Alex's review
Thirteen by Richard K. Morgan
I am a fan of Richard K Morgan books, and I was very much looking forward to this one. To be honest I was more than a little dissapointed. Yes, there is plenty of Morgan's excellent violence to turn the pages, but the charcters are near cliches. The main reason you feel for them is the investment of reading time you've already put in waiting for the author to make more of them. While I enjoy his action, I feel that Morgan lets it carry this book. I'd be very interested to see if Morgan could write a book without violence. I'm very tempted to give this one star- but in the end it probably deserves a spot on the fence. If you read this without expectations I suspect it would be a better read. Too bad for you if you read his earlier work and wanted the same or better.
I feel like Morgan has made it and is trying to cash in on his own formula now. He still does violence and action very well - which can make the pages turn. In general I like his stuff and was looking forward to reading this - but it was cliche heavy and short on character development. If you wind up caring about the cast in this one it's only because you've invested so much time in them. I'd like to read a book of his that doesn't rely on action to carry the plot. It's time already.
