Richard Morgan is best known for his series of science fiction books which started with Altered Carbon. That series featured Takeshi Kovacs, a kick-arse main character who knew his way around a fight with or without weapons, had plenty of sex and swore a fair amount. Morgan’s last novel Thin Air was set on Mars and featured enforcer Hakan Veil who solves every problem with violence, has plenty of sex and… well you can see where this is going. Morgan’s latest novel is No Man’s Land. This is grimdark fantasy set in post-World War I United Kingdom and while the setting is an interesting one, the narrative is what can only be called classic Morgan.
The Great War ended when the conflagration paved the way for the re-entry of the fae, known in this book as the Huldu, into our world. Overnight, forests advanced across England and Europe and humans found that they had a common bloodthirsty and warlike adversary. Enter Duncan Silver, a World War I veteran who makes a living by going into the forest and rescuing children who have been swapped with changelings. The main story of No Man’s Land centres on one of these missions. Duncan is asked to find a little girl taken by the Huldu but soon finds that there are much bigger forces at play. In amongst this is Duncan’s own fraught history which is tangled up with the Huldu.
As noted, this is classic Morgan storytelling and so readers’ mileage will vary depending on their taste for sex and violence. Silver is very handy with pretty much any weapon – gun, knife, hands and his new array of anti-Huldu hand grenades which spread iron filings. He also has an array of helpers including ex-comrades, a friendly witch, a brothel owner and his office manager.
No Man’s Land is Morgan in grimdark fantasy mode but his central operating approach remains pretty much the same. It is the story of a damaged but resourceful fighter marshalling his ragtag network to stand up for the little person and ending up having to take on both sides of an ongoing war. For those who enjoy this form of narrative, Morgan delivers a propulsive, often gory, page turning adventure (although one that sags a little in the middle). Those who like their stories of the fae to be a little more mystical and colourful should probably look elsewhere.
No Man's Land by Richard Morgan
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