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Loading... Black Manby Richard Morgan
LibraryThing recommendationsMember recommendationsLoading...
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. ragwaine | Jun 19, 2009 |   Fast paced thriller rife with thoughts on history evolution, racism and religion. (  )muness | Jun 6, 2009 | An intriguing work of SF. It's definitely grounded in the conventions of the blockbuster thriller-- there's some act of violence or sex in nearly every chapter, and it's a long book --but it's smarter than it looks, and Morgan emerges finally as an author who is deeply interested in the complex interplay of ideas about genetics, identity, and race. ( )jbushnell | May 2, 2009 | The premise: Carl Marsalis is what they call a variant Thirteen, the result of a failed experiment to essentially create super-soldiers. Now, Carl makes his living hunting down illegal thirteens, and takes on a job that might prove too big for him. A fugitive from Mars crash-landed a ship in the ocean and has been murdering his way across what the reader recognizes as the United States. The problem with this fugitive is that like Carl, he's a thirteen, but this one might just get the better of him, and there's more than one person who wants to make sure Carl never finds the guy, let alone kill him. My Rating Give It Away: in the end, I'm glad I finished it, but if I'd bought this as a hard cover, I would've been very disappointed. I didn't want to finish the book at all because it takes so long to really find its footing and bring the story together, and even then, it takes its sweet, meandering time doing so. There's certainly pay offs: the main plot comes together nicely in the end, though I still feel like something's missing, and the characterization felt solid too. The problem is that the book could've been much shorter, and while it would've required sacrificing some of the insane amount of world-building, commentary, and ideas presented, I think it might've made for a tighter, more focused book. The biggest problem is that I felt ambivalent reading the whole thing: this book lacked the siren's call, and it never made me want to pick it back up again after stopping. However, in the end, it's not all that bad. If you give this book a shot, give it until you complete a chapter in PART TWO (that's 100+ pages in) just so you can see how it comes together before making any decisions on finishing the book or not. The full review, which does include spoilers and cover-art commentary, may be found in my LJ. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome. REVIEW: Richard K. Morgan's THIRTEEN Happy Reading! :) (  )devilwrites | Feb 6, 2009 | Solid new book by one of the strongest modern authors, Richard K Morgan. Although I did not enjoy it as much as Altered Carbon, it still had all the elements that have made Morgan's previous offerings so strong - gritty violence, tight dialogue, adult themes, and varied characters in a fractured, postmodern world typified by corporate control and lax morals. I thought the story was a little over-satured with religious and ethical expose, but still enjoyed the portrait painted of racism in a color blind society. Recommended for fans of Morgan's writing who aren't offended by the negative portrait he paints of evangelicals. ( )etimme | Jan 6, 2009 | 1  0.291 seconds to build listing  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0345485254, Hardcover)The future isn’t what it used to be since Richard K. Morgan arrived on the scene. He unleashed Takeshi Kovacs–private eye, soldier of fortune, and all-purpose antihero–into the body-swapping, hard-boiled, urban jungle of tomorrow in Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, and Woken Furies, winning the Philip K. Dick Award in the process. In Market Forces, he launched corporate gladiator Chris Faulkner into the brave new business of war-for-profit. Now, in Thirteen, Morgan radically reshapes and recharges science fiction yet again, with a new and unforgettable hero in Carl Marsalis: hybrid, hired gun, and a man without a country . . . or a planet.Marsalis is one of a new breed. Literally. Genetically engineered by the U.S. government to embody the naked aggression and primal survival skills that centuries of civilization have erased from humankind, Thirteens were intended to be the ultimate military fighting force. The project was scuttled, however, when a fearful public branded the supersoldiers dangerous mutants, dooming the Thirteens to forced exile on Earth’s distant, desolate Mars colony. But Marsalis found a way to slip back–and into a lucrative living as a bounty hunter and hit man before a police sting landed him in prison–a fate worse than Mars, and much more dangerous. Luckily, his “enhanced” life also seems to be a charmed one. A new chance at freedom beckons, courtesy of the government. All Marsalis has to do is use his superior skills to bring in another fugitive. But this one is no common criminal. He’s another Thirteen–one who’s already shanghaied a space shuttle, butchered its crew, and left a trail of bodies in his wake on a bloody cross-country spree. And like his pursuer, he was bred to fight to the death. Still, there’s no question Marsalis will take the job. Though it will draw him deep into violence, treachery, corruption, and painful confrontation with himself, anything is better than remaining a prisoner. The real question is: can he remain sane–and alive–long enough to succeed? (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:55 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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All that said, I didn't enjoy this one as much as his Takashi Kovacs novels but that's mostly because they're more "sci-fi" than this one and I tend to like aliens and gadgets. This had modified humans, combat enhancements, and a station on Mars but it wasn't really all that out there. (