So now I’m a few chapters into Woken Furies, the third and final (so far) Kovacs novel. The exploration of identity in an era of ‘sleeves’ that challenge identity with virtual trickery, biotech and mortality and the grim futility of the war business are explored and seeded through a romp to secure a stunning breakthrough, with treachery everywhere. But again the journey is totally engrossing. The second book, Broken Angels, takes an entirely new angle (again, not dissimilar to the Reacher books) and follows a Secret Treasure route. When I found that there were two more in the series I eagerly bought them. Morgan really digs into his future tech, then disturbs you with how it might be perverted and abused.Īll of this is held together with a story worthy of Chandler (noir, dames, hoods) mixed with Lee Childs (a stoic, worn but wry, Reacher-like, lead), set in a coarse Bladerunneresque landscape, but much, much more degraded (lots of sex, ultra violence and bad language make it an 18 I’d say).

It was a revelation - the fully-fleshed-out world of Takeshi Kovacs is dizzying in its hard boiled inventiveness. It wasn’t perfect, but I did enjoy it enough to be intrigued when spotting that it was based on an original novel. Then I delved into Altered Carbon on Netflix. So I’d been itching to find a new supply of what I like with little success. it’s like the bears and the porridge, we all know what we enjoy. Richard Morgan is set to join the genre's world-wide elite. This is SF at its dizzying best: superb, yet subtle, world-building strong yet sensitive characterisation awesome yet believable technology, thilling yet profound writing. BROKEN ANGELS melds SF, the war novel and the spy thriller to take the reader below the surface of this future and lay bare the treacheries, betrayals and follies that leave man so ill-prepared for the legacy he has been given: the stars. A breakneck-paced crime thriller, ALTERED CARBON took its readers deep into the universe Morgan had so compellingly realised without ever letting them escape the onward rush of the plot. Here is a novel that takes mankind to the brink.

He is offered the chance to join a covert team chasing a prize whose value is limitless - and whose dangers are endless. Fifty years after the events of ALTERED CARBON, Takeshi Kovacs is serving as a mercenary in the Procterate-sponsored war to put down Joshuah Kemp's revolution on the planet Sanction IV.

Altered carbon series book