The Cold Commands
by Richard Morgan
follows The Steel Remains
fantasy
copyright 2011
read in July 2014
rated 6/10: read to pass the time
Disappointing.
It took me a while to realise that this book follows another. No hints on the cover. No hints inside. Okay, it's listed below The Steel Remains in the list of Morgan's books.
Bloody stupid.
Still, it only takes a few chapters to work it out. It takes those same chapters to work out who are the continuing characters... Every other character is dead.
So I've found out that this book is the continuing saga of some brutal yet sensitive warriors who are suffering from old age and boredom. They get into fights and kill a lot of people.
Gods, demons, computers and mysteriously unknown mystics appear and disappear. Some get bad-tempered, admit that they are controlling the heroes but refuse to explain why. One mystic appears, saves the heroes then disappears. No name, no explanation.
Half way through the book and we are told that an evil super powerful entity has appeared. Who is it ? What will it do ? We are never told. At about the same time, the heroes are given a quest. Why ? We are not told. How does it go ? No idea -- they never get started !
Yes, this is a rubbish piece of soap opera fantasy: all about tough guys -- with hearts of gold -- getting into pointless fights against insuperable odds. Winning, of course, but getting beaten to a pulp along the way.
What about plot ? There's none.
Perhaps if I could be bothered reading half a dozen of these books, I may find a coherent plot. More likely I would find half a dozen rambling and incomplete storylines.
Yes, it's another fantasy author making money by forcing readers to buy a whole series of books. That is... if you're interested enough to wonder if any parts of the story will ever end.
Me ? Well, it was fun. But I prefer to read a novel. Not a continuing soap opera with no sign of it ever ending.
Really. Disappointing.
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Problems ? Solved
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