If it aint broke...

Takeshi Kovacs returns in Richard Morgan’s second sci-fi outing. Taking place thirty years after the events on Earth in Altered Carbon, Kovacs is still fighting the good fight and having a terrible time of it. Previously, Kovacs was employed as a private investigator and Altered Carbon read like a solid piece of noir detective fiction, but now he’s putting his talents to use as a soldier in a bloody corporate war on the planet Sanction IV. As a result, Broken Angels reads much more like a survivalist war piece.

Broken Angels starts off at a much more modest pace than Altered Carbon, though Kovacs is still feeling the pain. This time, the opening pages tell of him regaining consciousness aboard a medical ship, suffering from serious explosion wounds. It fast transpires that Kovacs’ unit was wiped out during a failed ground campaign. Kovacs is fighting for Carrera’s Wedge, a mercenary army sworn in to fight Joshua Kemp and his rebellious anti-government army.

Once again, Kovacs’ status as an ex-Envoy soldier guarantees him importance amongst the ranks of the Wedge. Sleeved in a specialised combat-ready body, he is approached by a pilot who asks for his assistance in acquiring a Martian artifact discovered just before the outbreak of war. The artifact, located in the middle of a war zone, is alleged to be a portal that leads to a specific location in the infinity of space that houses an abandoned Martian starship. Kovacs agrees, and after springing the head archaeologist of the original expedition from political prison, he contrives to enlist the support of one of the major corporations involved in funding the war on Sanction IV.

Matthias Hand, an exec for the Mandrake Corp. sees the incentive for infinite profit and agrees to aid Kovacs with financial backing. He oversees the recruitment of a team of soldiers who have already died in the ongoing fighting to form a tactical protection unit, whilst secretly leaking erroneous information that results in the expedition site suffering a nuclear bomb attack to clear it of opposing forces. The expedition begins, with the team having to struggle against the effects of nuclear fallout and the radiation sickness that begins to ravage their bodies.

I rate Altered Carbon as ‘un-putdownable’ because of its constant action or intrigue. I must admit that I didn’t feel the same about Broken Angels during the beginning of the story. It was a much slower burner than its predecessor. However, once the expedition had begun, Morgan’s ingenious ideas erupt into life and the inspiration that litters his work and separates him from more average science fiction writers emerges with a vengeance. Kovacs and his team must pit their wits against a possible saboteur amidst the group, a collection of rapidly evolving and deadly nanobes, in-fighting, mistrust and of course the ever present desperation of trying to finish the job before radiation melts skin from bone.

Once the gate is open, the action continues to evolve. The starship awaits in all of its gigantic alien glory and aboard its decks the team attempt to comprehend their findings amidst Martian skeletons and centuries old automated machinery. The finale of the book is extraordinary and it was during the final third of Broken Angels that I realised that I was in love with the entire Kovacs universe. The protagonist himself continues to rage at all authority, to push all those around him to breaking point. At times he appears less as a human being and more as an indestructible force of nature. His abilities and amorality make him a terrifying individual, but one that never fails to interest the reader.

The ending once again leaves Kovacs in a state of limbo. His future completely unsecured and his personal happiness definitely unfulfilled, you can’t help but wonder what will happen next for the ultimate superhuman.

9/10

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Added by Grand Assault 5 months ago on 20 July 2009 06:57