The Steel Remains (A Land Fit For Heroes, 1)

Product Description Ringil, the hero of the bloody slaughter at Gallows Gap, is a legend to all who don't know him and a twisted degenerate to those that do. A veteren of the wars against the lizards, he makes a living from telling credulous travelers of his exploits. Until one day he is pulled away from his life and into the depths of the Empire's slave trade, where he will discover a secret infinitely more frightening than the trade in lives. Archeth--pragmatist, cynic, engineer, and the last of her race--is called from her work at the whim of the most powerful man in the Empire and sent to its farthest reaches to investigate a demonic incursion against the Empire's borders. Egar Dragonbane, steppe-nomad and one-time fighter for the Empire, finds himself entangled in a small-town battle between common sense and religious fervor. But out in the wider world there is something on the move far more alien than any of his tribe's petty gods. Anti-social, anti-heroic, and decidedly irritated, all three of them are about to be sent unwillingly forth into a vicious, vigorous, and thoroughly unsuspecting fantasy world--called upon by an Empire that owes them everything and gave them nothing. Review "Absolutely stunning. A gritty, well-constructed tale, this dark, haunting story is about a man who has seen and done terrible things. Not a typical epic fantasy, it will provide a challenge to many readers, but it's absolutely worth reading."-- "RT Book Reviews (41/2 stars, Top Pick!)" "Bold, brutal, and making no compromises--Morgan doesn't so much twist the clichés of fantasy as take an axe to them."-- "Joe Abercrombie, author of the First Law trilogy" "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."-- "Times (London)" "Morgan takes plot elements that are as old as those of Lord of the Rings or Conan the Barbarian and gives them a freshness by importing many of the themes that drove his sci-fi work."-- "Bookmarks magazine" "Spellbinding...There's so much to like about the adventure."-- "Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger" "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" "The well-developed characters and realistic battle scenes ring true, as do some gruesomely explicit sex scenes...[A] dark, gritty tale."-- "Publishers Weekly" Morgan's storytelling talent and his atmospheric, hard-hitting prose make this a strong addition to mature fantasy collections.-- "Library Journal" About the Author Richard K. Morgan is the acclaimed author of Market Forces, Broken Angels, and Altered Carbon, a New York Times Notable Book that also won the Philip K. Dick Award. He lives in Scotland. Simon Vance is an award-winning actor and an AudioFile Golden Voice with over fifty Earphones Awards and thirteen prestigious Audie Awards. He was named Booklist's very first Voice of Choice in 2008 and an AudioFile Best Voice of 2009.