Richard Morgan - Broken Angels

Four stars. Recommended.

Broken Angels is Richard Morgan's second book, a follow-up to the excellent Altered Carbon. Although they both feature the hard-bitten Takeshi Kovacs as the hero, they take very different tracks. Altered Carbon was a dark, SF detective thriller; Broken Angels is a fast-moving treasure hunt adventure with mercenaries, greedy corporations, mysterious alien artefacts, sex, and guns. Lots of guns. Morgan's writing is graphic and assured, and the plot rips along at a roaring pace. There are a lot of twists and betrayals--perhaps too many for an action-based book like this. Not all of them can be resolved during the climax, and so there is a long cool-down chapter afterwards, in which the characters have to explain everything that couldn't be worked into the main plot. Nevertheless, it's a cracking read--classic space adventure for the modern eye.