Разбудени фурии

Takeshi Kovacs #3

by Richard K. Morgan, Любомир Николов-Нарви (translator)

Такеши Ковач се е завърнал у дома.
Отново на Харлановия свят. Планета-океан, където само 5% суша наднича над водите на опасни и тайнствени морета. Опиташ ли се да излетиш над лошото време с нещо по-сложно от обикновен хеликоптер, марсианските орбитални платформи ще те изпепелят във въздуха.
А смъртта дебне не само във въздуха и морето. На сушата, от тропическите плажове и блата на Кошут до ледените, гъмжащи от бойни машини пущинаци на Ню Хокайдо, обикновените хора вече са загубили всичко, спечелено някога с толкова кръв от квелистката революция. Първите фамилии, корпорациите и якудза държат властта си в желязна ръка.

Genres: Science Fiction, Cyberpunk, Fiction, Audiobook, Thriller, Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy

576 pages, Paperback

First published March 17, 2005

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Richard K. Morgan (sometimes credited as Richard Morgan) is a science fiction and fantasy writer.

Reviews

[carol. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some times a book doesn’t get to be judged as a stand-alone work. When it’s the third book in a loosely connected series featuring the same lead character, what happens in books one and two are going to affect book three’s read. After enjoying Broken Angels (second in the series, review here), I immediately requested Woken Furies from the library. Sadly, it was a serious disappointment both as a series installment and as a stand-alone read. Be warned: this is a long review, mostly because I want to elucidate my specific concerns, as there aren’t many reviews that don’t praise this book.

********************

My cantankerous (full) review is taking place at:

http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2014/0...

with bonus comments from the author.

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I see a lot of mixed reactions to this book but fortunately, mine is all gung-ho. Why? Because I freaking love this book. Why? Because it has all the best features of the hardest of hard-SF, the fantastic world-building, the hard tech, the bloodthirsty craziness of uploaded and downloaded consciousnesses mixed with the mafia of all breeds and Oligarchies and corporations and all if it is mixed some of the tightest characters I've had the pleasure to read.

That doesn't really describe it, though.

The novel is an extremely complex homecoming for Kovacs, a returning to Harlan's World at long last. A hundred years of travels, war, exploration under shady circumstances under his belt, and his interesting outlook always getting him into serious trouble.

A death wish?

That's the big question, isn't it? All through the first two novels, he keeps engaging in super risky behavior such as falling in with traitors or con artists or government executives with dark secrets or just plain rebellions. His situational morality is honed to a very fine degree. :)

Take him back home and have him fall in with random strangers and you'll never believe how much trouble he gets into. Or the scope of the trouble.

Those alien artifacts are still around and causing trouble. The one over Harlan's World is a wonderful wrinkle in the worldbuilding. :) No spoilers, but I was blown away by the sheer weight of the complex storytelling propelled like a rocket named Kovacs. :)

All those little hints and reveals from the first book and the tv series really comes home to shine in this book. Did I mention that there is a lot of really great and complex storytelling going on here? Not just mirroring and externalizing of self-hate or the complications of the tech, but love, humor, and ... screw it. Just read it. :)

I'm going to hunt down some hardcover copies of this trilogy. I want to showcase them and re-read them at extended leisure. :)

[Efka · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a grown-up. And I've seen quite a lot. Also, I know quite a lot - no boasting here, just plain facts. So, for a guy in a mid of his 30ies, who's seen and knows a lot - I'm at a very big disadvantage here. Because all I can say after reading this book, is "I don't know".

Here's a list of things related to "Woken Furies" that I don't know:

• I don't know, how Richard K. Morgan was able to write such a mediocre third book of the series after great, even grand, maybe, first two books.
• I don't know, why there are so many characters in this book.
• I don't know, why most of those characters are utterly dull, boring and not really necesarry for the book.
• I don't know, what the hell is wrong with he plot. It seems the plot had drawn inspiration from windsheld wipers: swish-swash. Swish-swash. Swish-swash.
• I don't know, what this book was really about.
• I don't know, why it had been such a torture for me to read it.

But what I DO really KNOW, is that it was a really unimpressive ending of a trilogy for me. If you can - quit the series after the fiorst two books. If you're like me - you HAVE to KNOW how it all wraps up and how it ENDS, well, be patient. It might be quite an unpleasant surprise for you here.

It's not a terrible book - sometimes a true TakeshiKovacs'ish style emerges. But it's more like random glimpses than a constant flow, and to be fair, I started enjoying this book only after the percentage of read pages turned to eighty. So, 2* seems a fair rating.

[Gavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another good instalment in Richard Morgan's excellent Takeshi Kovacs series. I find Morgan's writing to be super engaging and the story itself delivers a good mix of action, humor, and mystery while still giving the reader plenty of thought-provoking themes to ponder.

This third book took us back to Harlan's World, Takeshi's much mentioned home world. Never one to live the quiet life Takeshi finds himself on a brutal mission of retribution against those who have wronged him before he gets caught up in some local revolutionary politics. This instalment also sees him face his most deadly enemy yet: himself!

As always the story was quite compelling. We have heard a lot about both Harlan's World and the Quellists so it was good to learn a lot more about both. I also quite enjoyed Tak's personal journey. He has never been the most stable guy in the world but in this instalment he begins to show the signs that living such a harsh and brutal life for so long is finally starting to catch up with him. The other thing that really caught my interest was some of the cool new technology that had developed as a result of Takeshi's actions in the second book.

I thought Altered Carbon was a sci-fi noir mystery tale and that Broken Angels was a weird mix of military sci-fi, techno-thriller, and a sci-fi horror story. I find Woken Furies even harder to classify as it is part classic revenge tale, part techno-thriller, and part spy vs spy story!

As always Morgan's story takes a dim view on both religion, capitalism, and war. The good news is I felt like this instalment had a tiny bit less negativity towards advanced technology. I do enjoy the fact that Morgan writes interesting and thought provoking sci-fi but never lets any of that stuff overwhelm either his characters or the story itself.

I feel like Morgan got the balance OK. This was a dark, gritty, cynical, and often brutal story but it only occasionally got too bleak. Takeshi was not quite so easy to root for in this instalment as his sanity became questionable but in the end Morgan still managed to make me sympathize with him as a character. His cynical outlook on life and wry humor did lighten the tone at times and some of his actions provide moments where we could cheer for him!

I'd rate this third instalment of the series as slightly weaker than the first couple of books. It suffered a lull phase in the middle of the story and Tak himself was not always as easy to root for and I think both of those issues contributed to a small dull phase around the middle of the story. Morgan did get the story, and Tak, back on track fairly quickly so it did not damage my enjoyment of the story too much but it was definitely a bad phase that neither of the first two books suffered from.

The other big flaw in this series is the casual misogyny and it lingered in the back of this one again. The most annoying aspect of this is the fact that all of the major female characters are just casual fucks for Takeshi.

Al in all I still enjoyed this book a lot and would definitely rate the Takeshi Kovacs series on the whole as one of my sci-fi favourites. It seems a pity we never got a 4th instalment!

Rating: 4 stars.

Audio Note: William Dufris took over the narration from Todd McLaren and I felt like he did a decent job on the whole. This sort of book played to his strengths as a narrator. The big flaw was the way he mispronounced Kovacs. It was mentioned in the first book how it was pronounced so for both Dufris and the producer to miss that shows neither bothered to read the first couple of books in the series or listen to any of the audio from the first two books. This sort of lazy and half-arsed preparation is why we suffer such lack of consistency when audio series change narrator mid way through:(

[Велислав Върбанов · Rating 5 out of 5]

Достоен завършек на страхотната научнофантастична трилогия на Ричард Морган! Според мен, „Разбудени фурии“ е най-силната и многопластова от трите книги, но и останалите са ми супер любими! Освен това, от тази част си личи, че Морган е почитател на творчеството на Мураками... Много ми хареса това, че действието се пренесе и на родната планета планета на Такеши Ковач. Харлановият свят е доста интересно място, управлявано от футуристична олигархия. Тамошната атмосфера е доста напрегната, но и завладяваща... Киберпънк елементите и в трите книги са страшно въздействащи!

Такеши се завръща в родния свят след доста дълго отсъствие. По стечение на обстоятелствата се сприятелява със Силви и нейната банда Неуловими, като заедно с тях се забъркват в неприятности с якудзата... Впоследствие се оказва, че някой нелегално е заредил по-млада версия на бившия емисар с цел да го преследва и убие. Такеши открива на планетата Вирджиния и други много стари свои приятели, като с тях също се въвличат в епични приключения...





„Май просто търсеше пред кого да си излее душата, а емисарите умеят да слушат. Слушаш, събираш местния колорит, потапяш се в него. По-късно някоя запомнена подробност може да ти спаси живота.“


„— Недей да мериш всички ни с аршина на Силви. Не сме чак толкова надъхани.
— Мислех, че това си е в духа на занаята. Демилитаризиране на всяка цена и тъй нататък.
— Да бе, все същата стара песен. — Мрачна гримаса. — Пробутват я на новобранците, а и е вярно, че софтуерът по принцип те тласка към крайности. Така стават нещастията. Но в крайна сметка софтуерът си е софтуер. Най-обикновено програмиране, мой човек. Ако оставиш програмите да ти диктуват, що за човек ще бъдеш тогава?“


„Цялата система на Протектората се крепи върху идеята, че никой не смее да прекрачи чертата. Стори ли го някой безнаказано, дори и най-дребното нарушение ще е първата пукнатина в бента.“


„На всички ни се е случвало да ни стъпчат мечтите от време на време. Ако не болеше, що за мечти щяха да бъдат?“


„Яростта срещу неправдата е като горски пожар — прехвърля всички прегради, дори и тия между поколенията.“


„Може би просто са се надявали на още една промяна.
Видаура кимна.
— И са я дочакали. Дошло Новото откровение.
— Да. Класическа динамика на бедността, хората се хващат за сламка. А ако изборът е религия или революция, правителството с радост се дръпва да стори място на проповедниците. Във всички онези села и бездруго вече имаше основа за вярата. Спартански живот, закостенял обществен ред, мъжко господство.“


„Всичко бе вярно, не ще и дума, но направо е поразително как честите повторения правят дори най-очевидната истина тъй досадна, че човек неволно почва да я оспорва.“




„Модифициран въглерод“:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


„Сразени ангели“:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Michelle F · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listen, in a couple of years I am going to reread this whole series...because, overall, it really is pretty good. I'm going to bet that my reread will end with a more convicted endorsement of this third volume. I really think it will. This time around, though, I have to say that I only just landed on the positive side of 'happy to be done'. It was like a big glass of my favourite soda, slowly losing its fizz. I was excited at the first sips, but by the time I got to the dregs I had definitely had enough.

I dunno. There's some fantastic potential for Takeshi's personal arc, but we've spent so long at an emotional remove from him. Though Morgan has built up Kovacs through a remarkably wide range of experiences, the Harlan's World events of Woken Furies really lost my interest. I've been waiting for this very personal part of his storyline to finally come into focus, so I'm disappointed that I was blowing impatiently-bored raspberries through the second half of this book.

This (early 2021) has been a weird stretch for my reading energy levels, so I suspect that some of my reaction has little to do with the writing at all. In fact, my appreciation of the series overall demands that I try again someday. I guess I'll see what that looks like when I get there.

[Metodi Markov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Надявам се силно, един ден да се завърнем във вселената на Такеши Ковач - мисля, че има още много да научим от и за нея. Марсианската цивилизация създадена от автора много ме заинтересува!

Макар и с леко отворен край, трилогията завършва удовлетворително за мен като читател.

Неприятна е липсата на синхрон в превода на поредицата, но това е лош и постоянен стандарт в работата на много български издателства и преводачи от вече десетки години…

Цитати:

"Една от тайните на успешната тирания е да знаеш кога и как да отпуснеш каишката на поданиците си."

"Ние жадуваме за революционна инерция. Как ще я постигнем, почти няма значение и определено не е тема за етични дискусии — историческият резултат ще бъде наш финален съдник."

[Matthew Iden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating: 4.25

I heard once that in Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, the weather--so starkly and powerfully portrayed--is often considered a character in the movie as much as any of the actors.

In exactly the same way, Woken Furies is less about the protagonist, Takeshi Kovacs, than it is about the world and the culture of his dystopic future. Morgan's world-building is so overpowering that Kovacs isn't so much a character in the novel as a journalist, bringing us a report from the front lines of the twenty-fifth century.

Which means, in a certain sense, that the book has its problems. The plot hangs beautiful but disjointed, like a dozen different wonderful, unrelated paintings in a gallery. Kovacs is there in each painting, but never seems to be the focal point of any of them. Much more important in the novel--and to Morgan, I think--is the political and cultural struggle in which Kovacs becomes entangled, accidentally and unwittingly. Our favorite futuristic killing machine with a conscience seems like an afterthought at times to the cultural message.

The funny thing is that the world might be enough. Morgan's skill at filling in (or better yet, implying) the thousands of little details that make up a believable science fiction world make the Woken Furies a pleasure to read even if you approach it less as a novel and more like a travel guide. I had a distant and vague sense of disappointment that the story didn't revolve more around Kovacs, but it was bowled over by descriptions of Martian ruins, gun battles with intelligent machines, and the ethical and practical dangers of digitized souls.

A good read and, I hope, not the last we see of Takeshi Kovacs.

[Andrei(Drusca) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the world described and the themes sprinkled in the action-packed novel, but the plot of the book sometimes seemed difficult to follow and I couldn't relate to any character, not even Takeshi Kovacs.

[Milda Page Runner · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*
The writing and the worldbuilding are still stunning. The plot though is spread too thin and suffers from uneven pacing and too many secondary characters/various groups. Isa, Segesvar, Murakami – people from the past that clearly mean a lot to Kovacs, but we don’t get enough backstory to really connect and care. Initial confusion and not knowing Takeshi’s motivation for the bigger part of the book doesn’t help immersion either. I liked the ending and the time Takeshi spent with De-Coms. I liked the story too, just wish it was more straightforward and concise.

[Krell75 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Terza ed ultima avventura per l'ex SPEDI Takeshi Kovacs.
Stavolta sarà in missione sul suo pianeta natale per affrontare qualcosa che risulterà una vera sfida anche per le sue straordinarie abilità.

Avventura, scontri, intelligenze artificiali, piani e tradimenti, la situazione rimane al fulmicotone per quasi tutto il romanzo. Si dilunga un pò troppo ma riesce ad essere una degna conclusione.

Con questo ultimo romanzo torniamo forse ai livelli del primo dopo la leggera mancanza del secondo, possiamo perdonare Morgan, la sua trilogia merita di essere vissuta accanto a quel grande sbruffone di Takeshi, protagonista sulle righe che ricorda in tutto i classici eroi action degli anni 80/90.

[Gar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Our hero drifts along rudderless and is sullen and snarly with everyone he asks for help along the way. Kovacs has changed from a mostly uninteresting adolescent wish-fulfillment character into merely an adolescent, in other words, and I get the sense the author didn't realize this is what happened.

He's pursuing a personal vendetta that he doesn't bother giving the reasons for until well into two-thirds of the book have passed, in what was meant to be an emotional reveal but wasn't. Huge chunks of text violate the good-sense rule of "show don't tell" in writing. It took a serious effort of will to continue reading past an early point where he has an AI basically read a wikipedia entry on a historical revolutionary figure THAT HE ALREADY KNOWS ALL THE INFORMATION ABOUT. Ahem.

He's allegedly being pursued by a younger instance of himself (digital backups of the mind being the core sci-fi handwavium trappings in the series, remember), but that doesn't really lead anywhere except a final godawful confrontation in which they fight, our hero (of course) wins handily but (of course) decides not to kill him and (of COURSE) someone else kills the alleged nemesis to avoid any moral questions. The only thing to say in that scene's favor is that at least he didn't start to walk away and the defeated foe then produces a weapon leading to our hero spinning around and killing in self-defense.

Also, earlier there's a fight in a rain storm in which our hero ends up dangling helpless over a panther...excuse me, "swamp panther"...pit. This deserves mention because the author actually breaks cliche by having his opponent shoot him in the head as he's helpless.

Ha ha! No, of course that doesn't happen. Instead his opponent monologues a bit and they exchange verbal barbs and Kovacs grabs him as he tries to kick him into the pit (his opponent's gun has fucking evaporated, you can assume) and throws him in instead to be devoured.

You ever yawn so hard you get a spasm in your jaw muscles? Yeah.

Dull, plodding, done. Good riddance.

My advice: Altered Carbon is worth reading for some light popcorn entertainment. Skip both the sequels. If you must skip only one sequel, skip this one.

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 3 out of 5]

«È un coltello bioware», gli dissi, secco. «Febbre emorragica di Adoracion. Se ti taglio, tutte le vene e le arterie del tuo corpo si rompono entro tre minuti. È questo che vuoi?»
Si appoggiò a me, ansimò in cerca di fiato. Premetti un poco con la lama, gli vidi il panico negli occhi.
«Non è un bel modo di morire, Yukio. Telefona.»

Un volume finale che conclude in maniera più che degna l’avvincente trilogia fantascientifica cyberpunk di Richard K. Morgan avente per protagonista l’ex mercenario Spedi Takeshi Kovacs, tormentato, cinico e odioso antieroe che più di una volta mi sarebbe piaciuto prendere volentieri a pistolettate nelle rotule.

Yukio era trapassato da un buco che lo aveva privato di quasi tutti gli organi interni. Estremità abbrustolite di costole sporgevano dalla metà superiore di una ferita perfettamente ovale.
Sotto si potevano vedere le piastrelle del pavimento su cui giaceva, tipo effetto speciale economico da esperia.
La stanza si riempi del fetore improvviso di viscere svuotate.
« Bene. Direi che ha funzionato. »

Il libro, come i precedenti due, è scritto molto bene e scorre che è un piacere, catapultando nuovamente il lettore in una futuristica distopia al neon a base di immortali replicabili, gruppi di terroristi rivoluzionari, macchine ribelli, religioni oppressive, cacciatori di taglie senza scrupoli, manufatti di antiche civiltà marziane e mafiosi yakuza.

Si che capivo. Un governo locale non è in grado di premere i pulsanti del Corpo. Gli Spedi vanno dove il Protettorato ha bisogno di loro, e quasi tutti i governi locali pregano i rispettivi dei di non dover mai essere costretti a invocare quell'evento. I postumi di un intervento del Corpo possono essere molto sgradevoli per tutte le parti coinvolte.

Il tutto condito dal solito cocktail crudo ed estremo di sesso esplicito ed ultraviolenza che fa da marchio di fabbrica della serie, insieme alla tendenza da parte dell’autore di spingersi spesso e volentieri oltre la narrazione per sconfinare nella critica politica e sociale contro elites e fondamentalismi religiosi attraverso la voce dei suoi personaggi.



Lo raggiunsi in meno di un minuto, spingendo la custodia ai limiti anaerobici massimi. Quindici metri più avanti, un karakuri semifunzionante barcollò verso di me, agitando senza alcuna logica le braccia superiori. Gli sparai con la Ronin con la sinistra, sentii il colpo di tosse smorzato della carica, vidi la tempesta di frammenti monomolecolari squartare la macchina.

Mi é piaciuta molto l’ambientazione oceanica di Harlan’s World, mondo natale del protagonista e vera e propria ambientazione da frontiera western avente per sfondo i conflitti tra disAt e mamint, e Prime Famiglie, Corporazioni e Yakuza a contendersi le spoglie del pianeta, con il duplice ritorno di Kovacs ad agitare per bene le già non proprio tranquille acque.

Palmi e dita delle mani prudevano un po'. Desiderio genetico programmato di una superficie ruvida da scalare. Lo avevo notato già da un po' in quella custodia. Una pulsione che andava e veniva ma si manifestava soprattutto in momenti di stress e inattività. Un piccolo fattore irritante, compreso nel prezzo da pagare per il download. Anche una custodia clone nuova di zecca ha una sua storia.

Purtroppo il libro si pone una spanna sotto i suoi predecessori, a mio parere, con quasi duecento pagine di troppo, un protagonista in giro a fare sfracelli da più di settant'anni, senza contare gli oltre duecento immagazzinati fuori da una custodia, che si comporta come un adolescente in piena crisi ormonale, una pletora di comprimari non proprio memorabili che, all’ennesimo tradimento e colpo di scena, non dico che mi hanno fatto tornare indietro con le pagine a cercare chi fossero, ma comunque mi hanno fatto soffermare a rimuginare sulla loro identità.

Lo shock mi attraversò come corrente elettrica. Il mio pugno si serrò di scatto sulle pile. Fissai la donna che avevo davanti, adesso ritta su un gomito nel sacco a pelo. La disperazione lottava coi muscoli del suo viso. A giudicare dagli occhi, non mi riconosceva. La stretta sul mio braccio era quella di una macchina.
«Tu», disse in giapponese, e tossì. «Aiutami. Aiutami.»
Non era la sua voce.

Aggiungiamo al tutto una serie di refusi nell’edizione italiana che, iniziata come sporadica e perdonabile per un libro di quasi seicento pagine, è andata aumentando sempre più verso la fine, trasformandosi da fastidiosa in estremamente irritabile.

Restai a guardarlo, cercando di cavare un senso da tutto quello.
Cercando di inquadrarlo.
Ci stavo ancora provando quando Scavo 301 mi chiese se avessi finito, se volessi vedere qualcosa d'altro. Le risposi di no, automaticamente. Nella mia testa, l'intuito da Spedi stava già facendo quel che andava fatto.
Dava fuoco ai miei preconcetti e li trasformava in cenere.

Peccato perché l’idea del Kovacs giovane sguinzagliato a caccia del suo alter ego anziano era davvero eccellente ed ho gradito parecchio il finale, ma probabilmente avrei fatto meglio a leggere l’intera trilogia tutta di un fiato, visto il ritornare in scena come personaggi fondamentali alla comprensione della storia di alcune figure comparse o accennate nei due volumi precedenti, invece di suddividerla nell’arco di tre estati con un intero anno di distanza tra un libro e l’altro.



Incontrai il suo sguardo e lui si zittì. Lo capivo benissimo: la stessa raggelante incredulità era in me mentre fissavo i suoi occhi e mi rendevo veramente conto, per la prima volta, chi ci fosse dietro. Mi ero già trovato contemporaneamente in due custodie, ma si era trattato di una copia carbone del mio io dell'epoca, non di questa eco da un altro momento e luogo della mia vita. Non di quello spettro.

Tre stelle, tre e mezzo ad essere generosi per intrattenimento e godibilità.

[Tijana]

Morgan je u završnicu svoje trilogije ušao s nesrazmerno većim ambicijama nego u prvi deo. I mada je dobro što ovo nije pretvorio u neki mlaki dugotrajni serijal, ovde se ipak vide granice njegovih mogućnosti. (Scene seksa su i dalje najgore na svetu.) Od trenutka kad je rešio da otvorenije priča o onome što ga muči - klasnoj nejednakosti i nepravdi - i na scenu kao aktera izvukao (vrlo mali spojler) Kvel, ženskog Isusa, Lenjina i Emu Goldman, 3u1 Morgan je postao... pa... dosadan. Jedva sam isterala knjigu do kraja. Ne zato što nema radnje, naprotiv, ima i dalje toliko linija zapleta i scena borbe (i seksa. avaj) da prestanu da drže pažnju. Kraći i skromniji roman, s manje zapitanim i manje upropašćenim Takešijem, a možda i sa nešto življim epizodistima, bio bi mnogo bolji.
Pa ipak - nije fer da se previše žalim. Morganu je :stalo: da svetu obznani svoju revolucionarnu poruku, ali se trudi i da isporuči odabrani format akcionog SF-a. To što njegov spisateljski dar nije baš dorastao takvom žongliranju, druga je priča.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was rather disappointed in this book. As much as I enjoyed the first two Takeshi Kovacs stories and as much as I find the universe fascinating this story fell flat for me. I think the reason for this is that Morgan assumed the reader would have a strong emotional connection to Kovacs and his past enough though much of it was not revealed until this book. Sure we got some references to his home world and why he left, but they were rather matter of fact statements with little to suggest an emotional connection between Kovacs and his homeworld, which serves as the setting for this story.

Morgan desperately wanted us feel the anguish and conflict within Kovacs as he returns home after centuries among the stars. But these emotional hooks never seem to land. Part of that is likely because many of the reveals of Takeshi's past occur in this book with little in the way of foreshadowing from the previous books. There was just not enough space of time to let his past sink in a result in emotional responses to it. I processed most of these revelations on an intellectual level, not an emotional one.

Further, Morgan changes the scenery way too frequently. I never got a sense of place since Kovacs rarely stayed in one location for very long and Morgan did not do a great job conveying the setting in the page space he gave himself. It seemed the story just had a blur for a background with events happening in spaces I did not have a good feel for.

Finally the decisions that characters made seemed to be driven by story needs instead of as a natural by product of their character motivations. Through in some characters that showed up out of nowhere int he end parts of the book without any foreshadowing but proved to be very convenient for Kovacs and you can see why I found the story to be a bit of a mess.

Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed some parts of the book (I did give it 3 stars after all) and would certainly read another Kovacs story, but this installment was by far the weakest of the trio.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Morgan flash forwards us several decades from the previous installment in the series and all the way back to Harlan's World, where Kovacs originated several centuries ago. This also regains the noir flavor from Altered Carbon, but the mystery takes second place to the tech and adventure. I can see why some reviewers panned this, but I liked it, though not as much as the first two in the series. I will say Morgan can stick a landing and kudos for him to end the series here, as it could have been one of those on-going, never ending sagas so popular today.

Woken Furies takes some time to get into, mostly because we have Kovacs doing things without any real rhyme or reason, such as killing priests and taking their 'stacks'. About 2/3rds of the way in we learn the reason, but I will not spoil it here. This starts with Kovacs lounging in a seedy bar after just killing several priests when a lady walks into the pub. Now, in this part of the world, some fundamentalist religious group, known derogatorily as 'beards', walks in the pub and immediately starts chastising the gal for not covering her head with a scarf. She tells them to fuck off, violence ensues, and Kovacs and her split the scene.

One of Kovacs' missions as an Envoy took him to a colony planet where some religious fundamentalist started a revolution with Islamic trappings. That same style religious extremism seems to be breaking out on Harlan's World. The believers shun new 'sleeves' and the women are treated as chattel. Sound familiar? Not sure why Morgan ran with this, but so be it. It does help anchor the story, but I found it hard to believe that such fundamentalism could still exist several centuries from now.

In any case, Kovacs falls in with the gal, who takes him back to her team's crash pad. She works with a group as deCom agents. The other major landmass on Harlan's World still exists as no-mans land since the rebellion 3 centuries ago, contaminated by wild nanotech and other nasties. One corporation started a few years ago hiring teams to clear the land, e.g., decontaminate it (hence deCom), and the system works something like bounty hunting. Each team gets assigned areas to clean and get cash bonuses for cleaning up nasty stuff, like self-actuated nanotech monsters. Kovacs goes along for two reasons: first, to escape fallout from the Yakuza and second, to get a new 'sleeve' from a facility the deCom team found in the hot zone.

Morgan provides here a rather complex plot that kept me guessing where this was going for at least half of the text. He also really ran with the tech aspect. The deCom teams are fitted with lots of experimental tech to help their mission as it seems to be some sort of testing ground for it. In this aspect, the hardcore cyberpunk aspect really shines. I also liked the Quellist overtones, as throughout the series, Morgan teased us with quips from Quell and her writings. She was a revolutionary determined to dethrone the oligarchy that rules colonies and indeed, the UN protectorate as a whole. Great? Well, different from the first two for sure; YMMV on this one. For me? 3.5 revolutionary stars, rounding up!!

[David Sven · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good conclusion to the series. Richard K Morgan brings all the elements together that have built the legend of Takeshi Kovacs over the past two books.Those elements that were previously background become the main story.

Elements like Kovacs' home world Harlan's World and the surrounding orbitals which rain down angel fire on anything that flies, unleashing the fury of Martian ghosts on any machinery that tries to rise over 400 feet in the air.

Then there's the oft referred to Virginia Vidaura, Kovacs mentor in the Envoy Core that taught him the art of crushing rebellions with extreme prejudice.

And we've been getting quotes from Harlan's revolutionary come Messiah Quellchrist Falconer all through the last two books - Some ghosts just can't stay dead.

I also liked the Japanese influences on Harlan's World with the Yakuza underworld.

This book, Takeshi Kovacs is a very angry man - yes, angrier than usual. That makes for a high body count. But it turns out that Kovacs mast dangerous enemy is himself as his past comes to hunt him down.

I listened to this on Audible again. William Dufris is an excellent narrator and a good replacement for Todd McLaren as the voice of Takeshi Kovacs. Like the other books in the series there are a couple of explicit sex scenes that go on way too long and add nothing to the story. Fortunately the Audible App has an excellent skip forward 30 seconds function - though I had to tap it 20 odd times to get past the waste of space.

I've enjoyed the series with each book making it too my favourites shelf.


5 stars

[Tanabrus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mi ritrovo un po' combattuto sul giudizio relativo a questo terzo e ultimo volume della serie di Morgan.

Da una parte è scritto bene, scorre che è un piacere e mantiene l'interesse, facendosi leggere velocemente. E ci sono i soliti spunti fantascientifici interessanti, relativi a questo universo dove grazie alle pile l'umanità ha potuto ottenere una sorta di immortalità.

Però abbiamo anche una trama oltremodo caotica, più del necessario.
Un mare di personaggi spesso di breve durata, motivazioni ondivaghe e non particolarmente solide o credibili. Doppi e tripli giochi non aiutano in tutto questo.


Sul mio giudizio potrebbe influire anche il fatto che nell'interpretazione della serie che ne ha dato la serie tv, il fulcro della trama di questo libro sia stato reso in maniera più lineare e sensata.


Takeshi, nei tempi morti tra il secondo e il terzo libro, a quanto pare ha mollato gli Spedi e, in mancanza d'altro, si è messo a fare il criminale di bassa lega.
Finché una sua vecchia fiamma, per motivi religiosi, viene uccisa in maniera permanente. A questo punto decide di dedicare anni -o il resto della sua vita- a uccidere prima i responsabili della sua morte, poi tutti gli abitanti del villaggio che hanno assistito senza intervenire, e infine direttamente tutti i capi di quell'ordine religioso.

Da qui, dalla sua collaborazione con un ricettatore legato alla Yakuza e dall'incontro con una cacciatrice di taglie ipertecnologica, inizia una storia che ondeggia tra la commedia degli equivoci (ops, questa persona è morta per errore... invece di spiegarmi, meglio darmi alla macchia facendomi mettere taglie enormi sulla testa), la buona fantascienza (la nuova frontiera del west, tra mamint e disAt) e le assurdità (prima va per sparire, poi perché attirato da Sylvie, poi perché sorpreso da Nadia e spaventato da chi gli dà la caccia... e così via, sempre cambiando motivazione. Spesso con una caratterizzazione che, più che da duro e strafottente, sembra quella di un adolescente particolamente irritante).

Ci sono cose buone, ma anche tante perplessità. Probabilmente ha fatto la cosa giusta a chiudere qui il racconto.

[Emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't finish this. I've been picking at it for months. I just can't get into it. It's boring. I'm more than half way through and can't muster up any interest. Altered Carbon was fantastic. Kovacs was a believable bad ass. The rest of the series sucks. This book was just really long descriptions of places and a lot of "envoy senses" explaining everything. There was no mystery, no interesting characters, meh. I also don't believe that the backup copy of Kovacs would agree to hunt down and kill the real Kovacs. What's the motivation for that? Makes no sense. Maybe there's some key explanation that happens at the end of the book, but I don't give enough fucks to try to figure it out. Time to move on...

[Brainycat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Altered Carbon
Broken Angels

The third and final installment in the Takeshi Kovacs trilogy Woken Furies was a bittersweet read for me. On the one hand, Takeshi is probably the best protagonist I've come across in years. I sincerely want to be him when I grow up, and I feel a special kinship to him. Richard Morgan is a fantastic storyteller with an incredible command of the language, making his books a joy to read. Unfortunately, this is the last planned book featuring Takeshi. I tried to draw it out and savor every moment - but I got so involved in the story I finished it in just a couple of days. I'm looking forward to rereading the series again to revisit these characters and worlds that have become part of my mental landscape.

And that's a major theme of this book - when people live long enough to see history repeat itself, does it mean they have new choices about how they'll take part or does it mean they are just that much more prepared to do it all over again? How much freewill does someone have, when the same machinations of politics and capital force the same crucibles every few generations? In Woken Furies, the Trotskyist dogma gets marched out front and center, and Takeshi is constantly forced to evaluate how personal he wants to make the political. When we meet Takeshi at the beginning of the story, he's back on his homeworld, exacting revenge against a politically powerful cult of misogynistic theists (think Sharia law). While he's still an incredibly potent warrior and force to be reckoned with on any number of planets, his life has dwindled to a molten ember of hate fueled by revenge. We see Takeshi's personality stripped down to his essence, a tightly coiled spring that only comes to life in violent spurts. His cynicism has ceased to be just a glib way of brushing people off and has taken a life of it's own, and his capacity to care for anyone or anything else seems to have been replaced with a self-destructive urge that is more than slightly remniscent of Case at the beginning of William Gibson's "Neuromancer".

However, the similiarities to other stories end there. I do not intend in any way to imply that Woken Furies is derivative. It's as fresh and innovative as the rest of the series, and while the tone is dark and the protagonist is in the angriest and loneliest mental space of his long life, it is constantly fresh and surprising - no mean feat for the third book in a series. The story follows Takeshi as he's forced to evaluate how much he's willing to sacrifice to maintain his cold aloofness. Several times in the book, he's given the opportunity to join a cause larger than himself, and each time he involves himself just enough to get what he wants out of it - always with the argument that it doesn't matter what he does now, the march of history will trample all their dreams just like it has before. What he really means is that his dreams have been trampled, and he's too hurt and bitter to move on. His former Envoy commander calls him out on it, telling him point blank it doesn't matter how many people he kills, the woman he loved is going to stay dead. Takeshi's response is to tell her that at least killing the people who created the situation that led to his love's death gives him a momentary sense of relief. Unfortunately, like any drug, it takes more and more to get any reaction and through the latter half of the book Takeshi is floundering in his resentment, searching for something to lash out at.

His former Envoy commander isn't the only ghost from his past. The woman he was with in the first chapter of Altered Carbon is a driving force in the plot, as are his former Envoy comrades, gangsters he ran with as a young thug, and even a younger copy of his personality. This latter complication could easily fall into farcical nonsense, but Richard treats it with dilegence and care, and eventually the Takeshi of the timeline we know has to face the younger Takeshi who hasn't experienced the last century. As I've often said, "If I met my younger self, I'd kick his mouthy ass", and Takeshi(1) feels much the same. The scene where they finally meet may be one of the most powerful scenes in the entire series. Without giving away any spoilers, I'll just say that Takeshi(1) drives home one of the most important themes of the series: "Live my life for a hundred years and see how well you handle it, if you can make any better choices than I have".

Despite all this, the book ultimately ends on a hopeful note that I won't give away here. Like the other two books, Takeshi's efforts to make himself rich and forget his past lead him and his companions to some technology that's a "game changer" and may yet provide a way for "the little guys" to take on the powers that be. Takeshi's last thoughts as the last chapter close show he's begun living for something, hope, rather than spending his life fighting against everything.

This is another absolutely brilliant book by Richard K. Morgan, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone vaguely interested in scifi. Unfortunately, it may be hard to get into for people not accustomed to the genre thanks to Richard's liberal use of new terms and technologies that he never specifically defines for the benefit of the reader. I am looking forward to rereading the whole series many times during the rest of my life.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

So I'm finished with book 3 and I can't stress how happy I am that's over with. There's a lot to not like about Woken Furies. I don't even know where to start... Oh wait, that's a lie. Yes I do.

First off, Takeshi Kovacs suffers from Dresden syndrome. That's what I'm calling it from now on at least. Get this, you figure Tak is pushing 140 years old at this point? Subjectively... and he acts younger and dumber than any of his previous incarnations in the previous two books. I mean he's got anger control issues, abandonment issues, raging bigotry... He's mad at everyone and literally anyone can set him off including a 15 year old girl and a religious woman just shooting the shit with him. You know for some badass Envoy he sure has a lot of emotional baggage he "can't control." ...So much for all that Envoy training...

"Oops"

Secondly, do I have to mention the whole creepy date rape sex with a girl who's not really cognizant enough to consent and HE KNOWS THIS!! YES, YES I DO. I really wanted to put the book down after his first creeper incursion, (yeah, first) but I forced myself to continue because I really didn't want to dnf the third book in a series.

Third, the story is painfully convoluted with too many characters, too many locations and too many subplots playing out. Over half the book feels like a lopsided YA novel, with sprinklings of hardcore sex and fat helping of anti-religious bigotry. I mean, I'm an apostate and I thought Tak's bigoted view of things has only digressed after umpteen planets and lifetimes. This is a man who is not maturing, he's in retrograde. It was really hard to like Takeshi in this book, so I stopped trying.

The only character I did end up liking was Jad, because she at least acted more mature than her age. She actually survives multiple deaths and manages to track Tak across the planet AND manages not too start fights with every single person she comes into contact with. She's the winner of this story in my opinion, hands down.

The whole book ends with a bunch more questions than it ever bothers to answer, but honestly, after this last performance for Kovacs, I just don't care anymore.

I should've probably just dnf'd the book. "Oops."

[Yashima · Rating 5 out of 5]

2015: And then the end never stops twisting about ... back-stabbingly beautiful.
I love the way he describes technologies in his future vision of humanity. I am going to miss Takeshi Kovacs, I may even have to read the books all over again.

2018: Did get around to the reread. I had a harder time with the re-read than I anticipated because I did remember just enough to take away the major reveals. However that makes it possible to focus on other aspects of the books more.

I like the writing style, clean, well-paced and with a lot of fun quips that make me laugh or smile. Especially the dialogue scenes make for great reading. As I am not a fan of action and fight scenes in general I can't say much to that. There are enough of them to satisfy those who like them - for me this led to several "breaks" in my own pace reading this.

In this book Takeshi returns to his home Harlan's World, which is ruled by a group of oligarchs named the First Families, first among the first being the Harlans of course. This world is where 300 years back the Quellist uprising was brutally ended, devastating a hole continent (on a world mostly covered by water!) with so-called Mimints (intelligent robotic weapons systems) that are only now being de-commissioned by the DeComs - a group of mercenaries with a new technology that is able to hack and destroy the Mimints. Takeshi himself is currently on a mission/rampage against a local religion he derogatively calls the "Beards" (I think they are called New Revelation).

Through happenstance Tak becomes involved with a squad of DeCom mercenaries and ends up accompanying them back to the continent of New Hok and the Uncleared to hunt Mimints and obtain a new sleeve. Sylvie's Slipins are among the more experienced DeComs but not well-liked by command because apparently they do whatever-the-fuck they feel like.

But Tak has another problem besides needing a new sleeve. Someone high up wants to hunt him down (it is unclear if his murders of religious leaders are the reason for this) and and has warmed up a much younger copy of himself to do so. Obviously he begins to second-guess himself, and he is not always right.

Soon enough he is on the run with Sylvie, in a new sleeve, leaving behind the squad... and Sylvie has other problems to, somewhere among the Mimints she was infected with a viral software that causes her to have blackouts.

While the middle part lulls a little with a few too-long action sequences and scenes that are needed as set-up for the wonderfully intricate twisted ending and Takeshi--again--gets to fuck nearly every major female character... (and his teacher and trainer Virginia whom he seemed to admire so much in previous books with no hints of attraction is the one that gets me most. This could have shown a great friendship but no they have to do it even though she is in a longterm relationship.) Once again, as soon as he sees an attractive woman, Tak is completely controlled by his dick or should I say pheromones? His sleeve-twin being the one exception, thankfully.

The ending and its accompanying reveals make more than up for those weaknesses. The books are now a decade old and hold up well in most regards--especially if you skip/ignore the sex scenes which do not impact any of the plots in all 3 books in any meaningful manner. The sex doesn't mean anything to Takeshi and so it doesn't mean anything to the plot.

I'll leave my original rating of 5* although this time it was more of a 4* read.

[Mirnes Alispahić · Rating 2 out of 5]

Richard Morgan writes wet dreams of cyberpunk lovers, there's no doubt about that. Starting with "Altered Carbon", Morgan introduced a cynical antihero, Takeshi Kovacs, into the genre and puts him into the world of neon, mega-corporations, yakuza, and body alterations (graphic action scenes and explicit sex included). "Woken Furies", the last part of a trilogy on the ex-Envoy, a member of an elite unit of soldiers, amplifies the winning combination and raises the bar, as it usually happens with sequels. If something works, don't touch it. Just add more. Unfortunately, in this case, this combination failed.
After he left noir waters in the second par of series, “Broken Angels” for the genre of political-military SF, Morgan somewhat returns to his roots and puts Kovacs in the neon-colored streets of Harlan's World, his birthplace, where the oligarchy of the First Families rules with an iron fist, and revolutionaries dream of the return of Quellcrist Falconer, a mythical figure and leader of the former revolution.
From the opening page, Morgan puts the reader into action. Kovacs is wounded, persecuted by an angry mob. His pockets are full of cortical stacks of bearded priests, members of the radical religious order. His motives for the killing spree are unknown until the last third of the novel when his persona is demystified, and the cause of the carnage of the whole order becomes a cheap solution, especially when it comes to someone like Kovacs. If Morgan was building a character different from the beginning, it would have made sense, but like this not really. It's just a reason for Kovacs to be what he’s most comfortable with, a mindless killing machine.
That’s not the only problem of this novel that starts well, gets the reader hooked into the story from the first page, and doesn't let go. The constant action leads Kovacs from situation to situation, while he travels to the wasteland with the new team, the scene of a devastating war, to get to a new sleeve and earn some money on the way. With their return, the story loses initial fizz to dive into the abyss headlong, deeper with every chapter.
There are limits to which you can go when it comes to SF without going over the top and avoid extremes that devalued everything that has been written until then. That's exactly what Morgan does, pulling out crazy plot twists every few chapters, stretching the action, and using deus ex machina solutions like he’s a beginner in a creative writing course, which leads to the question of how motivated Morgan was to write this novel or did he just do it to fulfill contractual obligations.
First of all, there are too many plot lines in this novel. Stories that could have made two separate novels about Kovacs and his past. Then there is the problem Morgan has had since the beginning of the series, he mentions certain topics that would give the novel weight, but then he only brushes them. Radical religion, revolution and social struggle between classes, behavior towards women. He's got great ideas here, only he’s not giving them proper treatment. What he's brilliant though are his action scenes, worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster. This novel works that way. Like an overpaid Hollywood SF summer hit directed by Michael Bay, let’s say.
Far from the first two novels about Takeshi Kovacs, stretched to the limits of pain, but still, a fun read, even though it’s full of cheap solutions and cliches. After all, this is still a wet dream for all cyberpunk lovers.

[Hank · Rating 2 out of 5]

Weak finish! The other two books had a good blend of Kovacs' character, some manly action with weapons and a couple of decent stories. The sleeving and cortical stacks gave some great room for your mind to wander. This last part of the trilogy meandered all over a planet, existential angst, religion and way too deep inside Kovacs' and others heads. It didn't know what it wanted to be, I think Morgan had a fantastic, very earth shattering conclusion in mind but he forgot to write a story to get there.

I didn't buy into anything, the rebels, the "beards", the tech, nothing. 2 stars just because I liked some of the characters that appear for brief moments.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

5.0 stars. Book three in the Takeshi Kovacs series. Each installment has been amazing and this installment certainly continues that trend. Can not wait for the next one. HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION!!

[Bill · Rating 1 out of 5]

From the abbreviated experience I've had reading Mr. Morgan's books, I've come to the conclusion that he's a better scenarist than he is at building a thorough plot. Books like Thirteen and Altered Carbon are all over the place, tossing in characters, set-pieces and, if there's room, the kitchen sink that tend to distract from the overall story. What Mr. Morgan excels at is creating a believable and enticing future world. Thirteen featured an America divided into a few liberal outlying states surrounding an ultraconservative separatist middle. Altered Carbon created an earth that had become something of a backwater in a world where many other planets had been colonized. Woken Furies is the third book in the series that began with Altered Carbon and, unfortunately, Morgan seems to be running out of gas. Series protagonist Takeshi Kovacs returns to his home world for a rather muddled adventure. Morgan often seems to leave some facts and plot points for the reader to fill in for themselves which, while laudable in not underestimating the reader's intelligence, can be a bit frustrating when it serves to undermine the actual story.
To be honest, if I had read this book, I probably would have given in at least two stars. Unfortunately, I chose what is, without a doubt, the worst audiobook I have ever listened to. The production company decided to shoehorn in irritating gimmicks like recording anything that takes place in the past in an almost indecipherable echo chamber. As if to add insult to injury, the narrator seems to have confused "tough guy" with "smarmy car salesman" and constantly mispronounces Kovacs' name. Kovacs begins Altered Carbon stating that his name is pronounced KOH-vach, and it irritates him to no end when it's pronounced KOH-vaks. Were he a real person, Mr. Kovacs would despise this audiobook as much as I do.

[Josh · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the concept of this series but I struggled to understand what actually happened in the third installment. There were too many characters and too many sequences with long winded dialogue which didn’t progress the story in any meaningful way, to appreciate the extensive world building and finer aspects of the book.

Whilst I believe some of my confusion was due to having listened to the audio version (which clocked in at over 22hrs), the constant flickering of characters in and out of the core narrative detracted from what was a decent enough revenge-like fueled military sci-fi.

Just fails the pass mark for me – 2/5 stars.

[Lost Planet Airman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rapid-fire review, so I don't make myself late for an appointment...

A lot of stuff is going by me fast these days, and this last installment of Altered Carbon trilogy i sno exception -- I listened to it on audio whil on leave from work, and blasted through it in, what, two or three days. The book is fairly long. Clues to the ending are scattered throughout, as well as further hints and descriptors of the culture of both Harlan's World and of the Protectorate at large. (The Protectorate seems to draw neatly from current events as well as maybe some Niven and Heinlein, in that it has sprung clearly from Earth's U.N.)
Kovacs is back to his homeworld, on something of a personal mission that is not truly a homecoming. And he's back twice-over, as someone has tweaked Harlan's World's criminal underworld into double-sleeving a 200-year old illegal copy of Kovacs' stack, and set his younger self hunting him!
Overall -- too long for the simple parts of the plot, just about right for the other, complex points. Trim the four or five overly graphic sex scenes, as they seem to be mostly the author's fantasy -- or heck, leave them in, they only irritate old prudes like me.
Filles URC-50 #49, turned into a TV show, as it is the rough basis for season 2 of the Netflix original Altered Carbon.

[Alissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has its ups and downs, and it's the most complex and introspective installment of the series. I found the ending satisfying and I'm happy I came along for the ride. Takeshi Kovacs is truly one memorable character.


“Every previous revolutionary movement in human history has made the same basic mistake. They’ve all seen power as a static apparatus, as a structure. And it’s not. It’s a dynamic, a flow system with two possible tendencies. Power either accumulates, or it diffuses through the system. In most societies, it’s in accumulative mode, and most revolutionary movements are only really interested in reconstituting the accumulation in a new location. A genuine revolution has to reverse the flow. And no one ever does that, because they’re all too fucking scared of losing their conning tower moment in the historical process. If you tear down one agglutinative power dynamic and put another one in its place, you’ve changed nothing. You’re not going to solve any of that society’s problems, they’ll just reemerge at a new angle. You’ve got to set up the nanotech that will deal with the problems on its own. You’ve got to build the structures that allow for diffusion of power, not regrouping. Accountability, demodynamic access, systems of constituted rights, education in the use of political infrastructure—”

[MadProfessah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first two Takeshi Kovacs novels by Richard K. Morgan, Altered Carbon  and Broken Angels , are pretty amazing, so it's bittersweet to be reading and reviewing Woken Furies, which is billed as the third and last of the series.

Each of the three books featuring Takeshi Kovacs written by Morgan is so different it's hard to call them part of the same series, but they do all feature Kovacs, a hard-bitten, world-weary, brutally efficient killing machine and violent mercenary with his own unique sense of fairness and justice in the very unfair universe of the future.

Altered Carbon takes place on Earth, in a faintly recognizable San Francisco Bay Area several centuries in the future, where Kovacs has been hired by an incredibly rich and old man to find out why he killed himself (or someone made it seem like he did). In Morgan's vision of the future consciousness download technology is  available, but not cheap. So, both Kovacs and the formerly dead man have been downloaded into new bodies (called "sleeves") from their memories stored in their "cortical stack." Morgan's depiction of an Earth of the future dominated by megalomaniacal oligarchs and capitalism run amok is weaved in with a  suspense-filled, violent hunt for the truth of the reason for the mysterious death. Synopsis: Maltese Falcon meets Bladerunner.

Broken Angels is set a couple decades in the future, subjective time, on a completely different planet called Sanction IV. Consciousness can be beamed from one planet (and star system) to another and then downloaded into a brand new sleeve. It's basically a way of virtually travelling at the speed of light. Kovacs begins the book in pure mercenary mode, fighting for the bad guys in a civil war he doesn't believe in . However, he goes AWOL to lead a mission to find and plunder a secret hoard of priceless alien artifacts with a corporate money man and two mysterious strangers he shouldn't (but does and doesn't) trust. Synopsis: Raiders of the Lost Ark meets Alien.

Woken Furies has Kovacs back on his homeworld, Harlan's World, which is 90% covered with water but also orbited by Martian artefacts which rain destructive "angel fire" on any "too large" object which exceeds a vertical distance of 400 meters above the surface. Kovacs is engaged in an extensive campaign of vengeful murder against a powerful religious sect who have rejected the promise of immortality via technology the consciousness download process provides. After saving a woman with advanced implants who was being attacked by some of the more militant members of the sect by slaughtering a half-dozen of them, he discovers that she is the head of a group of mercenaries who are working to decontaminate a nearby continent of abandoned military hardware with artificial intelligence that has run amok. The woman is named Sylvie and she can provide Koacs safe passage from the consequences of his latest massacre.

Kovacs ends up joining Sylvie's "decon" team and is able to get the team out of danger when a raid goes wrong and Sylvie is injured. While Sylvie is off-line she goes through an episode where it seems as if another personality is residing within her. The other personality appears to be Quellcrist Falconer, the most important revolutionary figure in the last several hundred years of struggle against the oligarchal families who run Harlan's World. Falconer has been dead for hundreds of years but Sylvie/Quellcrist appears to be aware of information that only Falconer would know.

Kovacs is being chased by a younger version of himself who is working for the Harlan family for reasons which are some combination of retribution for Kovacs' murderous rampage, a desperate attempt to find and neutralize Quellcrist/Sylvia and suppress any neo-Quellist revolutionaries and a desire to eliminate the competition provided by the "older-model" Kovacs.

All these motives and motivations are portrayed and resolved by Morgan in an engrossing way which is somehow not as compelling as the denouement in Broken Angels. He does make it possible that another Takeshi Kovacs novel of some kind could follow this one, but the author has expressed his desire for this to be the last one and moved on to writing a ground-breaking fantasy series, starting with The Steel Remains.
Morgan has quickly jumped to the top of my list of authors whose work I will look out for, just beneath the likes of Peter F. Hamilton, Patrick Rothfuss and Peter V. Brett.

Title: Woken Furies 
Author: Richard K. Morgan
Length: 480 pages.
Publisher: Del Rey.
Published: May 29, 2007.

OVERALL GRADE: A- (3.75/4.0).

PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: A-.
WRITING: A.