The Dark Defiles

**Joe Abercrombie’s *Best Served Cold* meets George R. R. Martin’s *A Game of Thrones* in the final novel in Richard K. Morgan’s epic A Land Fit for Heroes trilogy, which burst onto the fantasy scene with *The Steel Remains* and *The Cold Commands*.** Ringil Eskiath, a reluctant hero viewed as a corrupt degenerate by the very people who demand his help, has traveled far in search of the Illwrack Changeling, a deathless human sorcerer-warrior raised by the bloodthirsty Aldrain, former rulers of the world. Separated from his companions—Egar the Dragonbane and Archeth—Ringil risks his soul to master a deadly magic that alone can challenge the might of the Changeling. While Archeth and the Dragonbane embark on a trail of blood and tears that ends up exposing long-buried secrets, Ringil finds himself tested as never before, with his life and all existence hanging in the balance. ([Source][1]) [1]: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/117162/the-dark-defiles-by-richard-k-morgan

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.