Woken Furies by Richard Morgan

I've been reading ridiculously few books lately, but it's something I decided to do something about. There are lots of books in the bookshelf just waiting for me to come and open them up, and on the top of my list has been Richard Morgan's latest Takeshi Kovacs novel Woken Furies.

We know ex-Envoy Kovacs from the previous books Altered Carbon and Broken Angels, and this time he's returned to home to his homeplanet Harlan's World. He's running his own agenda once again when he by accident gets sidetracked with a bunch of mercenaries, finds that people are not who they appear to be and is chased by the most dangerous man on the planet - himself.

This book feels different to the two previous ones - I think Kovacs is getting old. The pace of this book is slower, there's probably less violence and gore, Kovacs gets laid and into trouble more often and it's generally not as big a mindblower than previous books. Altered Carbon was introduction to the techology and the world, Broken Angels was about the Martians - I guess Woken Furies is about Quellisim and especially about Quellcrist Falconer. It's also about religion - earlier books have touched the subject lightly, but Woken Furies tackles it full-on. Several hardline opressive religions have taken root on Harlan's World, and Kovacs has an issue with them.

'No.' I swung on her. It seemed I didn't have it cranked down after all. My hands shot out and grasped her by the shoulders. 'No, I'm calling you a gutless betrayer of your sex. I can see your husband's angle, he's a man, he's got everything to gain from this crabshit. But you? You've thrown away centuries of political struggle and scientific advance so you can sit in the dark and mutter your superstitions of unworth to yourself. You'll let your life, the most precious thing you have, be stolen from you hour by hour and day by day as long as you can eke out the existance your males will let you have. And then, when you finally die, and I hope it's soon, sister, I really do, then at the last you'll spite your own potential and shirk the final power we've won for ourselves to come back and try again. You'll do all of this because of your fucking faith and if that child in your belly is a female, then you'll condemn her to the same fucking thing.'

Can't help but to feel that Morgan is venting out his frustrations on the current situation - although he does is so well I don't mind.

The sleeving technology means Kovacs novels could go on forever - but in some ways this feels like a goodbye. Kovacs is more mellow, and do I get a hint of boredom, or maybe indifference? Do we get see Kovacs settle down, maybe? Personally I'd rather like to see him crash and burn - not that I don't want happiness for him - but I think he'd ultimately never be happy settled down, either with Sarah or even Virginia.

Still, there's lot of the story still to be told, so weather we see Kovacs or not - there's definitely more about the Martians that Morgan is aching to tell... but very wisely doesn't give too much away at once. And Morgan continues to amaze me with his writing skill - I read the prologue, and just sighed with happiness - every word considered, smooth and a surprise shot in the end that makes you chuckle and want to cancel all your appointments so you can read the whole book there and then.

I'd hate to say it's the weakest of the Kovacs books so far - but it's not weak by any standard. My personal favourite is still Broken Angels because of the hard core sci-fi plot, and Altered Carbon is an absolute masterpiece in it's simplicity. Still, Woken Furies is a fantastic read, and an absolute must for Morgan fans. (His next book is going to be placed in another universe again, so this is all you have for now.)

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