The Cold Commands (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

There was a lot of positive buzz about this being an improvement over "the steel remains" and while I think it is a stronger book it still suffers from many of the problems the first book had. One thing I did enjouy more in this book is that the three point-of-view characters all have their own story and they fuse together quite nicely towards the end. While Ringil is clearly the main character, I think Egar actually had some of the strongest scenes this time around. The emperor still manages to steal every scene he is in again as well.

In terms of the story and world it always seemed to come to life whenever it was dealing with the pseudo-science fiction/fantasy elements. Any scene featuring the helmsmen or the dark council members caused me to become far more interested in the story. Herein lies my problem with the book though, when not dealing with the weird science/magic elements the book feels very average in that I've read far better/similar "gritty/mature" fantasy books over the last decade. There just isn't anything to make it stand-out when it's not delving into the weird. This could be partly with the story itself as there are very few "big" moments and it focuses more on indvidual skirmishes. There are some well choreographed fights but it never seems to escalate into anything "substantial". I was also frustrated by how two-thirds of the book sets up a "quest" only for it to be abandoned or left for the next installment. In defense of Richard, he does make the reason why the quest is side-lined an organic consequence of one of his characters storylines so it may be a case of the character determining the plot. I know the author isn't a fan of his books turning into phonebooks but I think this story could have really benefitted from having a bit more occur - such as the quest.

I'll see the series through as there is only one book left but as it stands it feels like there is a lot of untapped potential within this series. For anyone who enjoys this style of fantasy, I think they'd get more enjoyment out of Bakker's "the darkness that comes before" series.

I have to agree with other reviewers here, I read the first book in the series and thought it was entertaining, really original and a good mix of characters. I looked forward to the second one. I have read all of Richard Morgan's other books, I hasten to add, and they've all been good.

Sadly this one stands out as being very difficult to engage with, some parts are almost nonsensical and boring. I never usually skip sections in books (read I NEVER do), but I did with this in the hope that it was "just one of those rambling parts" which sometimes pop up in books. No such luck.

I'm sorry Richard, but this needed to be much tighter. I didn't finish it.

Keep it up - entertaining stuff indeed. It's about time Moorcock made a comeback. Excellent storyline and interesting characters make for and modern Elrician fest.