Woken Furies

Working undercover, Kovacs falls into the clutches of a woman with two personalities, perhaps three. Together they search for an old weapons system, while fighting off the younger version of Kovacs sent to obliterate him from the universe. Special effects include digitized voices and extended use of echo chambers to suggest memory. The book opens with such a long echo segment that the listener is tempted to give up in the first hour. The effect simply doesn't work. While William Dufris's characterizations offer clear differentiation and personality, his over-the-top performance suits the over-the-top writing in a manner that will draw dedicated listeners but may repel the casual sci-fi observer. R.L.L. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

August 22, 2005
In Morgan's powerful third cyberpunk noir SF novel to feature Takeshi Kovacs, whose consciousness is transferred from one ultra–combat-ready body to another in the service of various unscrupulous powers, the interstellar mercenary returns home to Harlan's World, thoroughly pissed and dangerous. Despite his justified cynicism, he finds himself trying to protect a young woman who may
house the soul of a martyred revolutionary from centuries earlier. He also must fight a hired killer who's a younger version of himself. To succeed, he has to sift through his past to see which allies and memories he can trust. Morgan has become even more nervy since winning the Philip K. Dick Award for his confident first novel, Altered Carbon
(2003). This book develops a baroque, appallingly complicated setting, full of opportunities for revelation and betrayal. Both violence and sex are troweled on thickly but appropriately; they have significant consequences for these people who are trying—in circumstances even more desperate than our own—to discover who they really are and who they might have a chance to become. Agent, Susan Howe at Orion (U.K.)
. 8-city author tour
.

September 15, 2006
This is the third Morgan title (after "Altered Carbon" and "Broken Angels") to feature Takeshi Kovacs, a homicidal mercenary with zero personality. In the 25th century, life on dystopic Harlan's World is cheap and people are ruthless. Those who can afford it use cortical -stacks - to store their conscious essence; these are -sleeved - any number of times in superhuman bodies. Takeshi ploddingly, bloodily untangles a mystery involving a fellow mercenary who might well be a resleeved version of Quellcrist Falconer, a nearly mythological embodiment of freedom. The plot stumbles toward planetwide revolution by way of a "yakuza" blood feud and religious zealotry; Takeshi battles sentient military hardware and a cloned sleeve of himself. Though the book brims with cyberpunk atmosphere, the characters are automatons. Where Harrison Ford's roguishness personalized "Blade Runner"'s protagonist, Takeshi's amorality and aimlessness merely homogenize the good and bad guys. Though skilled, narrator William Dufris sports a tough-guy accent that simply doesn't work; the jarring vocal effects and uneven loudness levels further detract. A rewarding read makes a dismal listen; for fans only." -Douglas C. Lord, Connecticut State Lib., Hartford"

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.