Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780345479716
ISBN number: 0345479718
Label: Del Rey
Manufacturer: Del Rey
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 464
Printing Date: September 27, 2005
Publishing house: Del Rey
Release Date: September 27, 2005
Sale Popularity Level: 453762
Studio: Del Rey
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Product Description:
Richard K. Morgan has received widespread praise for his astounding twenty-fifth-century novels featuring Takeshi Kovacs, and has established a growing legion of fans. Mixing classic noir sensibilities with a searing futuristic vision of an age when death is nearly meaningless, Morgan returns to his saga of betrayal, mystery, and revenge, as Takeshi Kovacs, in one fatal moment, joins forces with a mysterious woman who may have the power to shatter Harlan’s World forever.
Once a gang member, then a marine, then a galaxy-hopping Envoy trained to wreak slaughter and suppression across the stars, a bleeding, wounded Kovacs was chilling out in a New Hokkaido bar when some so-called holy men descended on a slim beauty with tangled, hyperwired hair. An act of quixotic chivalry later and Kovacs was in deep: mixed up with a woman with two names, many powers, and one explosive history.
In a world where the real and virtual are one and the same and the dead can come back to life, the damsel in distress may be none other than the infamous Quellcrist Falconer, the vaporized symbol of a freedom now gone from Harlan’s World. Kovacs can deal with the madness of AI. He can do his part in a battle against biomachines gone wild, search for a three-centuries-old missing weapons system, and live with a blood feud with the yakuza, and even with the betrayal of people he once trusted. But when his relationship with “the” Falconer brings him an enemy specially designed to destroy him, he knows it’s time to be afraid.
After all, the guy sent to kill him is himself: but younger, stronger, and straight out of hell.
Wild, provocative, and riveting, Woken Furies is a full-bore science fiction spectacular of the highest order–from one of the most original and spellbinding storytellers at work today.
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Rated by buyers 
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I thoroughly enjoyed Altered Carbon and was enthusiastically looking forward to reading his other novels. I thought I had discovered a new genius of Sci-Fi; a vein of gold. I then read both Broken Angels and then Woken Furies. Broken Angels is a slight bit better than Woken Furies, but without giving a detailed literary review, on a scale of 1-10 for Morgan's works, Altered Carbon is a 10 and these aforementioned other two novels are 7's at best. They just don't have the tension, vision, plot arcs and characters of Altered Carbon. In addition, I found the futuristic erotic and sexual imagery of Altered Carbon an excellent ancillary backdrop to the plot. These other two novels didn't come close in that regard. I couldn't put Altered Carbon down, but with these other two, I had to struggle to finish them both. Poor pacing and some very droll extended abstractions of the characters thoughts as well. I was very disappointed. I'm finished with Morgan until I hear he has something as good as Altered Carbon. It's reminds me of a rock group that has one hit song and then builds an entire career off of it. Altered Carbon was It!
Rated by buyers -
Reading the cyberpunk-inspired very first third-to-half of WOKEN FURIES is like listening to a late 90s band performing an original song written in early 80s New Wave style. It's catchy, retro, and fun (like Elastica's "Connection"). But it's not the 80s any more, and, like us, Morgan's anti-hero Takeshi Kovacs needs to grow up. For Kovacs, growing up means facing some of his many contradictions; he's part Japanese/part Hungarian, part heartless killer/part bleeding-heart humanitarian, part elite soldier/part low-life criminal, part man of (relative) privilege/part enemy of the ruling elite, and part citizen of the galaxy/part homeboy. As Kovacs faces himself (literally and figuratively), the fun starts to drain away. In place of the fun is politics; specifically, the vaguely eco-feminist/social democratic/libertarian politics of Quellcrist Falconer. This is not necessarily a Bad Thing, and I think there's something useful to Quellist notions about the accumulation vs. the diffusion of social power, but I don't think either Kovacs or Morgan get over their cynicism about politics very convincingly. One wish: More Martians! WOKEN FURIES does not have the purity or the dynamism of the two previous Takeshi Kovacs novels, and it does drag at points, but it is more thought-provoking than its predecessors while still being enjoyable and well worth reading. Warning: Adults only.
Rated by buyers -
There are some very interesting story lines here which are left open, possibly for future books? The love scenes, are needed for the storyline, but they need not have been done in such a graphic fashion. I don't think that I would permit my pre-teen son to read this book. The main plot is a good one, but there are certainly underdeveloped segments which could use better development, I won't elaborate so as to be a spoiler. The overall the story is a good and compelling read. The ending leaves you wanting the subsequent book in the line..
Rated by buyers -
Takeshi Kovacs, an ex-Envoy now working for his own agenda, has returned to his homeworld of Harlan's World on a personal mission of vengeance. During his task he falls in with a gang of freelance mercs assigned to cleaning out the continent of New Hokkaida, where intelligent robots left behind from an old war are still making the land too unsafe for re-colonisation. A chain of events is set in motion that will transform the face of Harlan's World and bring Kovacs face-to-face with his own past in a very literal way.
Woken Furies is the third and, to date, final book featuring Morgan's protagonist Takeshi Kovacs. This time Kovacs is out for blood on his own terms when he is swept up in a very different and fuzzy chain of events which focuses on his own past. If Altered Carbon was a detective story and Broken Angels was a war story, Woken Furies is more of a political story and offers more of a glimpse into Kovacs' mindset, brought into sharp relief as he encounters old friends and enemies on his home planet. These events also allow Morgan to explore some more of the consequences of his body-swapping, re-sleeving universe, with subtle nods towards its implications for consciousness, sentience and what it precisely means to be human (a slight and barely perceptible nudge compared to Bakker's Neuropath, which yelled it into the reader's face loudly until we got it).
As usual, this is an ultra-violent, bloody, sexually explicit and generally pretty hardcore story of revenge, rebellion and fear, with some exploding robots, surfing and extreme rock-climbing thrown into the mix. Those who've followed Kovacs' adventures before will be at home here, although given that the events of the very first two books do impact on the story here I would advise newcomers to start with Altered Carbon first.
Woken Furies (****½) is the last Kovacs novel for the time being, although Morgan has not entirely ruled out a return to him later on. The book is available from Gollancz in the UK and from Del Rey in the USA. Morgan's latest novel, The Steel Remains, is out now in the UK and in February in the USA.
Rated by buyers -
I originally heard about "Woken Furies" on a "Tech Nation" podcast interview with author Richard K. Morgan. The universe he described sounded intriguing so I picked up the book last December and have been slowly reading it ever since. I don't tend to rush through books I'm enjoying as I like them to last as long as possible.
I originally did not realize that this was the third in a series or I probably would have gone and picked the others up very first so that I could grow with the story. As it turned out the book does a very good job of standing on its own.
I won't bother to summarize the plot here, others have done a much more thorough job on Amazon and elsewhere than I could hope to, what I am expressing rather are my impressions of the book.
It's relatively and graphically violent in portions, which is fitting given the history of the pro-(an?)tagonist. In real life he would not really be someone you'd want to meet... ever. But it is interesting to spend the book inside his head as he recalls past experiences that involve quelling far-flung planetary uprisings with a ruthlessness reserved for those who are trained to kill and are very good at it.
Of greatest interest to me is the culture of a civilization where death is a rarity. By choice or by accident you can "resleeve" and have a brand new body to use to carry on your existence and that body can be tailored to your personal or business needs. Starting with that premise, how do casual folks deal with relationships and their attitudes toward the everyday travails of life?
Mutually agreeable divorce or separation is much more to be expected as it is possible for centuries to pass across which your growth as a person may be expected to diverge from that significant other with whom you shared so much so long ago.
I found this a satisfying read and have added the preceding books to my Amazon wish list and anticipate that they will be equally satisfying.
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