History Literature / ALandFitForHeroes

* KnifeNut: Archeth. She has names for all of them too.

* GreyAndGreyMorality: Let's see, among other things our hero [[spoiler: burns people alive, engages in ColdBloodedTorture and organizes gang rapes]]. It leads to a lot of NotSoDifferent speeches.

The trilogy follows three heroes of a great war that took place 9 years before the beginning of the story, fought against the aquatic [[LizardFolk Scaled Folk]] who invaded the human lands from the western ocean. [[spoiler:Hints are given that the Scaled Folk invaded human lands as they themselves were fleeing something even nastier in the west.]]

%%* BadassGay: Ringil and [[spoiler: Seethlaw]] amongst others.

* Egar Dragonbane - Clan chief of one of the numerous northern [[BarbarianTribe Majak]] Tribes. Straight. Possibly the only one.

* ArbitraryScepticism: The most recent war was against a race of lizard men led by dragons alongside an immortal race that came from within the earth, but the Aldrain are still considered a mere fairytale.

* NamedWeapons: Kiriath blades tend to have names. Archeth's swords are named "Bandgleam", "Falling Angel", "Laughing Girl", "Quarterless", and "Wraithslayer". Ringil's sword is named "I am Welcomed in the Home of Ravens and Other Scavengers in the Wake of Warriors, I am Friend to Carrion Crows and Wolves, I am Carry Me, and Kill with Me where the Road Ends, I am not the Honeyed Promise of Length of Life in Years to Come, I am the Iron Promise of Never Being a Slave"; though he usually calls it "Ravensfriend" for short.

''A Land Fit for Heroes'' is a 'Fantasy Noir' trilogy by the British author Creator/RichardKMorgan (writer of the gritty Cyberpunk Literature/TakeshiKovacs trilogy). It is written in a similar vein to the Joe Abercrombie [[Literature/TheFirstLaw First Law]] trilogy; dealing with a fairly CrapsackWorld fantasy world.

The trilogy follows three heroes of a great war that took place 9 years before the beginning of the story, fought against the aquatic [[LizardFolk Scaled Folk]] who invaded the human lands from the western ocean [[spoiler:hints are given that the Scaled Folk invaded human lands as they themselves were fleeing something even nastier in the west.]]

* CoolSword: Ringil's Kiriath-forged greatsword Ravensfriend.

* CastFullOfGay: Well, two-thirds full. Of the three main character, Egar, Archeth, and Ringil, only Egar is straight.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: And how!

* ChurchMilitant: The Yeltethian Church of the Revelation

* GreyAndGreyMorality: Let's see, among other things our hero [[spoiler: burns people alive, engages in ColdBloodedTorture and organises gang rapes]]. It leads to a lot of NotSoDifferent speeches.

* GodsHandsAreTied: The Dark Court are bound by certain rules laid down by the Book-Keepers, most notably that they can only interfere in the world if asked to by a worshipper -- though they can be creative in interpreting said prayers.

* OurFairiesAreDifferent: The Dwenda.

* StraightGay: Ringil, Archeth and Grace-of-Heaven [[spoiler:and Seethlaw.]]

* TheBerserker: Egar tends to get a bit angry in combat.
* TheEmpire: The Yelteth Empire; in keeping with the trilogy's general attitude, it is not portrayed as any more evil (although it could be called more decadent) than its northern rival, the League.
* TheRepublic: The Trelayne League.
* WhatTheHellHero: Ringil [[spoiler: in retaliation for his cousin being sold as a sex slave, has the female crimeboss responsible gang-raped for almost a whole day.]]

* DoingInTheWizard: [[spoiler: The Dwenda are actually descendants of a military starship crew that got trapped in hyperspace. Their surroundings mutated them and gave them psychic abilities.]]
* DragonAscendant: A rare good version may happen at the end of the story involving [[spoiler: Archeth.]]

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The religious extremism, sex slavery, war crimes, authoritarian government, misogyny, and general brutality rampant within both major human factions.

* BuryYourGays: Both the League and the Empire take a rather intolerant view on homosexuality.

* StraightGay: Ringil, Archeth and Grace-of-Heaven [[spoiler:and Seethlaw.]]

* TheEmpire: The Yelteth Empire; in keeping with the trilogy's general attitude, it is not portrayed as any more evil (although it could be called more decadent) than its northern rival, the League.
* TheRepublic: The Trelayne League.

* Ringil Eskiath - A highly skilled human swordsman who lead a now-legendary battle against the Scaled Folk and helped lift the siege of the city of Trelayne. A StraightGay, which is something of a problem in the distinctly intolerant League, although as Ringil points out ''"You don't go queer baiting when your victim has a reputation of chopping trained swordsmen into dogmeat at the drop of a hat"''

* BadassBookworm: Ringil

* CapturedSuperEntity: The Talons of the Sun are powered by the Source, an imprisoned Book-Keeper.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Whoo boy

* {{Gayngster}}: Grace-of-Heaven
* GodEmperor: The warhelms plan to overthrow the current ruler of the Empire to install one. [[spoiler:Specifically, Archeth Indamaninarnal, whose immortality would eventually cause people to see her as divine]].

* LizardFolk: The Scaled Folk
* TheEmpire: The Yelteth Empire
* TheRepublic: The Trelayne League

* KnightInSourArmour: All three main characters, but Ringil most of all

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: For one thing they're aquatic, don't seem to fly and (as well as breathing fire as normal dragons) have acidic spittle
* OurGhoulsAreCreepier: Steppe Runners
* OurFairiesAreDifferent: The Dwenda
* PuppeteerParasite: Grave Mites, a rather new spin on zombies

* StraightGay: Ringil, Archeth and Grace-of-Heaven [[spoiler:and Seethlaw]]

* TheBerserker: Egar tends to get a bit angry in combat

[[quoteright:271:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Ringil_1228.jpg]] '''''A Land Fit for Heroes''''' is a 'Fantasy Noir' trilogy by the British author Creator/RichardKMorgan (writer of the gritty Cyberpunk Literature/TakeshiKovacs trilogy). It is written in a similar vein to the Joe Abercrombie [[Literature/TheFirstLaw First Law]] trilogy; dealing with a fairly CrapsackWorld fantasy world.

* {{Badass}}: Pretty much everyone, but Egar deserves special mention, and not just because he's a dragonslayer

* BadassGay: Ringil and [[spoiler: Seethlaw]] amongst others.

* ActionGirl: Archeth

* CastFullOfGay: Well, two-thirds full
* TheChessmaster: [[spoiler: The Helmsmen.]]

* [[spoiler:DeityOfHumanOrigin]]: strongly hinted at with the Sky Dwellers. Subverted, the Sky Dwellers are the Dark Court and really are 'gods'.

* [[spoiler:EarthAllAlong]]

* [[spoiler: LeftHanging: The main Dwenda plot is resolved. However, the Empire is still at war with the League, Archeth is still on her way back to Yhelteth with her newly sworn bodyguard who consider her a goddess and the Helmsmens' plans are still in play. For all her protestations about leaving Jhiral on the throne Archeth is going to be ''mightily'' pissed off when she finds out what he has done to her lover in her absence... It's in keeping with the spirit of the trilogy as it leaves it ambiguous as to if Archeth will usher in the golden age that the Helmsmen are trying to bring about or just be the cause of yet more wars.]]

* [[spoiler:MagicFromTechnology]]: The Kiriath flashbacks make this pretty clear.

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Ringil makes [[TakeshiKovacs Kovacs]] seem positively forgiving.

* TheCaligula: Emperor Jhiral, who has spent most of his reign conducting executions or playing with his Harem, seems like this on first glance. On the other hand though, he's actually fairly rational and intelligent in a crisis. [[spoiler: Later on, he reverts back to type with no crisis to deal with. His abuse of Archeth's lover/slave winds up getting him killed.]]

* DoingInTheWizard: [[spoiler: The Dwenda are actually descendants of a military starship crew that got trapped in hyperspace. Their surroundings mutated them and gave them psychic abilities as well as altered biology.]]
* DragonAscendant: A rare good version. [[spoiler: Archeth witnesses Emperor Jhiral abusing her slave/lover. She's not having any of that and offs the bastard. Since she's the most senior member of the royal court and Jhiral has no heirs, she becomes the next ruler]]

* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: Emperor Jhiral gets his comeuppance, when Archeth witnesses him beating on her lover/slave, she kills him.]]

* DoingInTheWizard: [[spoiler: The Dwenda are actually descendants of a human starship crew that got trapped in hyperspace. Their surroundings mutated them and gave them psychic abilities as well as altered biology.]]

* DragonAscendant: A rare good version. [[Archeth witnesses Emperor Jhiral abusing her slave/lover. She's not having any of that and offs the bastard. Since she's the most senior member of the royal court and Jhiral has no heirs, she becomes the next ruler]]

* HollywoodAcid: Dragon venom can destroy anything on this world, even Kiriath-made items aren't safe from it. This is what makes dragons such an effective siege weapon during the old war against the lizards.