Richard K. Morgan has received widespread praise for his astounding twenty-fifth-century novels featuring Takeshi Kovacs, and has established a growing legion of fans. Mixing classic noir sensibilities with a searing futuristic vision of an age when death is nearly meaningless, Morgan returns to his saga of betrayal, mystery, and revenge, as Takeshi Kovacs, in one fatal moment, joins forces with a mysterious woman who may have the power to shatter Harlan's World forever.Once a gang member, then a marine, then a galaxy-hopping Envoy trained to wreak slaughter and suppression across the stars, a bleeding, wounded Kovacs was chilling out in a New Hokkaido bar when some so-called holy men descended on a slim beauty with tangled, hyperwired hair. An act of quixotic chivalry later and Kovacs was in deep: mixed up with a woman with two names, many powers, and one explosive history.In a world where the real and virtual …
Richard K. Morgan has received widespread praise for his astounding twenty-fifth-century novels featuring Takeshi Kovacs, and has established a growing legion of fans. Mixing classic noir sensibilities with a searing futuristic vision of an age when death is nearly meaningless, Morgan returns to his saga of betrayal, mystery, and revenge, as Takeshi Kovacs, in one fatal moment, joins forces with a mysterious woman who may have the power to shatter Harlan's World forever.Once a gang member, then a marine, then a galaxy-hopping Envoy trained to wreak slaughter and suppression across the stars, a bleeding, wounded Kovacs was chilling out in a New Hokkaido bar when some so-called holy men descended on a slim beauty with tangled, hyperwired hair. An act of quixotic chivalry later and Kovacs was in deep: mixed up with a woman with two names, many powers, and one explosive history.In a world where the real and virtual are one and the same and the dead can come back to life, the damsel in distress may be none other than the infamous Quellcrist Falconer, the vaporized symbol of a freedom now gone from Harlan's World. Kovacs can deal with the madness of AI. He can do his part in a battle against biomachines gone wild, search for a three-centuries-old missing weapons system, and live with a blood feud with the yakuza, and even with the betrayal of people he once trusted. But when his relationship with "the" Falconer brings him an enemy specially designed to destroy him, he knows it's time to be afraid. After all, the guy sent to kill him is himself: but younger, stronger, and straight out of hell.Wild, provocative, and riveting, Woken Furies is a full-bore science fiction spectacular of the highest order--from one of the most original and spellbinding storytellers at work today.From the Hardcover edition.
I was somewhat disappointed with the second book in this series because it didn't really deliver on what I wanted out of this. This is not at all a problem here; you are getting exactly what you expect: Lots of violence in interesting settings, involving interesting characters. If you liked the first one, you will also enjoy this one (you could actually skip the second one without much harm, I think).
I ... didn't hate it I guess? Which is more than I can say for the other two Takeshi Kovacs novels. The ending was kind of strong and almost prompted me to give the book three stars, but then I remembered the middle parts that almost made me hurl the ebook into /dev/null and brought it down to two again.
My problem with these novels is still the characterization. Morgan is not a bad writer, but he seems only interested in a very primitive "tough buy - bitch" dynamic, which gets tiresome after five minutes. Even so, Kovacs actually at times showed some human characteristics here, but mainly he was just an asshole to such an incredible degree that I couldn't help but wish the book would end with him having the same fate as the people he casually or viciously kills. In addition, almost everybody in the world seems …
I ... didn't hate it I guess? Which is more than I can say for the other two Takeshi Kovacs novels. The ending was kind of strong and almost prompted me to give the book three stars, but then I remembered the middle parts that almost made me hurl the ebook into /dev/null and brought it down to two again.
My problem with these novels is still the characterization. Morgan is not a bad writer, but he seems only interested in a very primitive "tough buy - bitch" dynamic, which gets tiresome after five minutes. Even so, Kovacs actually at times showed some human characteristics here, but mainly he was just an asshole to such an incredible degree that I couldn't help but wish the book would end with him having the same fate as the people he casually or viciously kills. In addition, almost everybody in the world seems to subscribe to the same power dynamic.
I don't know. Someone must like this, but reading this I just felt as tired as Kovacs. I want characters that feel something besides anger and bittterness. Meh.
