series of books. I enjoyed the book enough that I picked up Altered Carbon (loved it) and Black Man (haven't read it yet). I tend to skim over graphic violence and sex descriptions when I encounter them in books, so I'm not much bothered by them.
 
I have a had this book over a year but not read it because i have been reading his SF novels. He is one of the few authors i read alot,collect so im open minded about this book.

Like Mouse i find the gay character thing interesting because they are very consveratively avoided in fantasy for some reason.

Heh i have read detailed hetro sex scenes in his SF that i thought was well done, gay sex no matter how detailed wont bother me.
 
Connavar said:
I have a had this book over a year but not read it because i have been reading his SF novels. He is one of the few authors i read alot,collect so im open minded about this book.

Like Mouse i find the gay character thing interesting because they are very consveratively avoided in fantasy for some reason.

Heh i have read detailed hetro sex scenes in his SF that i thought was well done, gay sex no matter how detailed wont bother me.
Click to expand...

Actually, there are quite a few fantasy books that feature gay main characters. Just off the top of my head (which can be pretty hazy) there's Mercedes Lackey wrote a trilogy with the main character being gay; Sarah Monette's Melusine quartet has one of the two main characters as gay. I'm sure there are more, but I just can't think of them right now.
 
Mark Anthony's series (can't recall the name right now) and George Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire both feature gay characters as well. I'm sure I've read many others. I don't think it's such a big deal now as it may once have been.
 
I have no problem with gay characters and behaviour, I just felt this book put it too much in your face and found the exlicit sex unnecessary and off-putting (as I do most books that seem to feel the need to put in explicit sex). However even ignoring that for some reason I didn't find the book grabbed my attention at all, which is what surprised me after so enjoying his other SF work.
 
I agree with you totally, Vertigo. I have no problem with that subject matter; it was the way it was handled. And beyond that, the book just never grabbed me, as you said....
 
I'm not saying anybody's homophobic, by the way, don't panic. ;) I've not read the book yet, might not like it myself!

Murphy and Cul, I'm gonna go check out those books you've mentioned. Cul, I've read ASoIaF, and have heard about Renly and Loras but I never got that from reading the book, so either I'm far too innocent, or it wasn't exactly open. (Or I just didn't pay that much attention to it and have since forgotten. Long time since I read the books now!)
 
Mouse said:
I'm not saying anybody's homophobic, by the way, don't panic. ;) I've not read the book yet, might not like it myself!

Murphy and Cul, I'm gonna go check out those books you've mentioned. Cul, I've read ASoIaF, and have heard about Renly and Loras but I never got that from reading the book, so either I'm far too innocent, or it wasn't exactly open. (Or I just didn't pay that much attention to it and have since forgotten. Long time since I read the books now!)
Click to expand...

The Mercedes Lackey books were a trilogy:

Magic's Pawn
Magic's Promise
Magic's Price

or the omnibus edition: The Last Herald Mage
 
Mouse said:
Murphy and Cul, I'm gonna go check out those books you've mentioned. Cul, I've read ASoIaF, and have heard about Renly and Loras but I never got that from reading the book, so either I'm far too innocent, or it wasn't exactly open. (Or I just didn't pay that much attention to it and have since forgotten. Long time since I read the books now!)
Click to expand...

Well, their relationship is not exactly open, but it is fairly well-known around the traps. And [spoilers] have a think about how Loras reacts to Renly's death...
 
Cheers, Murphy!

I'll have to read that bit again, Cul. Do you remember which one it's in?

And so I'm not completely de-railing this thread - I finished Phillip Pullman's I was a Rat last night, so I might pick up Steel Remains now.
 
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