Excellent second installment in Takeshi Kovacs series. Plenty of action, twists and turns and just as you think you got it all comes the biggest turn ever :-) Highly recommended. ( )

After the fantastic, 'Altered Carbon', it was straight into this, the second book in the trilogy.   And after 'Altered Carbon' i had exceptionally high hopes for this book, which, admittedly, one should maybe not do, but one can but hope.   Did it meet the expectations?

Not quite.

But i certainly wasn't disappointed.   Like 'Altered Carbon', it kept me turning the pages, but whereas 'Altered Carbon' is set on Earth, 'Broken Angels' is set on a planet far, far away.   And its that one single difference that, for me at least, lets this book down a tiny, tiny bit.   I just didn't feel involved any more, because it's so far out from the world as i know it that it doesn't capture me like a book set on Earth does.

Normally one doesn't notice these things.   Usually a sci-fi trilogy is set solely on other planets in a different time with lots of the same characters re-appearing, and it all just flows nicely and feels complete within itself.   But this jump from a story based mostly on Earth, with towns and places that we can all relate to, to being based completely on another planet, far, far away, with only one common character, is like reading something that's not a trilogy any more.

Having said that though, it's still a good book.   But it's just not the flowing trilogy that i had hoped for and expected from the first book.   As the saying goes... 'Expectation is the mother of all fuck ups'.

Yeah, maybe i shouldn't have expected that, and to be fair, this book does point out that if you don't have any expectations and then you will be ready to deal with anything.

Anyways, now i'm not expecting anything with the third book, 'Woken Furies', but more of Takeshi Kovacs running amok while killing lots of people, causing lots of mayhem and thinking lots of philosophical points to justify doing so along the way.   And he's already doing that in the first 10 pages.

Although, maybe i lied.   I do expect a couple more rampant sex scenes written into this and i'll be quite disappointed if they're not there.   Both the first two books have had 2 very descriptive and very inventive sex scenes, so this book had better do as well.

All in all though, to sum it up, a very good read if you like lots of death, mayhem, corporate villains, with some highly descriptive sex scenes thrown in.   Oh, and i almost forgot... there's even some Martians as well -- yeah, like real Martians. ( )

Je n'avais pas trop apprécié [b:Altered Carbon|40445|Altered Carbon (Takeshi Kovacs, #1)|Richard K. Morgan|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1375223500s/40445.jpg|2095852] que j'avais trouvé trop grandiloquent, trop cinématique. Anges déchus me plait plus : le style de Morgan se prête mieux à l'aventure paramilitaire qu'à l'enquête discrète. Ici, les explosions, les espaces, les combats sont plus grandioses, l'intrigue est moins "subtile".

En gros l'histoire consiste en la recherche archéologique autour d'une antique porte martienne. Les conglomérats et les armées tueraient pour ce qu'il y a derrière. Il faudra donc trouver un soutien suffisant (à la fois financier et stratégique) pour l'ouvrir.

Ça se lit vite et ça ne laisse pas de trace. ( )

Takeshi Kovacs is a great character, but here his cynicism was a bit much for me. It’s been years since I read Altered Carbon, the first book in the series, but I remember the character and narrative voice working better, there. It had a hard boiled quality that felt at home in the story.

Broken Angels falls into a different genre, I think: military SF. There were tons of characters, many of whom had clunky introductions and insufficient “screen time” to build sympathy. It all feels like a rushed follow-up to fulfill a two-book contract. (I have no idea if he actually had a two-book contract.)

In another few years, I’ll probably spot Woken Furies up on the shelf and pull it down when I need something thrilling and adventuresome. Morgan lays a lot of groundwork here for interesting stories about ancient alien cultures and more post-human weirdness. ( )

Author took a weird choice shifting from a cyberpunk detective novel to like a cyberpunk indiana jones. Made some elements feel a little more forced, however also let him world-build again this time looking at the future of war as opposed to the future of capitalism ( )

Perhaps it was just that this was an audiobook version and was hard to follow, but I gave up at about 95% because I didn't really know what was going on anymore, and didn't really care. I think I had lost interest much earlier, and so I wasn't paying close enough attention; I started losing track of the characters and the story line. I kept going because I enjoyed the first book, Altered Carbon, and also because I was watching the Netflix series based on that book. I guess I'll probably give up on this series. ( )

A thouroughly enjoyable read; exciting, depressing, believable, full of plot twists and layers, visceral and gruesome without being torture porn. Looking forward to part three! ( )

Arguably first one is better, but I'll read the third for sure ( )

Don't think I ever got over the fact that this book isn't an SF/mystery/noir like the first book was, and instead takes its cues from military SF, and a cross between Clarke's Rendezvous With Rama, and Pohl's Heechee novels.

That's not a bad thing and, as a hardcore SF novel, it's great. I guess I was just looking for another novel similar to Altered Carbon, so I wasn't really invested in the ride I just took.

Don't get me wrong, it's a good novel, just not the novel I wanted at this time. The problem is me, not the novel. ( )

Decades after the events of Altered Carbon, Takeshi Kovacs continues life as a killer for hire. Where he played the role of a detective in Altered Carbon, Kovacs is more of a soldier in this one. While events are mentioned in passing, Broken Angels can be read without Altered Carbon. For those who watched the Netflix show, this book is thankfully nothing like season 2.

War rages on the world of Sanction IV between a corporate backed government and revolutionaries/terrorists, and Kovacs starts off having been almost killed in the fighting. Fellow soldier Schneider talks to him about an archaeological find that would make them wealthy enough to retire from soldiering. Broken Angels leaves behind the noir feel of its predecessor, replacing it with suspense, action, and Martians. A bit of horror gets in there too. For fans of the the mystery approach, a small one is on-going through the second half of the book, and completely changed my view of one character when Takeshi confronts the culprit at the end.

Takeshi's cynicism stands out more this time around, likely as a result of the war going on around him. While the tone is darker overall, there is more levity in the banter between Kovacs and his companions. Still, I think the noir of Altered Carbon fit the character better.

The worldbuilding is expanded here, and we learn that some of humanity's advancements come from a lost Martian people. Not a new concept in sci-fi, but putting it in the conflict between corporate fatcats who only see a way to advance their status vs. self-righteous revolutionaries who giggle at the thought of using the alien weapons to kill people was a nice touch.

Overall, I think I preferred Altered Carbon, but Broken Angels was a decent read. ( )

Like isn't the right word. The book was interesting and engaging in a way I don't usually find, but where in the first of the series, I found some sympathy with the various characters, this time around... not so much. An understanding of the whys and wherefores, certainly. Some lovely pacing, and even better world building. But not a lot of like. ( )

3.5 stars for this one.

Not as strong as Altered Carbon, Broken Angels is still a decent book. Where Altered Carbon was more of a murder mystery, this book is straight up military science fiction. The plot was interesting, and I especially enjoyed learning more about the Martians.

I had some problems with many of the secondary characters. While there was just a handful of them, they weren't very developed, distinctive, or memorable. For me, they just blurred into each other and most of the time I had no idea who was who.

The use of unfinished sentences, and breaking sentences into several parts with noticeable silences between the parts, were very distracting when listening to the audiobook. Several times I wondered if my download had been slightly corrupted causing these glitches.

Even though I had a few problems with this book, I'll probably pick up the last book in the Takeshi Kovacs trilogy - Woken Furies. ( )

3.5 stars for this one.

Not as strong as Altered Carbon, Broken Angels is still a decent book. Where Altered Carbon was more of a murder mystery, this book is straight up military science fiction. The plot was interesting, and I especially enjoyed learning more about the Martians.

I had some problems with many of the secondary characters. While there was just a handful of them, they weren't very developed, distinctive, or memorable. For me, they just blurred into each other and most of the time I had no idea who was who.

The use of unfinished sentences, and breaking sentences into several parts with noticeable silences between the parts, were very distracting when listening to the audiobook. Several times I wondered if my download had been slightly corrupted causing these glitches.

Even though I had a few problems with this book, I'll probably pick up the last book in the Takeshi Kovacs trilogy - Woken Furies. ( )

Kinda schlocky, but Morgan still knows how to generate excitement. 4 stars might be a little high, but I liked it. ( )

I like the world he's built for Kovacs, and how it's a essentially a spy thriller in space with ancient aliens. Cool book, and a pretty good sequel. ( )

This review is also on Woken Furies (#2 and #3 in the Altered Carbon series)

First I read Altered Carbon and was so touched by it that I then read the other two in the series: Broken Angels and Woken Furies.

So during the day I am tooling around the Baltic: Russia, Finland, Sweden, then Germany. I am soaking up all this stuff from the past, most of it brilliant. By night, however, I am soaking up all this stuff from the future, all of it brilliant.

The main protagonist, Takeshi Kovacs, like all good mass murdering heroes, has some moral dilemmas about what he does for a living. The good thing about sci-fi is that it doesn’t get its head stuck up its arse Moral dilemmas are dealt with in a very pragmatic fashion that usually involves someone dying, sometimes the wrong person.

This is not the thinking person’s sci-fi, it is more the feeling person’s sci-fi. I am assuming in writing this that you also like sci-fi and have the same snobbish pretensions that I do.

One real stand out thing about this series is that it is racially blurring. Is Takeshi Kovacs black? or sometimes black? and sometimes Asian? or sometimes something else entirely? I ask that because it is not often in any book that the main protagonist is so very undefined that you cannot hang any racial stereotypes on his frame, benevolent or not. It remind me of something that I came across recently that said, “The body is only a garment, address the wearer not the cloak.” To all practical purposes it places the focus more directly on the character themselves and takes away any visualising you may (unconsciously) do to flesh them out. As a device I really liked it. Having said that, all the arseholes were quite clearly defined.

I cannot think of another genre that has to ride so much stigma from so-called “book people” than sci-fi. I recently read The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes, it is brilliant. I also read The Martian by Andy Weir it too, is brilliant.

Both are fiction, but one requires reading things like The Guardian or The New York Times and the other takes imagination. No Bookers for guessing which is which.

As an aside, a few years back I set myself the task of reading all the Booker winners. Man, apart from a few gems, most of them are like looking at your grandparents underwear. ( )

This was actually quite good - definitely more hard/"straight" sci-fi than Altered Carbon, but with much of the same joy of discovery. Morgan has rather a knack for all this worldbuilding stuff. In this, we get the Martian progenitors fleshed out a bit more, though still with ample mystery. Much of the book reads like Starship Troopers meets Aliens by way of Stargate with light hints of Lovecraftian atmosphere. Definitely a fun read; looking forward to the next. ( )

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. :) ( )

Kovacs is working as a mercenary fighting rebels and being paid well he quickly goes AWOL at the possibility of getting the cut om finding a Martian spaceship. So much of current human tech and exploration is based on the few bits they have found that to find a ship would be amazing amounts of wealth. But with so much money on the line you have to wonder who can you trust as they figure out how to activate the gate to get to the ship as their sleeves slowly die from radiation poisoning. This isn’t a noir as the previous book but certainly more thriller style. An enjoyable read. ( )

Not nearly as good as the first one. I hope the next is better. ( )

Novel about the chase of mysterious alien artefacts on a far away planet in a future where humanity evolved to master nano-technology and direct brain interfacing with computer system. The main character Takeshi Kovacs is a mercenary with a wide range of skills recruited to secure the alien artefact, together with a team he assembles. After a complex series of adventures they discover the artefact and manage to escape the war zone with part of his team. The action is very entertaining and the twists and unexpected turns of the actions are thrilling. The characters do not seem to develop a lot during the book, but rather are exposed slowly to be much more complex than what they appeared at beginning. ( )

Je n'avais pas trop apprécié [b:Altered Carbon|40445|Altered Carbon (Takeshi Kovacs, #1)|Richard K. Morgan|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1375223500s/40445.jpg|2095852] que j'avais trouvé trop grandiloquent, trop cinématique. Anges déchus me plait plus : le style de Morgan se prête mieux à l'aventure paramilitaire qu'à l'enquête discrète. Ici, les explosions, les espaces, les combats sont plus grandioses, l'intrigue est moins "subtile".

En gros l'histoire consiste en la recherche archéologique autour d'une antique porte martienne. Les conglomérats et les armées tueraient pour ce qu'il y a derrière. Il faudra donc trouver un soutien suffisant (à la fois financier et stratégique) pour l'ouvrir.

Ça se lit vite et ça ne laisse pas de trace. ( )

I love the Takeshi novels. The first is till my favorite.

As satisfying as Altered Carbon was. Excellent book. ( )

Different from the previous volume, in that Kovac doesn't need to investigate anything his skills are required purely as a soldier, although it's not clear what he's going to have to fight. I'm not entirely happy with the coincidence in timing about his enemies, but we'll only see in the final book how it all pans out.

Kovacs was invited to join a top of the line military unit (in a top notch skin) to help repress a brutal insurgency on a remote world. After a brutal battle he's recuperating in hospital when he's approached by a stranger who claims to have found some secret alien technology that hasn't been released to the official Guild.

Features two bouts of particularly gratuitous and graphic sex, only to counteract all the other violence that goes about - of course when your entire personality is stored in a protected chip you can be fairly casual with a skin because there's a good chance you'll be resurrected into another one whenever that's convenient. Try to avoid having the chip excised, dismantled, burnt, blown up, directly shot at, or otherwise destroyed though.

Investigating the alien artifact only actually occurs fairly late in the story, they spend a long time getting there. Bears a surprising resemblance to some of Alistair Reynolds' aliens. A lot of the Envoy special features this time are more of a mental recuperation variety, which is perhaps less impressive to read than the technological toys. ( )