Zoe was sick over the weekend and we didn't do much. I had plenty of time to read. I actually finished these books a week or so ago, but just got around to writing them up.
Broken Angels - Richard Morgan
This is the second Takeshi Kovacs novel. I read the first one last summer and was impressed. Morgan meshes sci-fi with the crime novel. Good stuff. The book keeps moving along and the twists and turns will have you flipping back and forth to keep track of things.
In the world we are presented with, your body can be replaced easily and your consciousness can be stored in electronics. THis leads ot complicated wars where if you kill a solider, he can return to fight you again and again.
Our hero, Takeshi, gets involved with a plan to salvage some alien technology in the middle a war consuming the entire planet. His dealings with ruthless corporations, mercenaries, xeno-archaeologists, and the black market are all interesting touching on different possibilities of the future.
Full of crosses and double-crosses, the novel is in the traditional crime novel style. It really doesn't try to make a specific point, but takes you one hell of a fun ride.
I think I'm the last person on the planet not to have read this along with The Davinci Code. Michele read this and said it was a quick read. I finished this in three days or so.
The book was fun, but reminded me of watching a television program with cliffhanger after cliffhanger. Some novels have the classis three act structure, but this novel didn't seem to. Not that I minded, but it felt like things kept popping into the story to solve problems easily.
Some people are talking about the role of 'facts' in the story and talk of the 'real' Illuminati. I've read about the Illuminati, the Knights Templar, the Freemasons and other secret societies before. This is standard stuff in those circles with little new tossed in to the idea pool from this novel.
Don't get me wrong, it's a fun novel to blow through on vacation, but there's not a big message here to learn here.