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Takeshi Kovacs #2
Düşmüş Melekler
21. yüzyıl bilimkurgu edebiyatının en önemli eserlerinden biri olan Değiştirilmiş Karbon serisi ve çarpıcı ana karakteri Takeshi Kovacs dizinin ikinci kitabı Düşmüş Melekler’le geri dönüyor!
Değiştirilmiş Karbon’daki olayların üzerinden otuz sene geçti. Ancak eski bir BM elçisi olan Takeshi Kovacs’ın maceraları hız kesmedi. Pek çok kez kariyer ve kılıf değiştirip yeni bir bedenle bu kez daha büyük olayların ortasında buldu kendini: Kanlı bir ayaklanmayı durdurmak üzere uzak bir gezegenin hükümetince tutulan bir askerdi artık.
Ancak mesele taraf tutmaya geldiğinde ona kimin ödeme yaptığına bakmaksızın Kovacs istediği tarafı seçerdi – yani kendininkini. Haliyle sıradışı bir ekip onu kadim bir uzaylı gemisine yapılacak hazine avı için çağırdığında bu teklife hayır diyemezdi. Kalaşnikoflarını hazırlayıp görevini yarıda bırakan Kovacs için bu yeni macera tek başına yapamayacağı kadar büyüktü. Ama o istediğini almak için her şeyi yapmaya hazırdı; ölüleri diriltmeye bile.
Yıldız Gemisi Askerleri ve Bitmeyen Savaş gibi eserlerin izinden giden askeri bilimkurgu/siberpunk türündeki Düşmüş Melekler, son zamanların en dikkat çeken bilimkurgu-aksiyon romanlarından biri.
Değiştirilmiş Karbon’daki olayların üzerinden otuz sene geçti. Ancak eski bir BM elçisi olan Takeshi Kovacs’ın maceraları hız kesmedi. Pek çok kez kariyer ve kılıf değiştirip yeni bir bedenle bu kez daha büyük olayların ortasında buldu kendini: Kanlı bir ayaklanmayı durdurmak üzere uzak bir gezegenin hükümetince tutulan bir askerdi artık.
Ancak mesele taraf tutmaya geldiğinde ona kimin ödeme yaptığına bakmaksızın Kovacs istediği tarafı seçerdi – yani kendininkini. Haliyle sıradışı bir ekip onu kadim bir uzaylı gemisine yapılacak hazine avı için çağırdığında bu teklife hayır diyemezdi. Kalaşnikoflarını hazırlayıp görevini yarıda bırakan Kovacs için bu yeni macera tek başına yapamayacağı kadar büyüktü. Ama o istediğini almak için her şeyi yapmaya hazırdı; ölüleri diriltmeye bile.
Yıldız Gemisi Askerleri ve Bitmeyen Savaş gibi eserlerin izinden giden askeri bilimkurgu/siberpunk türündeki Düşmüş Melekler, son zamanların en dikkat çeken bilimkurgu-aksiyon romanlarından biri.
480 pages, Paperback
First published March 20, 2003
1892 people are currently reading
16624 people want to read
About the author
Richard K. Morgan
75 books5,601 followersLibrarian 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.
Richard K. Morgan (sometimes credited as Richard Morgan) is a science fiction and fantasy writer.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,856 reviews
November 1, 2009
A very different book from Altered Carbon. And not nearly as good. Is this one of those cases where a successful author isn't subject to as much editorial control?
A difference that doesn't bother me is that Broken Angels is more SF and less murder mystery than Altered Carbon. But then there's the rest:
1. He has. This. Really annoying. Use. Of. Periods. To show pauses. Or something. Which is not only distracting but also makes it hard to parse. The sentences. Hey. Richard. Try an. Ellipsis. Or. An em dash. Or maybe just let the reader figure out the subtleties of phrasing on their own, like most writers do. You're not writing stage direction.
2. The sex in the first book fit with the plot. The sex in the second book seemed more because the author wants to get his Kovacs character laid. I also get somewhat of an impression that the author is revealing his own appetites, which makes me uncomfortable.
3. The body count is just ridiculous. And that's not even counting the war in the background.
4. There's discontinuity. He's mooning over a character from Altered Carbon that he wasn't actually mooning over at the end of that book. Granted, Our Hero musing over lost love or the like may serve to offer character depth for a reader who didn't read the first book, but for me it was grating.
Meh.
A difference that doesn't bother me is that Broken Angels is more SF and less murder mystery than Altered Carbon. But then there's the rest:
1. He has. This. Really annoying. Use. Of. Periods. To show pauses. Or something. Which is not only distracting but also makes it hard to parse. The sentences. Hey. Richard. Try an. Ellipsis. Or. An em dash. Or maybe just let the reader figure out the subtleties of phrasing on their own, like most writers do. You're not writing stage direction.
2. The sex in the first book fit with the plot. The sex in the second book seemed more because the author wants to get his Kovacs character laid. I also get somewhat of an impression that the author is revealing his own appetites, which makes me uncomfortable.
3. The body count is just ridiculous. And that's not even counting the war in the background.
4. There's discontinuity. He's mooning over a character from Altered Carbon that he wasn't actually mooning over at the end of that book. Granted, Our Hero musing over lost love or the like may serve to offer character depth for a reader who didn't read the first book, but for me it was grating.
Meh.
February 26, 2018
This was a fantastic sequel to Altered Carbon. 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.
The setting changed completely for this second instalment. Takeshi Kovacs found himself in a new sleeve and on a new world but still caught up in other peoples problems. Sanction IV is in the midst of a war as local fanatic Joshua Kemp and his supporters try to overthrow the Protectorate and Corporation government on his planet. Kovacs is a lieutenant in the Wedge, a military mercenary unit, in the employ of the Protectorate and the local corporations. As well as the battle for control of the planet Takeshi finds himself ensnared in a bit of intrigue that might have far more reaching implications than just the battle to control one minor planet.
The plot does not sound all that exciting but it actually was! Altered Carbon was a sci-fi noir mystery with an extra dose of action but the tone changed totally in Broken Angels. This started out feeling like a military sci-fi story before transitioning into a techno-thriller and then to a sci-fi horror story. I actually liked this rotating tone and felt like it kept the story both fresh and exciting.
In terms of messages this book had a strong anti-religion, anti-war, and anti-capitalist theme to it. Weirdest of all, considering this is a sci-fi, I also felt like it had a strong anti-technology theme to it as well! I'm a fan of a lot of Morgan's various musing and observations on the topics he covers in his stories and the ones I disagree with do not overly hurt my enjoyment of the story. Morgan writes interesting and thought provoking sci-fi but never lets any of that stuff overwhelm either his characters or the story itself.
As always I feel like Morgan got the balance spot on. This was a dark, gritty, cynical, and sometimes brutal story but it never got too bleak as Takeshi remains an easy guy to root for despite his flaws. His cynical outlook on life and wry humor lightened the tone at times and some of his actions provide moments where we can cheer for him!
I loved the fact that Morgan fleshed out the worldbuilding a bit in this second instalment and we got to learn more about how humanity spread to the stars and the technology that made it possible.
This story had a lot of the same flaws as the first one but none of them were significant enough to damage my enjoyment of the story. The most annoying flaws were the slightly misogynistic tinge to the story and the fact that any female character who gets significant enough page time seems to topple into Tak's bed.
Some of my favourite quotes and passages:
“Looks like we’ve really got Kemp on the run down there, doesn’t it?”
“That’s an interesting point of view.” Visions of 391 platoon being cut to shreds around me cascaded briefly through my head. “Where do you think he’s going to run to? Bearing in mind this is his planet, I mean.”
Tak's cynical humor makes him the sort of charming and witty anti-hero that I can easily root for.
Religion is religion, however you wrap it, and like Quell says, a preoccupation with the next world pretty clearly signals an inability to cope credibly with this one.
The Quell sayings are always fun!
“I thought that was what religion was. Simplification for the hard of thinking.”
He smiled. “If that is the case, then the hard of thinking seem to be in a majority, do they not?”
“They always are.”
Cynical Tak is my sort of guy:)
Even the sunlight is a solid fusillade of subatomic particles, blasting apart anything that hasn’t evolved the appropriate levels of protection, which of course every living thing around here has because its distant ancestors died in their millions so that a handful of survivors could develop the necessary mutational traits.”
“All peace is an illusion, huh?
Over my head, the Martian gazed blankly down at us. As far removed as any angel, and as much help.
Those last two are in just because they are the sort of wry darkly cynical observations that make this such a fun book to read.
All in all I really enjoyed this one and am looking forward to getting to the third book in the series. I'm already confident that the Takeshi Kovacs series ranks up there with my other favourite sci-fi series.
Rating: 4.5 stars. I'm definitely rounding up to 5 stars as this was very engaging!
Audio Note: I thought Todd McLaren gave a good performance of the audio. He gets the tone and humor in the story and his voice is a perfect fit for Takeshi. I even think I've gotten used to his female character voices! Pity the 3rd instalment is getting a new narrator.
The setting changed completely for this second instalment. Takeshi Kovacs found himself in a new sleeve and on a new world but still caught up in other peoples problems. Sanction IV is in the midst of a war as local fanatic Joshua Kemp and his supporters try to overthrow the Protectorate and Corporation government on his planet. Kovacs is a lieutenant in the Wedge, a military mercenary unit, in the employ of the Protectorate and the local corporations. As well as the battle for control of the planet Takeshi finds himself ensnared in a bit of intrigue that might have far more reaching implications than just the battle to control one minor planet.
The plot does not sound all that exciting but it actually was! Altered Carbon was a sci-fi noir mystery with an extra dose of action but the tone changed totally in Broken Angels. This started out feeling like a military sci-fi story before transitioning into a techno-thriller and then to a sci-fi horror story. I actually liked this rotating tone and felt like it kept the story both fresh and exciting.
In terms of messages this book had a strong anti-religion, anti-war, and anti-capitalist theme to it. Weirdest of all, considering this is a sci-fi, I also felt like it had a strong anti-technology theme to it as well! I'm a fan of a lot of Morgan's various musing and observations on the topics he covers in his stories and the ones I disagree with do not overly hurt my enjoyment of the story. Morgan writes interesting and thought provoking sci-fi but never lets any of that stuff overwhelm either his characters or the story itself.
As always I feel like Morgan got the balance spot on. This was a dark, gritty, cynical, and sometimes brutal story but it never got too bleak as Takeshi remains an easy guy to root for despite his flaws. His cynical outlook on life and wry humor lightened the tone at times and some of his actions provide moments where we can cheer for him!
I loved the fact that Morgan fleshed out the worldbuilding a bit in this second instalment and we got to learn more about how humanity spread to the stars and the technology that made it possible.
This story had a lot of the same flaws as the first one but none of them were significant enough to damage my enjoyment of the story. The most annoying flaws were the slightly misogynistic tinge to the story and the fact that any female character who gets significant enough page time seems to topple into Tak's bed.
Some of my favourite quotes and passages:
“Looks like we’ve really got Kemp on the run down there, doesn’t it?”
“That’s an interesting point of view.” Visions of 391 platoon being cut to shreds around me cascaded briefly through my head. “Where do you think he’s going to run to? Bearing in mind this is his planet, I mean.”
Tak's cynical humor makes him the sort of charming and witty anti-hero that I can easily root for.
Religion is religion, however you wrap it, and like Quell says, a preoccupation with the next world pretty clearly signals an inability to cope credibly with this one.
The Quell sayings are always fun!
“I thought that was what religion was. Simplification for the hard of thinking.”
He smiled. “If that is the case, then the hard of thinking seem to be in a majority, do they not?”
“They always are.”
Cynical Tak is my sort of guy:)
Even the sunlight is a solid fusillade of subatomic particles, blasting apart anything that hasn’t evolved the appropriate levels of protection, which of course every living thing around here has because its distant ancestors died in their millions so that a handful of survivors could develop the necessary mutational traits.”
“All peace is an illusion, huh?
Over my head, the Martian gazed blankly down at us. As far removed as any angel, and as much help.
Those last two are in just because they are the sort of wry darkly cynical observations that make this such a fun book to read.
All in all I really enjoyed this one and am looking forward to getting to the third book in the series. I'm already confident that the Takeshi Kovacs series ranks up there with my other favourite sci-fi series.
Rating: 4.5 stars. I'm definitely rounding up to 5 stars as this was very engaging!
Audio Note: I thought Todd McLaren gave a good performance of the audio. He gets the tone and humor in the story and his voice is a perfect fit for Takeshi. I even think I've gotten used to his female character voices! Pity the 3rd instalment is getting a new narrator.
June 21, 2018
Broken Angels is a vastly different book to the first Takeshi Kovacs novel, Altered Carbon. Where Altered Carbon read like a futuristic noir, focusing on a sci-fi murder mystery, the sequel (set fifty years after) reads like military sci-fi with exploration into the evolutionary Martian warfare at the forefront.
Whilst I enjoyed the book, there are a lot of characters in Broken Angeles and a lot of scheming, double and triple crosses, and semi-political/corporate backstabbing which was hard to grasp at time. Even after finishing the book, I’m still not all that sure I’m certain which side Kovacs pledges allegiance.
My rating: 4/5 stars. Not quite a sci-fi epic but still a deep and complex space opera which brings back the familiar concepts of Altered Carbon while unveiling a whole new playground of stars to explore.
Whilst I enjoyed the book, there are a lot of characters in Broken Angeles and a lot of scheming, double and triple crosses, and semi-political/corporate backstabbing which was hard to grasp at time. Even after finishing the book, I’m still not all that sure I’m certain which side Kovacs pledges allegiance.
My rating: 4/5 stars. Not quite a sci-fi epic but still a deep and complex space opera which brings back the familiar concepts of Altered Carbon while unveiling a whole new playground of stars to explore.
October 30, 2016
This book is just a punishing read. It checks all the right boxes: Cool future military technology, deadly mercenaries with cynical attitudes, evil corporate execs, radioactive battlefields, deadly nanotech, mysterious and powerful remains of an advanced alien race, double- and triple-crosses, and an utterly jaded, highly skilled Envoy/spy/super-soldier who literally blasts his way out of every situation, but feels appropriately regretful after creating a pile of corpses (or sometimes just a spray of gore on the ground and walls). I definitely liked the crime noir mystery aspects of his first Takeshi Kovacs book Altered Carbon, but this entry changes the setting and is if possible ever more grim and hyper-violent than the first, while managing to be less interesting at the same time. The author seems to be trying very hard to show us there are no innocents in war and industrial espionage, and well, I think we knew that already. And while Takeshi is still an interesting protagonist, his world-weary attitude started to wear on me too. I mean, if I had killed as many people as him and changed sides as often, and also been killed myself a dozen times, perhaps I wouldn't care about much either. But that doesn't make for an enjoyable story. Right now I'm feeling in the mood for something a bit more fun but still space opera, like Old Man's War or a Miles Vorkosigan novel.
August 6, 2022
Una parte di me era morta sulla Terra.
Un altro pianeta, un'altra custodia.
Cacciai dalla mente una faccia che ricordavo, ahimè, troppo bene e mi guardai attorno, per reimmettermi nel presente. Visi truccati a colori vivaci mi scrutarono dalle ombre, poi si voltarono.
Il primo libro della trilogia avente protagonista Takeshi Kovacs, un ex soldato che si ritrova suo malgrado ogni volta in un corpo nuovo e in mano a politici arroganti, spacciatori di droghe sintetiche, militari e corporativi senza scrupoli, era un furbo misto di noir, sesso, e fantascienza cyberpunk, praticamente un ben confezionato, se non originale, Blade Runner per il nuovo millennio.
Nel ricordo mi tornano i loro volti.
Non i volti delle custodie maori da combattimento, resistenti alle radiazioni, che portavano a Dangrek e tra le macerie fumanti di Sauberville. Vedo i volti che avevano prima di morire.
I volti che Semetaire comperò e rivendette al caos della guerra.
Con il secondo libro l'autore Richard K. Morgan rincara la dose, aggiungendo al già riuscito cocktail hard-boled, farcito di sesso esplicito ed ultraviolenza, una trama avvincente che attinge a piene mani da fantascienza militare e space opera, aggiungendo come ciliegina sulla torta un pizzico di heist movie, tanto per non farci mancare nulla.
« Si, grazie, Kovacs. » Hand si sfregò gli occhi. « Ho un dottorato in investimenti di conflitto. Non mi serve la lista di letture consigliate dal dilettante dotato. Quello che mi piacerebbe sapere, però, è cosa facevate voi due qui a quest'ora del mattino. »
Scambiai un'occhiata con Wardani. Lei scrollò le spalle.
« Scopavamo », disse.
Hand batté le palpebre.
« Oh », disse. « Di già. »
« Questo cosa vorrebbe... »
Un cambio di marcia ed atmosfera notevole rispetto al primo libro, con dosi massicce di world building che si integrano perfettamente con il flusso della narrazione senza mai annoiare.
« Ti renderai conto che stiamo bevendo un liquore da collezionisti. Magari dal sapore non si capisce, però adesso quel whisky vale soldi. Insomma. » Gesticolò alle proprie spalle, verso il punto dove prima esisteva Sauberville.
« Non ne produrranno altro. »
« Già. » Ruotai su me stesso, mi girai verso la città assassinata. Riempii fino all'orlo il bicchiere e lo alzai al cielo, « A loro. Finiamo la cazzo di bottiglia.. »
Un libro molto diverso da Altered Carbon, all'altezza se non addirittura meglio dell'originale, e che può essere letto anche se vi siete persi il primo volume.
« Non è posto per noi. Non siamo pronti. Avere inciampato nelle carte di navigazione spaziale è stato uno stupido errore del cazzo. Con le nostre forze, ci sarebbero occorse migliaia di anni per trovare questi pianeti e colonizzarli. Quel tempo era necessario, Kovacs. Dovevamo meritarci il nostro posto nello spazio interstellare. Invece ci siamo arrivati agganciandoci a una civiltà morta che non comprendiamo. »
Qualcuno potrà non gradire il fatto che tutti i personaggi femminili presenti nella storia prima o poi vogliano finire a fare sesso, virtuale e non, con il protagonista.
Notevole.
Un agotransfer di portata stellare è in grado di trasportarti in posti talmente lontani che non riesci più a mettere gli zeri per contare i chilometri, e in meno tempo di quello. Però prima devi essere digitalizzato, poi essere scaricato in una nuova custodia all'arrivo, e tutto questo richiede tempo e tecnologia. È un
processo.
Angeli spezzati resta comunque un seguito di tutto rispetto, avvincente e ben scritto, che richiede tutta l'attenzione del lettore per essere apprezzato appieno e per non perdersi nella marea di personaggi, dissertazioni filosofiche, colpi di scena e tutto il resto che trabocca da queste pagine: tante, ma che si leggono quasi tutte d'un fiato.
Avanzai, sparando.
Le pistole, le pistole a interfaccia, come rabbia protesa nelle mie mani. Il biofeedback delle placche palmari mi forniva dettagli. Alto impatto, proiettili a frammentazione, caricatori a piena capacità. La mia visuale, oltre alla furia, trovò una struttura nella cosa che mi si contorceva davanti e le Kalashnikov le scaricarono addosso il fuoco.
Alla faccia di tutte quelle trilogie che alla lunga annoiano o che soffrono della sindrome del secondo libro, e mannaggia a me che ancora non trovo il tempo di vedere la serie su Netflix.
Scrollai le spalle. « Sarà un combattimento alla pari. »
« E immagino che io non... »
« Tu devi restare tutta intera. Come ci si sente a essere indispensabili? »
« Da queste parti? » Vongsavath passò lo sguardo sulla spiaggia disseminata di resti umani. « Ci si sente fuori luogo. »
March 29, 2024
"Carbono Modificado" presenta a Takeshi Kovacs; "Ángeles rotos" lo lleva a la guerra. El Cyberpunk de la primera novela da paso a la ciencia ficción militar más incendiaria, en la que Morgan demuestra que tiene tanto dominio de los estilos como fundas tiene su personaje más destacado.
El primer libro me flipó. Muy original, muy adictivo, trepidante, misterioso, sucio y único. Este tiene más acción pero no compensa todo lo que pierde con respecto al primero.
Comparándolos este es mucho más flojo.
No sé si es muy mala suerte como lector pero las segundas partes de este maestro no me gustan.
"SOLO EL ACERO" fue una de las mas épicas novelas grimdark que he leído, independiente y espectacular pero fue leer el segundo libro, el tercero y fueron absolutamente decepcionantes.
Aquí me pasa lo mismo.
Esta novela es totalmente independiente de la primera. Una nueva historia en la que el protagonista sigue siendo Takeshi Kovacs, quien además es el narrador de toda la trama. Una llena de acción pero que no llega a la altura, interés, calidad Cyberpunk y que enganche como su predecesor.
Creo que hay demasiadas subtramas para mi gusto y pierde fuelle en algunas. El libro tarda demasiado en arrancar y cuando lo hace aunque cuenta con algo más de acción que el primero no es ni de lejos tan trepidante y adictivo en querer saber qué pasará. Seguir cómo funciona un fascinante mundo, las fundas, los personajes. Pero aquí todo me flojea.
El ritmo es lento, mucho.
Leer "Sólo el Acero" y "Carbono Modificado" que son independientes aunque cada uno forme una trilogía. Joyas de la CF y el Grimdark..✍️🎩
El primer libro me flipó. Muy original, muy adictivo, trepidante, misterioso, sucio y único. Este tiene más acción pero no compensa todo lo que pierde con respecto al primero.
Comparándolos este es mucho más flojo.
No sé si es muy mala suerte como lector pero las segundas partes de este maestro no me gustan.
"SOLO EL ACERO" fue una de las mas épicas novelas grimdark que he leído, independiente y espectacular pero fue leer el segundo libro, el tercero y fueron absolutamente decepcionantes.
Aquí me pasa lo mismo.
Esta novela es totalmente independiente de la primera. Una nueva historia en la que el protagonista sigue siendo Takeshi Kovacs, quien además es el narrador de toda la trama. Una llena de acción pero que no llega a la altura, interés, calidad Cyberpunk y que enganche como su predecesor.
Creo que hay demasiadas subtramas para mi gusto y pierde fuelle en algunas. El libro tarda demasiado en arrancar y cuando lo hace aunque cuenta con algo más de acción que el primero no es ni de lejos tan trepidante y adictivo en querer saber qué pasará. Seguir cómo funciona un fascinante mundo, las fundas, los personajes. Pero aquí todo me flojea.
El ritmo es lento, mucho.
Leer "Sólo el Acero" y "Carbono Modificado" que son independientes aunque cada uno forme una trilogía. Joyas de la CF y el Grimdark..✍️🎩
February 25, 2022
“'I thought that was what religion was. Simplification for the hard of thinking.'
He smiled. 'If that is the case, then the hard of thinking seem to be in the majority, do they not?'
'They always are.'”
Switching sub-genres and atmosphere like Kovacs switches skin suits! I really admire that Morgan went hard left with the second installment of the series and still deftly wove in some unifying threads.
This book has me wishing for more nuance in the GR rating system. I liked Altered Carbon better, but Broken Angels reads really well. I appreciated the odd feel surrounding the archaeological dig story, and the expanded view of Morgan's world. I'm fascinated by the still-mostly-offscreen presence of alien life and how deeply it affects everything.
Kovacs is an intriguing character, though we continue to view him from an emotional remove. I like that he's hard to pin down but I find myself having to work harder to invest in him.
While I more naturally preferred the gritty noire feel of Altered Carbon, I think the shift in this second volume goes a long way to highlight Morgan's versatility. I appreciated that the male gaze felt somewhat tempered in this installment, though the 'I have to screw you, crazy woman, for your own mental health' sex scene was outright ludicrous.
Overall, I found this to be a highly entertaining series. Broken Angels, for me, almost lives up to its predecessor, and easily outshines the third and final book.
He smiled. 'If that is the case, then the hard of thinking seem to be in the majority, do they not?'
'They always are.'”
Switching sub-genres and atmosphere like Kovacs switches skin suits! I really admire that Morgan went hard left with the second installment of the series and still deftly wove in some unifying threads.
This book has me wishing for more nuance in the GR rating system. I liked Altered Carbon better, but Broken Angels reads really well. I appreciated the odd feel surrounding the archaeological dig story, and the expanded view of Morgan's world. I'm fascinated by the still-mostly-offscreen presence of alien life and how deeply it affects everything.
Kovacs is an intriguing character, though we continue to view him from an emotional remove. I like that he's hard to pin down but I find myself having to work harder to invest in him.
While I more naturally preferred the gritty noire feel of Altered Carbon, I think the shift in this second volume goes a long way to highlight Morgan's versatility. I appreciated that the male gaze felt somewhat tempered in this installment, though the 'I have to screw you, crazy woman, for your own mental health' sex scene was outright ludicrous.
Overall, I found this to be a highly entertaining series. Broken Angels, for me, almost lives up to its predecessor, and easily outshines the third and final book.
August 11, 2025
Втора част от трилогията за Такеши Ковач ни отвежда на далечна планета... На Санкция IV се води война, като главният герой също е участник в конфликта. Скоро бившият емисар получава предложение, да се присъедини към изключително важна археологическа мисия, чиято цел е намирането на загадъчен артефакт. Важна част от екипа е археоложката Таня Вардани. Откритието, което тяхната експедиция прави, е от съдбоносно значение...
Романът отново притежава доста динамично действие, както и ценни мисли! Разликата между двете части е, че „Сразени ангели“ навлиза задълбочено във военната тематика , докато „Модифициран въглерод“ е предимно детективска... но и двете научнофантастични истории ме впечатлиха страшно силно!
„Да останеш неутрален, когато наоколо бушува война, не значи, че автоматично ще се отървеш от всичките си врагове. По-скоро ще загубиш и малкото приятели, които имаш, и ще си спечелиш подозрителност и завист от двете страни.“
„— Нямам излишни сили да мразя цели корпорации, Хенд. Какво бе казала Квел: „Разкъсай болното сърце на корпорацията и какво ще изтече отвътре?“
— Хора.
— Точно така. Хора. Хората и техните глупави групички. Покажи ми някой отделен отговорен служител, който ми е причинил зло, и аз ще му стопя „колодата“ за скрап. Покажи ми група, обединена от общата цел да ми стори зло, и аз ще се погрижа за тях, доколкото е по силите ми. Но не очаквай от мен да пилея време и сили в някаква абстрактна омраза.“
„Това беше любов. Идеално допълваща се страст, впримчена, дестилирана и усилена до предела на поносимост.“
„Здравият разум е антропоцентричен, Ковач. Той предполага, че щом хората правят нещо по определен начин, трябва да е така и при други технологични цивилизации.“
„— Жиан, съжалявам, ако те обиждам, но това е истината. Сигурно не желаеш да го чуеш, както повечето войници. Навлечеш ли военната униформа, ти признаваш, че се отказваш от правото си да разсъждаваш самостоятелно за вселената и връзката си с нея.
— Това е квелизъм — в гласа му се долови презрение.
— Може би. Но не пречи да е истина.“
Романът отново притежава доста динамично действие, както и ценни мисли! Разликата между двете части е, че „Сразени ангели“ навлиза задълбочено във военната тематика , докато „Модифициран въглерод“ е предимно детективска... но и двете научнофантастични истории ме впечатлиха страшно силно!
„Да останеш неутрален, когато наоколо бушува война, не значи, че автоматично ще се отървеш от всичките си врагове. По-скоро ще загубиш и малкото приятели, които имаш, и ще си спечелиш подозрителност и завист от двете страни.“
„— Нямам излишни сили да мразя цели корпорации, Хенд. Какво бе казала Квел: „Разкъсай болното сърце на корпорацията и какво ще изтече отвътре?“
— Хора.
— Точно така. Хора. Хората и техните глупави групички. Покажи ми някой отделен отговорен служител, който ми е причинил зло, и аз ще му стопя „колодата“ за скрап. Покажи ми група, обединена от общата цел да ми стори зло, и аз ще се погрижа за тях, доколкото е по силите ми. Но не очаквай от мен да пилея време и сили в някаква абстрактна омраза.“
„Това беше любов. Идеално допълваща се страст, впримчена, дестилирана и усилена до предела на поносимост.“
„Здравият разум е антропоцентричен, Ковач. Той предполага, че щом хората правят нещо по определен начин, трябва да е така и при други технологични цивилизации.“
„— Жиан, съжалявам, ако те обиждам, но това е истината. Сигурно не желаеш да го чуеш, както повечето войници. Навлечеш ли военната униформа, ти признаваш, че се отказваш от правото си да разсъждаваш самостоятелно за вселената и връзката си с нея.
— Това е квелизъм — в гласа му се долови презрение.
— Може би. Но не пречи да е истина.“
August 4, 2022
A good military sci-fi story with a very original splash of alien archaeology. Yes, really. We're reunited with Takeshi Kovacs in a new sleeve, kicking ass and taking names as is his way, except we're off in some distant future and faraway land where people are digging up the remains of an alien civilization much more advanced than our own. At the same time as fighting a planetwide war.
I found the story superbly original and fascinating. Kovacs was also awesome, extra caustic and jaded, extra badass, and always one step ahead. What I didn't love, and what kept me from giving it 4 stars, was how incomprehensible parts of it were. Why do some sci-fi and fantasy authors write books that have to be read five times for you to fully understand them? Think Gardens of the Moon. This seems to be popular with many readers so maybe they do this on purpose? Or is it actually a mistake? They thought it would be clear but then readers were all: what you talkin about? I followed along the main story well, but there were a lot of unexplained tidbits that I could tell were important somehow but were clear as mud. A reread would definitely help, but I'm not much of a rereader.
I enjoyed it but I can also understand why many a reviewer DNF'ed it. Probably depends mostly on your tolerance for confusion. I'm pretty sure I'll still read the third book.
I found the story superbly original and fascinating. Kovacs was also awesome, extra caustic and jaded, extra badass, and always one step ahead. What I didn't love, and what kept me from giving it 4 stars, was how incomprehensible parts of it were. Why do some sci-fi and fantasy authors write books that have to be read five times for you to fully understand them? Think Gardens of the Moon. This seems to be popular with many readers so maybe they do this on purpose? Or is it actually a mistake? They thought it would be clear but then readers were all: what you talkin about? I followed along the main story well, but there were a lot of unexplained tidbits that I could tell were important somehow but were clear as mud. A reread would definitely help, but I'm not much of a rereader.
I enjoyed it but I can also understand why many a reviewer DNF'ed it. Probably depends mostly on your tolerance for confusion. I'm pretty sure I'll still read the third book.
March 1, 2018
I truly didn't have a clue what I was getting into when I started this second book in the Kovacs trilogy. Altered Carbon was a VERY different beast.
That being said, we pick up with Kovacs thirty years after his reawakening on Earth and he's far down his lonesome path, giving up on private eye stuff and giving up his free will to join a war. An ongoing war that's either economics or ongoing economics by other means, that is. Give him something bloody to bite into and he's happy enough. It certainly doesn't hurt that his particular Envoy training gets him all the best gigs and privileges.
But is this a hard-bitten war novel? It certainly seems to be, with the wrinkle of easy sleeving into new flesh and the bitter by-line of corporations versus colonial governments.
But. Add an ancient civilization, the one that we stole the tech that turned us all into immortals, a fantastic find, and then turn it into an exploratory heist novel with enormous opportunities for cross and double-cross, and we've suddenly gone into great hardcore SF territory.
Kovacs is still fantastic and Morgan has a talent turning out complicated and memorable characters up and down the line. I felt sad for each death. And what beautiful deaths they were. This was some harsh territory filled with great mysteries. Kovac's intuition still runs as hot as his hallucinatory madness.
Few hard-SF novels are quite as memorable as this one, but that's more a feature of the characters than anything else. I've read some really amazing epics. Even so, this one is deeply satisfying and a winner on nearly all levels.
It IS NOT anything like a repeat of the first. Get that expectation out of the way and I'm sure everyone's enjoyment will be very high. :)
That being said, we pick up with Kovacs thirty years after his reawakening on Earth and he's far down his lonesome path, giving up on private eye stuff and giving up his free will to join a war. An ongoing war that's either economics or ongoing economics by other means, that is. Give him something bloody to bite into and he's happy enough. It certainly doesn't hurt that his particular Envoy training gets him all the best gigs and privileges.
But is this a hard-bitten war novel? It certainly seems to be, with the wrinkle of easy sleeving into new flesh and the bitter by-line of corporations versus colonial governments.
But. Add an ancient civilization, the one that we stole the tech that turned us all into immortals, a fantastic find, and then turn it into an exploratory heist novel with enormous opportunities for cross and double-cross, and we've suddenly gone into great hardcore SF territory.
Kovacs is still fantastic and Morgan has a talent turning out complicated and memorable characters up and down the line. I felt sad for each death. And what beautiful deaths they were. This was some harsh territory filled with great mysteries. Kovac's intuition still runs as hot as his hallucinatory madness.
Few hard-SF novels are quite as memorable as this one, but that's more a feature of the characters than anything else. I've read some really amazing epics. Even so, this one is deeply satisfying and a winner on nearly all levels.
It IS NOT anything like a repeat of the first. Get that expectation out of the way and I'm sure everyone's enjoyment will be very high. :)
August 29, 2025
Втората история за бившия емисар Такеши Ковач е много по-плътна и интригуваща.
Разселването на хората сред звездите е пряко последствие от разчетените случайно космически карти на загадъчно изчезналата още преди хилядолетия марсианска раса.
Артефактите останали след тях са навсякъде, но са трудно обясними и разгадаването им е опасно занимание.
А самите марсианци на Морган са прекрасни, вълнуващи и много плашещо извънземни!
На планетата Санкция IV върви поредната малка, но много мръсна човешка война. Ковач е там като лейтенант от Клина - една от фракциите от конфликта и е тежко ранен при поредната объркана наземна операция. В болницата с него се свързва човек, който твърди че знае, как може да се стигне до най-удивителния марсиански артефакт, открит от хората до момента.
Заровете са хвърлени и приключението започва!
Цитати:
"Не започвай война, ако можеш да я избегнеш. Защото избухне ли, тя бързо излиза изпод контрол."
"Здравият разум е антропоцентричен."
Естествено, няма никаква приемственост в българския превод на двете книги, но може би е за добро - тази е по-добре пресъздадена от първата, според мен.
Разселването на хората сред звездите е пряко последствие от разчетените случайно космически карти на загадъчно изчезналата още преди хилядолетия марсианска раса.
Артефактите останали след тях са навсякъде, но са трудно обясними и разгадаването им е опасно занимание.
А самите марсианци на Морган са прекрасни, вълнуващи и много плашещо извънземни!
На планетата Санкция IV върви поредната малка, но много мръсна човешка война. Ковач е там като лейтенант от Клина - една от фракциите от конфликта и е тежко ранен при поредната объркана наземна операция. В болницата с него се свързва човек, който твърди че знае, как може да се стигне до най-удивителния марсиански артефакт, открит от хората до момента.
Заровете са хвърлени и приключението започва!
Цитати:
"Не започвай война, ако можеш да я избегнеш. Защото избухне ли, тя бързо излиза изпод контрол."
"Здравият разум е антропоцентричен."
Естествено, няма никаква приемственост в българския превод на двете книги, но може би е за добро - тази е по-добре пресъздадена от първата, според мен.
July 3, 2023
This is a sequel to Altered Carbon. Even though this is a different type of book I recommend reading the first novel before jumping into this one. In this one we flash forward many years and Tak is fighting in a war. Someone comes up to him with a proposition that he knows where a Martian craft is and this would be a huge payoff for them. They assemble a team to retrieve this craft.
I liked this book but not as much as the first one. Like I said this is a different type of book and I believe that affected my enjoyment. This is a science fiction book mixed in with a military operations genre novel. The first book was a film noir set in a futuristic society. It was grim and gritty and I absolutely loved the atmosphere of the first book. I was hoping for more of that so I was a little disappointed it never happened. As for the story of this particular book it works and it was a nice read. You do have the grittiness(not on the same level as the first book) of a war in the background as our characters put their plan into motion. I did like the characters also as we get a varied cast on our team. The science fiction is on point too as at times it somewhat reminded me of The Expanse series which I love. With all these aspects I should have enjoyed this more but this book never truly grabbed me. And once again this might lay at my feet as I was expecting something different.
I liked this book with its different characters and sci-fi plot. It was worth a read but I definitely enjoyed the first book more. I thought the first book was unlike anything that I have read before. This was not the case with this one. For me it was science fiction and military that was likeable but which other books have done better. I am glad that I read it though before I start the second season of the television series. I am not sure if they will follow this particular story line and a part of me is hoping that they do not. I would like to see more of the rich atmosphere and setting that was in the first book and I am hoping the next book in this series gets back to that.
I liked this book but not as much as the first one. Like I said this is a different type of book and I believe that affected my enjoyment. This is a science fiction book mixed in with a military operations genre novel. The first book was a film noir set in a futuristic society. It was grim and gritty and I absolutely loved the atmosphere of the first book. I was hoping for more of that so I was a little disappointed it never happened. As for the story of this particular book it works and it was a nice read. You do have the grittiness(not on the same level as the first book) of a war in the background as our characters put their plan into motion. I did like the characters also as we get a varied cast on our team. The science fiction is on point too as at times it somewhat reminded me of The Expanse series which I love. With all these aspects I should have enjoyed this more but this book never truly grabbed me. And once again this might lay at my feet as I was expecting something different.
I liked this book with its different characters and sci-fi plot. It was worth a read but I definitely enjoyed the first book more. I thought the first book was unlike anything that I have read before. This was not the case with this one. For me it was science fiction and military that was likeable but which other books have done better. I am glad that I read it though before I start the second season of the television series. I am not sure if they will follow this particular story line and a part of me is hoping that they do not. I would like to see more of the rich atmosphere and setting that was in the first book and I am hoping the next book in this series gets back to that.
Read
April 2, 2019Broken Angels is the follow-up to Altered Carbon, the novel that put Richard K. Morgan on the map, a fusion of Blade Runner noir and far future hard science tied together with a skull slamming narrative.
Broken Angels is available in two unique editions:
Limited: 500 signed numbered hardcover copies
Lettered: 26 signed lettered copies, leather bound, housed in a custom tray case
This hardcover edition is marked PC of 500 edition produced, and is signed by Richard K. Morgan with a smiley face drawing.
Broken Angels is available in two unique editions:
Limited: 500 signed numbered hardcover copies
Lettered: 26 signed lettered copies, leather bound, housed in a custom tray case
This hardcover edition is marked PC of 500 edition produced, and is signed by Richard K. Morgan with a smiley face drawing.
September 1, 2019
Not great, or really even passably decent. While Altered Carbon was pretty poorly written too, it at least had a really interesting mystery that unfolded over the course of the book. This one had exactly one interesting thing that was barely explored.
It's an action heavy book, that is remarkably low on action. The characters are flat, the dialogue is cringey, the sex scenes are "niceguy" fantasies, and the story is so simplistic that if you just took out all of the times Kovacs talks endlessly about his neurochem conditioning and his wolf gene splicing, the book could easily have been around 100 pages instead of 350.
Am I still going to read the third one? Probably, because there is still potential for the story to be the highly engaging, mysterious, noir thriller variety that Altered Carbon was. We'll see.
It's an action heavy book, that is remarkably low on action. The characters are flat, the dialogue is cringey, the sex scenes are "niceguy" fantasies, and the story is so simplistic that if you just took out all of the times Kovacs talks endlessly about his neurochem conditioning and his wolf gene splicing, the book could easily have been around 100 pages instead of 350.
Am I still going to read the third one? Probably, because there is still potential for the story to be the highly engaging, mysterious, noir thriller variety that Altered Carbon was. We'll see.
July 1, 2011
The misplaced titles game: Broken Angels ought to be the title of some rancidly sweet early twentieth century morality tale of former prostitutes finding God in a halfway house. In reality, it’s a psychopathically violent pseudomilitary skiffy tale of humans mucking about in the remains of the long-gone Martian civilization; the entire main cast spends about two-thirds of this book dying in agony from radiation sickness, and the remaining third poking into their consciences and not liking what they find. It’s actually pretty funny in places.
Okay, sold. I liked this psychological splatterfest quite a lot. It’s perhaps the first book I’ve ever read that successfully conveyed the wonder and existential horror of finding yourself a tiny wriggling human in the remains of a civilization millions of times older and wiser and more advanced.
And the more important thing: like Altered Carbon, this is a book about people as meat. Meat that panics and fights and fucks and dies. Meat that thinks, sure, and connects, and cares. But the thinking is just nerve impulses moving fast enough to get a tiny bit meta on themselves, and the connection’s just an evolutionary necessity. This is a series whose protagonist has rewired his empathy and emotional reactions so much that he can really get at the truth of what he is: thinking meat.
And the reason I think that’s cool is that it’s fucking cool. All those people – including scientists, and it’s a surprising lot of them – who believe in an animist theory of consciousness are missing the point, I think. Because if you pin these guys down and say, “okay, but why do you really think there’s some ethereal unmeasurable thing that is us? Why isn’t it just nerve impulses?” They’ll squint at you and say, “well, there has to be. I mean, it can’t just be nerve impulses, how is that possible?”
I think a lot of animists are animists for the sensawunda. The way to be amazed at how unbelievably cool we are. And I think that’s missing the point. You think some woo-woo force field you can’t see or measure or explain or even agree on naming is cool?
I think it’s the other way around. I think the fact that our consciences and empathy and dreams are just nerve impulses is amazing. That gets my sensawunda going like nothing else ever has or probably will. I mean, existential awareness arising out of biology. How does it do that? That is the most incredible thing.
Um, anyway. Needless to say, Richard K. Morgan is not an animist. And his crunchy skiffy is all about this stuff, under the blood baths and the space horror. And I really dig that.
Okay, sold. I liked this psychological splatterfest quite a lot. It’s perhaps the first book I’ve ever read that successfully conveyed the wonder and existential horror of finding yourself a tiny wriggling human in the remains of a civilization millions of times older and wiser and more advanced.
And the more important thing: like Altered Carbon, this is a book about people as meat. Meat that panics and fights and fucks and dies. Meat that thinks, sure, and connects, and cares. But the thinking is just nerve impulses moving fast enough to get a tiny bit meta on themselves, and the connection’s just an evolutionary necessity. This is a series whose protagonist has rewired his empathy and emotional reactions so much that he can really get at the truth of what he is: thinking meat.
And the reason I think that’s cool is that it’s fucking cool. All those people – including scientists, and it’s a surprising lot of them – who believe in an animist theory of consciousness are missing the point, I think. Because if you pin these guys down and say, “okay, but why do you really think there’s some ethereal unmeasurable thing that is us? Why isn’t it just nerve impulses?” They’ll squint at you and say, “well, there has to be. I mean, it can’t just be nerve impulses, how is that possible?”
I think a lot of animists are animists for the sensawunda. The way to be amazed at how unbelievably cool we are. And I think that’s missing the point. You think some woo-woo force field you can’t see or measure or explain or even agree on naming is cool?
I think it’s the other way around. I think the fact that our consciences and empathy and dreams are just nerve impulses is amazing. That gets my sensawunda going like nothing else ever has or probably will. I mean, existential awareness arising out of biology. How does it do that? That is the most incredible thing.
Um, anyway. Needless to say, Richard K. Morgan is not an animist. And his crunchy skiffy is all about this stuff, under the blood baths and the space horror. And I really dig that.
May 7, 2018
I'm not really sure if this book can really be called "a second part of trilogy". I mean, a trilogy, how I perceive it, is three books, three parts of a single story, unified by one or more main characters, usually plus some secondary characters and a consistant plotline, which, more or less, starts at the first book, later evolves and the final part brings a closure. I might be jumping ahead too much, as I'm already reading the third book, though my review is only about the second one but still. There's nothing in this book, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING AND NO-ONE, that has at least remote connection to the "Altered Carbon", except Takeshi Covacs. And even he is a middle aged afroamerican/caribbean dude in this book. It's a perfect stand-alone novel, this one, and the third book is a pre-history. So, as far as the story goes, it is quite safe to say that the story starts and finishes with Altered Carbon. Sort of.
Now a few words about the book itself. It's a slower read than the first one, it gets too concentrated on minor details at one point around the middle, and the story is much, much less noir detective. Actually, it's more alike to a military sci-fi than a noir detective, but the plot is decent enough to tag along for a ride and in the end it grips you quite well. I might have enjoyed more answers/explanations, but they weren't necessary and not getting them served on a plate doesn't actually matter.
Takeshi is still Takeshi, but what I really liked is the fun feeling, that Richard Morgan is a pacifist. I've got a few drops of this feeling while reading Altered Carbon, but as this book is much more concentrated on military, rebellions and war in general, no wonder that I've felt it much more in this book. So yeah, the dude who writes all that gory murder and torture sequences is a pacifist. Quite an oxymoron, wouldn't you agree?
"Broken Angels" might not have that glitter and appeal of its predecessor, but it is a solid book nevertheles, and if you enjoyed the first book of the series, this one should definitely be on you list too. A solid 4*.
Now a few words about the book itself. It's a slower read than the first one, it gets too concentrated on minor details at one point around the middle, and the story is much, much less noir detective. Actually, it's more alike to a military sci-fi than a noir detective, but the plot is decent enough to tag along for a ride and in the end it grips you quite well. I might have enjoyed more answers/explanations, but they weren't necessary and not getting them served on a plate doesn't actually matter.
Takeshi is still Takeshi, but what I really liked is the fun feeling, that Richard Morgan is a pacifist. I've got a few drops of this feeling while reading Altered Carbon, but as this book is much more concentrated on military, rebellions and war in general, no wonder that I've felt it much more in this book. So yeah, the dude who writes all that gory murder and torture sequences is a pacifist. Quite an oxymoron, wouldn't you agree?
"Broken Angels" might not have that glitter and appeal of its predecessor, but it is a solid book nevertheles, and if you enjoyed the first book of the series, this one should definitely be on you list too. A solid 4*.
December 28, 2020
Indeed, this was very different from Altered Carbon, as many of my GR friends said before. And I had to get used to it. But maybe because I read A.C. a couple of years before, this wasn't too painful of a process. Although maybe - just maybe - I was a tad more into cyberpunk noir than into this kind of story, which seems more like a traditional hard sci-fi.
Nonetheless I really liked it. It had some "Aliens" flavour, which I can only welcome and surprisingly it also reminded me of the latest installments in "Leviathan Wakes" series. Just a little reminder - this was written a bit earlier than Leviathan series started.
Action packed story, smartassing mercenaries and Kovacs, whom I keep in rank of my fav male characters - beautiful combo. And let's not forget about Martians!!! (I almost did...)
I'm a bit upset that I haven't read it earlier.
Nonetheless I really liked it. It had some "Aliens" flavour, which I can only welcome and surprisingly it also reminded me of the latest installments in "Leviathan Wakes" series. Just a little reminder - this was written a bit earlier than Leviathan series started.
Action packed story, smartassing mercenaries and Kovacs, whom I keep in rank of my fav male characters - beautiful combo. And let's not forget about Martians!!! (I almost did...)
I'm a bit upset that I haven't read it earlier.
January 11, 2025
The second installment of the Kovacs series varies dramatically from the first, losing its neo-noir vibe and delving into a gritty war zone and ancient alien artifacts. The plotting, however, outshines the first volume in its complexity. Kovacs starts off working as a mercenary for the Protectorate, e.g., the UN ruling body of humanity. The current war (and there seems to always be some war among the 30+ human colonized worlds) at Sanction IV involves a rebel force led by Kemp with the corporate cartels backing the Protectorate (of course). The main industry on Sanction IV concerns Martian artifacts, which seem to litter the planet. We still have no idea what happened to the Martians, but their interstellar civilization collapse some 100,000 years or so ago. Humanity basically pirated some of their tech and used it to colonize the same stars the ancient Martians did.
While recovering from the latest battle, Kovacs meets a guy, Jan Schneider, a Kempest rebel, who tells Kovacs that an intact Martian space ship has been discovered, along with a 'gate' on the planet that takes you their. How would he like to organize a mission to claim it? Just for the money. After some convincing, Kovacs bites. First they need a sleazy corporate backer and the 'scratchers' who originally found the gate/ship...
While the Martian story still remains a mystery, Morgan gives us much more details about how human society runs. The push to the stars was led by corporate backing, only slightly reined in by the Protectorate. Due to the ability to digitize consciousness, some humans have achieved immortality of a sort; this 'option', however, takes money, and most people do not have the cash for even a new 'sleeve' when their body wears out. Live is still cheap for most. Political leaders, along with corporate VIPs, however, have the cash and essentially a plutocracy has emerged. Rebels like Kemp want a better system, but the Protectorate has been putting down revolutions for ages.
Much of the story here involves the prep work for finding the gate and Martian ship; no one has even found an intact Martian ship before. Kovacs, along with a renegade archeologist, a band of revived/resleeved special ops soldiers and a corporate VIP team up to find and 'mark' the ship as their salvage...
I love the grittiness of the tale and the intricate plotting that keeps you guessing until the last page. While this installment lost some of the novelty regarding the tech, it makes up for it in political intrigue. I can see why this got mixed reviews from fans of Altered Carbon, but I dug it just the same. 4.5 violent stars!!
While recovering from the latest battle, Kovacs meets a guy, Jan Schneider, a Kempest rebel, who tells Kovacs that an intact Martian space ship has been discovered, along with a 'gate' on the planet that takes you their. How would he like to organize a mission to claim it? Just for the money. After some convincing, Kovacs bites. First they need a sleazy corporate backer and the 'scratchers' who originally found the gate/ship...
While the Martian story still remains a mystery, Morgan gives us much more details about how human society runs. The push to the stars was led by corporate backing, only slightly reined in by the Protectorate. Due to the ability to digitize consciousness, some humans have achieved immortality of a sort; this 'option', however, takes money, and most people do not have the cash for even a new 'sleeve' when their body wears out. Live is still cheap for most. Political leaders, along with corporate VIPs, however, have the cash and essentially a plutocracy has emerged. Rebels like Kemp want a better system, but the Protectorate has been putting down revolutions for ages.
Much of the story here involves the prep work for finding the gate and Martian ship; no one has even found an intact Martian ship before. Kovacs, along with a renegade archeologist, a band of revived/resleeved special ops soldiers and a corporate VIP team up to find and 'mark' the ship as their salvage...
I love the grittiness of the tale and the intricate plotting that keeps you guessing until the last page. While this installment lost some of the novelty regarding the tech, it makes up for it in political intrigue. I can see why this got mixed reviews from fans of Altered Carbon, but I dug it just the same. 4.5 violent stars!!
March 9, 2015
I didn't think this was a good follow up to Altered Carbon, a book I really liked. In it, Takeshi Kovacs is a 25th century ex-military noir detective who has been resleeved (lived quite a few lives) and who solves a murder/suicide mystery. It's a good tale. I expected more of the same. Now, in a sequel, you do expect the author to deviate a LITTLE from the original, or it'd be more of the same. Same with music. But this? In Broken Angels, Takeshi Kovacs is a mercenary who is persuaded to become a ... mercenary to find some leftover Martian garbage that may or may not be worth a fortune. And he has to do it in a nuclear war zone. Pretty different from the first. And he's changed in this book. He's darker. He's more introspective. Not necessarily bad things -- just different. Also the sex is different. In the first book, it fit the plot. In this book, you get the most ridiculous sex scene that's perhaps ever been written, in VR no less. Stupid. The sex scenes seem forced and I didn't like them. They also all seem boilerplate to me. All of the women do all of the same things in exactly the same order to Kovacs, I guess exactly as Morgan likes in real life. Gag. I didn't finish this book. It wasn't exactly terrible. I just started reading other books and set it down. After it had been on my table for a month, I realized I just was no longer interested, so I'm giving up on it. 'Fraid I can't recommend it.
February 1, 2018
Richard Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs novels have a stellar reputation among hard core science fiction fans. I have previously enjoyed reading Morgan's first book in the series, the exciting
Altered Carbon
, which introduces the Takeshi Kovacs character to the world.
In the second book Broken Angels , Morgan puts Kovacs in another compelling and very dangerous situation, while still maintaining the character's unlikeability. The themes of the first book, explicit sexuality, corporate greed, capitalist malfeasance, dangerous technological advances, and dehumanizing violence, all return in even greater amounts in the sequel.
Altered Carbon made Richard Morgan seem like the second coming of Dashiell Hammett with Takeshi Kovacs a 24th century Sam Spade, like a cross between Blade Runner and The Maltese Falcon. I am chosing movies to relate Morgan's book to on purpose. Although Broken Angels is very different from Altered Carbon, it is also so vividly written that the story has substantial cinematic potential. It really seems like it is only a matter of when, not if, we will see major motion pictures based on the works of Richard K. Morgan.
The story this time begins with Kovacs as a mercenary fighting in a civil war on a planet called Sanction IV, as part of a unit called Carrera's Wedge which is helping a company called the Mandrake Corporation achieve its goals during a bloody, planet-wide, military conflict. One of the basic tenets of Broken Angels is that war is commerce conducted by other means (and vice versa!)
Kovacs leaves his unit when he meets Jan Schneider, who says he needs help for a scheme to smuggle an ancient Martian treasure off-world. In order to make their score they need to break out an archaeologist named Tanya Wardani, which Kovacs does and then enlists a mid-level executive named Matthias Hand at the Mandrake Corporation to finance the logistics of the retrieval operation, which of course have to occur dead smack in the middle of the war zone.
The story turns into a cross between Raiders of the Lost Ark and (the first exploration-heavy hour of) Alien. Again, as in the first book, the most important draw is Kovacs, with his near-superhuman reflexes and situational loyalty. Kovacs find and trains an elite team of experienced warriors to go on the expedition with him, but really the only person in the team that we care about is Kovacs. Kovacs protests (too much) that he only cares about his survival as well but his actions belie this expressed belief. Morgan's action scenes are another highlight of the book, especially when told from Kovacs’ perspective and internal monologue.
Broken Angels is a memorable entry into the genre of hard-core, hard-bitten military science fiction by another talented British writer. Fans of Peter F. Hamilton and Alastair Reynolds (which includes yours truly) will be thrilled to discover another author who possesses their similar adeptness at creating rich, believable future worlds peopled with intelligent characters fighting battles against powerful (and sometimes alien) forces.
Title: Broken Angels.
Author: Richard K. Morgan
Length: 384 pages.
Publisher: Del Rey.
Published: March 2, 2004.
OVERALL GRADE: A (4.0/4.0).
PLOT: A+.
IMAGERY: A.
IMPACT: A-.
WRITING: A.
In the second book Broken Angels , Morgan puts Kovacs in another compelling and very dangerous situation, while still maintaining the character's unlikeability. The themes of the first book, explicit sexuality, corporate greed, capitalist malfeasance, dangerous technological advances, and dehumanizing violence, all return in even greater amounts in the sequel.
Altered Carbon made Richard Morgan seem like the second coming of Dashiell Hammett with Takeshi Kovacs a 24th century Sam Spade, like a cross between Blade Runner and The Maltese Falcon. I am chosing movies to relate Morgan's book to on purpose. Although Broken Angels is very different from Altered Carbon, it is also so vividly written that the story has substantial cinematic potential. It really seems like it is only a matter of when, not if, we will see major motion pictures based on the works of Richard K. Morgan.
The story this time begins with Kovacs as a mercenary fighting in a civil war on a planet called Sanction IV, as part of a unit called Carrera's Wedge which is helping a company called the Mandrake Corporation achieve its goals during a bloody, planet-wide, military conflict. One of the basic tenets of Broken Angels is that war is commerce conducted by other means (and vice versa!)
Kovacs leaves his unit when he meets Jan Schneider, who says he needs help for a scheme to smuggle an ancient Martian treasure off-world. In order to make their score they need to break out an archaeologist named Tanya Wardani, which Kovacs does and then enlists a mid-level executive named Matthias Hand at the Mandrake Corporation to finance the logistics of the retrieval operation, which of course have to occur dead smack in the middle of the war zone.
The story turns into a cross between Raiders of the Lost Ark and (the first exploration-heavy hour of) Alien. Again, as in the first book, the most important draw is Kovacs, with his near-superhuman reflexes and situational loyalty. Kovacs find and trains an elite team of experienced warriors to go on the expedition with him, but really the only person in the team that we care about is Kovacs. Kovacs protests (too much) that he only cares about his survival as well but his actions belie this expressed belief. Morgan's action scenes are another highlight of the book, especially when told from Kovacs’ perspective and internal monologue.
Broken Angels is a memorable entry into the genre of hard-core, hard-bitten military science fiction by another talented British writer. Fans of Peter F. Hamilton and Alastair Reynolds (which includes yours truly) will be thrilled to discover another author who possesses their similar adeptness at creating rich, believable future worlds peopled with intelligent characters fighting battles against powerful (and sometimes alien) forces.
Title: Broken Angels.
Author: Richard K. Morgan
Length: 384 pages.
Publisher: Del Rey.
Published: March 2, 2004.
OVERALL GRADE: A (4.0/4.0).
PLOT: A+.
IMAGERY: A.
IMPACT: A-.
WRITING: A.
June 19, 2015
Takeshi Kovacs is back in black (literally) and badasserer than ever.
Also back is narrator Todd Mclaren who gave a solid audio performance. I can't imagine anyone else as the voice of Kovacs. I don't know how I'd like him for other books but he has been a good fit for this series so far.
This book pretty much reads as a standalone. You don't need to read the first book at all to enjoy this and pick up what's going on. It's a completely different story. Completely different sub genre even.
Where Altered Carbon has been described as Hardboiled/Noir Cyberpunk, this book is more Military Sci-Fi/Cyberpunk with a hint of Space Opera. In many ways Broken Angels reminds me a lot of Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space books. There's a derelict spaceship, an extinct avian alien culture with bits of alien tech strewn across the galaxy. There's the question of what happened to them? There's the concept of immortality by digitizing consciousness.
Yep - if you took Alastair Reynolds and overdosed him on testosterone and jacked him up on tetrameth (add a lot of swearing and two overly long sex scenes) you would get Broken Angels. Where Reynolds would use understated hints of violence and build to a crescendo to get the blood pumping - the first hint of violence Morgan gives you is when you're ducking the body parts after your buddy's been hit with explosive plasma rounds or when you're wearing the goup that used to be your partner.
This story is set some 30 years after the events of Altered Carbon on the war ravaged planet Sanction IV. Kovacs has hired himself out to the side with the most attractive fringe benefits and afterlife policy. hooking up with the mercenary company Carera's Wedge, the Protectorates heavy hitters, where they stick him in a combat sleeve with state of the art military Neurochem and lets not forget the Wedge special - Wolf Splice Gene, earning Kovacs the nickname Wedge Wolf.
Of course, the only person Kovacs really works for is Kovacs and when he gets the offer of a lifetime to help stake a claim on the alien artefact find of the millenium, he's not adverse to taking his dual Kalashnikov pistols and going AWOL. The mission, too big to do on his own, requires a crack team. But a team of specialists who aren't otherwise occupied in the war are in short supply among the living. Kovacs will have to call on the dead, paying a visit to the Soul Market, where the countless cortical stacks, scavenged from the battlefield and freshly peeled from the spines of warriors and civilians alike, are sold by the kilo. Ghosts hired to root around in haunted remains of an alien civilization.
But aliens have there own ghosts too.
5 stars.
Altered Carbon Review
Revelation Space Review
Also back is narrator Todd Mclaren who gave a solid audio performance. I can't imagine anyone else as the voice of Kovacs. I don't know how I'd like him for other books but he has been a good fit for this series so far.
This book pretty much reads as a standalone. You don't need to read the first book at all to enjoy this and pick up what's going on. It's a completely different story. Completely different sub genre even.
Where Altered Carbon has been described as Hardboiled/Noir Cyberpunk, this book is more Military Sci-Fi/Cyberpunk with a hint of Space Opera. In many ways Broken Angels reminds me a lot of Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space books. There's a derelict spaceship, an extinct avian alien culture with bits of alien tech strewn across the galaxy. There's the question of what happened to them? There's the concept of immortality by digitizing consciousness.
Yep - if you took Alastair Reynolds and overdosed him on testosterone and jacked him up on tetrameth (add a lot of swearing and two overly long sex scenes) you would get Broken Angels. Where Reynolds would use understated hints of violence and build to a crescendo to get the blood pumping - the first hint of violence Morgan gives you is when you're ducking the body parts after your buddy's been hit with explosive plasma rounds or when you're wearing the goup that used to be your partner.
This story is set some 30 years after the events of Altered Carbon on the war ravaged planet Sanction IV. Kovacs has hired himself out to the side with the most attractive fringe benefits and afterlife policy. hooking up with the mercenary company Carera's Wedge, the Protectorates heavy hitters, where they stick him in a combat sleeve with state of the art military Neurochem and lets not forget the Wedge special - Wolf Splice Gene, earning Kovacs the nickname Wedge Wolf.
Of course, the only person Kovacs really works for is Kovacs and when he gets the offer of a lifetime to help stake a claim on the alien artefact find of the millenium, he's not adverse to taking his dual Kalashnikov pistols and going AWOL. The mission, too big to do on his own, requires a crack team. But a team of specialists who aren't otherwise occupied in the war are in short supply among the living. Kovacs will have to call on the dead, paying a visit to the Soul Market, where the countless cortical stacks, scavenged from the battlefield and freshly peeled from the spines of warriors and civilians alike, are sold by the kilo. Ghosts hired to root around in haunted remains of an alien civilization.
But aliens have there own ghosts too.
5 stars.
Altered Carbon Review
Revelation Space Review
June 25, 2010
4.5 to 5.0 stars. Great follow up to Altered Carbon. The Takeshi Kovacs novels are original, inventive, high octane SF at its best. HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION!!
November 1, 2023
[ESP/ENG]
Secuela de Carbono alterado con el mismo protagonista y ya. La historia es interesante en sí, aunque da demasiados rodeos para llegar hasta donde quiere ir.
Alguno de los pasajes es un poco lioso, aunque al final se acaba resolviendo casi todo.
Mención especial, negativamente, a la forma de escritura del autor, no sé si de manera voluntaria o por algún fallo de maquetación, pero hay infinidad de frases interrumpidas por puntos. Cansa. La forma de leer. Así escrita.
Iré a por el cierre de la trilogía Woken Furies, promete más que este.
------------------------
Sequel to Altered CarbonAltered carbon, with the same protagonist and that's it. The story itself is interesting, although it takes too many detours to get where it wants to go.
Some of the passages are a bit confusing, although in the end almost everything ends up being resolved.
Special mention, negatively, to the author's writing style, I don't know if voluntarily or due to some layout error, but there are countless sentences interrupted by periods. Tired. The way to read. Thus written.
I'll go for the closing of the trilogy Woken Furies, it promises more than this one.
Secuela de Carbono alterado con el mismo protagonista y ya. La historia es interesante en sí, aunque da demasiados rodeos para llegar hasta donde quiere ir.
Alguno de los pasajes es un poco lioso, aunque al final se acaba resolviendo casi todo.
Mención especial, negativamente, a la forma de escritura del autor, no sé si de manera voluntaria o por algún fallo de maquetación, pero hay infinidad de frases interrumpidas por puntos. Cansa. La forma de leer. Así escrita.
Iré a por el cierre de la trilogía Woken Furies, promete más que este.
------------------------
Sequel to Altered CarbonAltered carbon, with the same protagonist and that's it. The story itself is interesting, although it takes too many detours to get where it wants to go.
Some of the passages are a bit confusing, although in the end almost everything ends up being resolved.
Special mention, negatively, to the author's writing style, I don't know if voluntarily or due to some layout error, but there are countless sentences interrupted by periods. Tired. The way to read. Thus written.
I'll go for the closing of the trilogy Woken Furies, it promises more than this one.
March 7, 2014
Takeshi Kovacs knew the dame was trouble from the moment he met her ... Of course, in Broken Angels the dame in question doesn't come slinking into his 1940s gumshoe office; instead, as the story opens Takeshi and some, um, associates have been hired to retrieve the dame in question, Tanya Wardani, from a prison camp. Wardani's an archaeologue, see, and there's this alien artifact in a cave ...
This is a very different book than Altered Carbon -- Altered Carbon was a consciously noir mystery set amongst the gleaming spires and neon-littered slums of 26th Century Earth; Broken Angels takes place some 30 years later on a distant, war-torn planet and is basically a mixture of military SF and alien discovery -- like if the monolith from 2001, instead of being on the Moon, had been hidden somewhere in the Mekong River delta circa 1972. Kovacs is the only returning character from the first book, and even he's in an entirely different body.
As you'd expect, archaeologue in tow, they recruit a team of professional trouble-solvers to accompany them to the dig; as you'd expect, things go horribly, horribly wrong ...
I did enjoy this book; partially because of its very deliberate contrast to the first book; partially because it actually filled in a lot of details about Kovacs' world (especially the "Martians" whose abandoned bits of tech we've found lying around on many worlds) and because I just like Kovacs' narrative voice. (Even if I suspect the man himself would be a bit of a dick.)
This is a very different book than Altered Carbon -- Altered Carbon was a consciously noir mystery set amongst the gleaming spires and neon-littered slums of 26th Century Earth; Broken Angels takes place some 30 years later on a distant, war-torn planet and is basically a mixture of military SF and alien discovery -- like if the monolith from 2001, instead of being on the Moon, had been hidden somewhere in the Mekong River delta circa 1972. Kovacs is the only returning character from the first book, and even he's in an entirely different body.
As you'd expect, archaeologue in tow, they recruit a team of professional trouble-solvers to accompany them to the dig; as you'd expect, things go horribly, horribly wrong ...
I did enjoy this book; partially because of its very deliberate contrast to the first book; partially because it actually filled in a lot of details about Kovacs' world (especially the "Martians" whose abandoned bits of tech we've found lying around on many worlds) and because I just like Kovacs' narrative voice. (Even if I suspect the man himself would be a bit of a dick.)
February 15, 2020
Altered Carbon was better but Broken Angels was still a terrific Sci-fi thriller. In Takeshi Kovacs second outing ,it finds him 50 years on in another sleeve serving in a mercenary unit. Whereas Altered Carbon was a hard boiled detective noir Broken Angels is more of a military sci-fi/heist novel. Kovacs is a brilliant character ; the very definition of an anti-hero ,and yet, in this book shows a welcome compassionate streak. Broken Angels is written with Richard Morgan's customary energy and skill delivering on all the things we have come to expect from him, i.e; ultra violent and sexually explicit. Very good indeed and very much looking forward to seeing it on Netflix at the end of the month.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 6, 2011
While not as good as Altered Carbon, this still has enough going on to be interesting. It's more a creepy ghost story than a mystery, and for a while there's some excellent suspense - Who might be sabotaging the crew from within? Who might come out from the other side of that Martian gate? And what will those crazy nanobots think of next? Be forwarned, though, that herein lies the absolute worst sex scene that has ever been put to paper. The fact that is takes place in virtual reality is no excuse.
April 7, 2020
Me gustó más este libro que el anterior de la saga (y ya es decir). En el primero, lo que me atrajo fue el mundo y el personaje de Kovacs, pero la trama era quizás demasiado "detectivesca" para mi gusto. En este segundo volumen continúan el mundo y el personaje, y el argumento va mucho más en línea con mis preferencias. Es ciencia ficción bélica y con mucha acción, claro, no podía ser de otra manera, pero creo que hay mucho más sentido de la maravilla en esta segunda parte que en la primera. Y se puede leer de forma independiente.
July 28, 2019
Not as exciting as the first one. Plenty of unnecessary sex scenes. In altered carbon the scenes were there for the plot, but this time.... meh. Nevertheless a pretty good read.
July 31, 2019
Ενδιαφέρουσα συνέχεια των περιπετειών του Τακέσι, στο γνωστό νουάρ/cyber-sci-fi ύφος.
August 8, 2022
Seconda avventura per Takeshi Kovacs, altro corpo, altro mondo, nuova guerra da affrontare.
Messo da parte il caso investigativo del primo entusiasmante romanzo, Morgan tocca altri temi e circostanze care ai lettori di fantascienza lontane dal noir. Questa volta siamo su un altro pianeta nel bel mezzo di un conflitto nucleare tra due grandi potenze e l'ex spedi sarò reclutato nuovamente per adempiere ad una nuova missione.
Scopo della missione: formare un gruppo di mercenari per difendere e attivare uno strano portale dimensionale di natura aliena che porta in un luogo sconosciuto della galassia.
Le abilità di Takeshi saranno come al solito determinanti.
Romanzo prettamente di fantascienza action con una sorprendente incursione alla scoperta di una civiltà aliena.
Forse meno temi profondi e una maggiore apertura all'azione rispetto al primo romanzo lo portano ad essere un tantino inferiore.
Messo da parte il caso investigativo del primo entusiasmante romanzo, Morgan tocca altri temi e circostanze care ai lettori di fantascienza lontane dal noir. Questa volta siamo su un altro pianeta nel bel mezzo di un conflitto nucleare tra due grandi potenze e l'ex spedi sarò reclutato nuovamente per adempiere ad una nuova missione.
Scopo della missione: formare un gruppo di mercenari per difendere e attivare uno strano portale dimensionale di natura aliena che porta in un luogo sconosciuto della galassia.
Le abilità di Takeshi saranno come al solito determinanti.
Romanzo prettamente di fantascienza action con una sorprendente incursione alla scoperta di una civiltà aliena.
Forse meno temi profondi e una maggiore apertura all'azione rispetto al primo romanzo lo portano ad essere un tantino inferiore.
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