Broken Angels, A Takeshi Kovacs Novel, by Richard K. Morgan.
I finished this book last weekend. I was a very good, hard sci-fi novel. Worth the read if you’re a hard sci-fi fan, you could tuck it under your arm for a trip to the beach house this summer.
I acquired this novel because I loved the first book, Altered Carbon, with the same character. I rediscovered it when it was recently made into an excellent Netflix series. That series hewed closely to the original novel and was successful. My understanding is that the Netflix series was quite popular on its own. But, I felt like enjoyed it more because I knew what was going on from having read the book.
This is why the internet is a cool thing. This is the advantage of being able to crowd source your selections. At some point over the last 4-5 years I was looking for something to read and googled “Best hard Sci-Fi Novels”. This novel was one of those on the list. That led me to the Netflix series, and now to this next book and probably the third as well.
That beats blundering around the stacks in the library or reading a 100 bad books to get there, doesn’t it?
Logically, if the Netflix show does well they will option another season. If they do, they may use the raw material from the second novel. I figured that gave me two good reasons to read the second novel in the series. One, I enjoyed the first novel, and two, I’d be ready for the next Netflix offering.
I would imagine the central conceit of the novels would make them easier to produce as television. I don’t think I’m giving anything away here. In this universe humans have figured out how to digitize people and can put them into any body. They call this re-sleeving. This means Netflix can cast anyone they want and not have to worry about character continuity.
The main character on these series is an anti-hero type named Takeshi Kovacs. He has been trained as an “Envoy”. Envoys were trained to not only be wonderfully efficient killers but also in how to use their minds and senses. The original purpose of the envoys was some sort of revolution that they reference but never go into.
In the first novel he is re-sleeved on Earth to solve a murder mystery. A bit of a dirty-dozen, Maltese falcon combo in the far future with Methuselah rich people. Wake up this bad-ass to figure something out and hilarity ensues.
In the second novel he continues to wander the universe like KungFu and get involved in wars and struggles. The particular vignette he finds in this book focuses on a archaeological discovery, (and this isn’t a spoiler because it is in the scene setting in the first chapter), a gate to a millennia-old star ship.
The novels have everything I like about hard sci-fi. Lots of action. Lots of tech. Enough sex and drug and violence to satisfy my inner 13-year-old.
In this universe the galaxy was previously inhabited by an alien race of bird-like creatures. We humans find their left-behind technology. We use their technology to get ahead ourselves. And that is the major conceit of this novel – are we evolved enough as a race to handle our new-found ability to inhabit the galaxy?
I’m not going to tell you. You’ll have to read it to find out.
In this way the second novel is much more introspective. It thinks a less about the original conceit of never really being able to die, and more about the nature of civilization itself. It draws a parallel between the constantly, pointlessly, warring humans and the supposedly enlightened ancient alien race in who’s footsteps we are tottering around the galaxy.
All this deep thinking about who we are and what we will become is lain on top of a classic ‘drop-a-small-skilled-team-into-an-unknown-adventure’ setup, like any Michael Crichton novel.
I won’t spoil the ending. There is a resolution of sorts, but I think it’s also a set up to bring those aliens back from retirement in a future adventure.
It’s a good read, maybe not as fresh and exciting as the first, but definitely well-constructed and thought through. Now I’m all prepared for when Netflix gets around to making it into a new season, which, if it is going to happen will be started sometime in the fall of 2018.
Just to be safe I’m going to start in on the 3rd Takeshi Kovacs novel – Woken Furies.