Richard K. Morgan Woken Furies

Woken Furies

Richard K. Morgan

Del Rey, Oct 2005, $24.95

ISBN: 0345479718

In the distant future, Takeshi Kovacs heads home to repressive Harlan's World, to eerily confront himself when he was an Envoy working for the UN, as a super soldier to keep people on the remote planets in check. Since he could afford to leave that body behind, Takeshi downloaded his personality into a new "sleeve" and left for another world to start life anew.

On Harlan's World, Kovacs soon finds himself protecting Sylvie, an apparent reincarnation of a long dead messiah, from the First Families, who need her dead, as her message interferes with the power they yield. The First Families send an Envoy to kill Sylvie, but Kovacs believes the killer is a younger healthier him.

This is an action-packed science fiction Noir, that starts in hyperspeed before accelerating into faster than light velocity. The suspense laden storyline is all action, except when Richard K. Morgan chooses to pontificate against any form of religious fundamentalism, which Kovacs believes, by its essence, means its burden requires either altering carbon structure or breaking the angels of those of other belief systems. Kovacs is at his best when affirming you can't home, at least not safely. Fans of electrifying futuristic thrillers will appreciate the award winning author's latest triumph.