Woken Furies, by Richard K. Morgan
I’ve read the previous 2 Takeshi Kovacs novels, and loved them both (Broken Angels, and Altered Carbon). The basic premise is that the story takes place in the “far future”, and humanity has figured out how to “download” ones consciousness onto a “cortical stack”. Virtual Immortality. When you die, they take your cortical stack and put it in a new “sleeve”. Voila–new body, new life. It gets better than that, of course. You can be put in any sleeve you want, and the sleeves are technologically enhanced–military sleeves have enhanced endurance, increased adrenalin production, etc.
Humans have spread through the universe–and the enabler for that was discovering Martian technology. Millions of years ago, Martians developed an interstellar infrastructure, then mysteriously disappear–all we have are archeological traces of them, and their technology. It is their path we follow out of the solar system, into the stars.
Takeshi Kovacs is an ex “Envoy”, which is basically the combination of US Marines, MI5, CIA, and every other complete badass Stephen Segal character you can think of. They’re smarter than average humans, they have perfect memories, etc. He is basically a mercenary for hire. In the first book, Altered Carbon, he returns to earth, hired out by a family, to solve a murder. In the 2nd book, he is contracted by a military organization.
In Woken Furies, Takeshi Kovacs is operating independently. It takes place “sometime” after the 2nd novel–several years, based on events that have occurred. He’s living on his home world, “Harlan’s World”, eking out a living as a pseudo-criminal, while taking vengeance on the local religious cult (think Islam meets 17th century Puritanism, without all the niceties of either religion). He stumbles upon a greater event however, when a woman he meets in a bar turns out to be more than she seems–way more than she seems.
If you like “film noir” or “cyberpunk”, or just a well written novel, then the Takeshi Kovacs series is for you. I highly recommend it, he’s one of my favorite authors, currently–as least in this series. He has a few other books out–I own one, and have not read it yet (Market Forces).
