In the second Takeshi Kovacs novel, we have some covert military fun and games and mayhem, especially of the one man variety.

Add in some drugs that are really, really useful for infiltration, and some rather nasty class conflict to spice things up.

Another excellent book, even though a different setting.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2007/02... ( )

Spoiler alert!

Sequel to Altered Carbon; fastmoving, exciting, bloody and foulmouthed. I found Takeshi's betrayal of his mercenary outfit out of character, which was alittle disappointing. Other than that, a good read and a worthy sequel. ( )

Not as good as Altered Carbon, but still a pretty fun read.This review refers to the series (Altered Carbon, Broken Angels and Woken Furies). Great detective thriller, a film noir tone, and pretty good sci-fi thrown in as well. The books are well written and if you like good detective novels, there's enough of that to keep you happy. The sci-fi notions of sleeves and neurachem are well done as well, particularly the juxtaposition between the haves who can afford sleeves and the have nots who have to get by with a single life or worse. Well worth reading as escapist/relaxing fiction (there's not a lot of serious commentary despite the good ideas). ( )

This is the second installment of the Takashi Kovacs novels; a series of misanthropic cyberpunk novels that involve an easy exchange of bodies (sleeves) so long at their cortical stacks (a constructed cylinder in the back of the sleeve's head that contain the memories and personality of an individual) remains intact.

As much of a detective novel as the first installment was (Altered Carbon), this one strays far from that genre. This is, more or less, a mercenary plotline with a smattering of the author's feelings towards corporate-sponsored wars and who truly benefits from the mass-murder of innocent civilians.

In addition, there is a wormhole gate involved that was originally built by an extinct Martian race.

Anyway, reading this book did not get me hooked as Altered Carbon did. In fact, I felt it took too long to build up after the pacing of Altered Carbon kept me very much involved. But, I kept at it and actually started to enjoy the book more as I got to know the supporting characters more.

The book does leave the reader with a small clue as to something much larger going on…a possible lie that Kovacs have been telling everyone and a truth that he has been keeping from the reader… That has me intrigued. With that in mind, I am willing to finish this series sooner than later. ( )

3 word summary? - very very "adult"

This is a "sequel" to Altered Carbon - though Broken Angels is slightly better in some way - it seems more smooth or something - less time spent explaining the backdrop perhaps.

The story is independent of the first book so you don't have to read them in order (but Altered Carbon is good enough that you should anyway).

It is graphic, with detailed (and very long) sex scenes which are gratuitous in nature - i.e. they don't advance the plot in any significant way. I'm not a prude and I don't mind graphic sex, but be forewarned that it is adult in nature, a.k.a pornographic, no two ways about it.

I would have taken off a star for this but for a) it's such a good story otherwise and b) you don't need to read it to follow the story since it's gratuitous anyway.

And, of course, the book is violent and gory and has a dim view of the value of human life... But, other than that, it's terrific! ( )