Broken Angels
Welcome back to the brash, brutal new world of the twenty-fifth century: where global politics isn't just for planet Earth anymore; and where death is just a break in the action, thanks to the techno-miracle that can preserve human consciousness and download it into one new body after another. Cynical, quick-on-the-trigger Takeshi Kovacs, the ex-U.N. envoy turned private eye, has changed careers, and bodies, once more... trading sleuthing for soldiering as a warrior-for-hire, and helping a far-flung planet's government put down a bloody revolution.But when it comes to taking sides, the only one Kovacs is ever really on is his own. So when a rogue pilot and a sleazy corporate fat cat offer him a lucrative role in a treacherous treasure hunt, he's only too happy to go AWOL with a band of resurrected soldiers of fortune. All that stands between them and the ancient alien spacecraft they mean to salvage are a massacred city bathed in deadly radiation, unleashed nanotechnolgy with a million ways to kill, and whatever surprises the highly advanced Martian race may have in store. But armed with his genetically engineered instincts, and his trusty twin Kalashnikovs, Takeshi is ready to take on anything--and let the devil take whoever's left behind.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Stats for nerds
5recommend
10mentions
8people
2012–2024years
70% recommend30% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- AFAIK, most of the Burning Chrome short stories were originally published before the Sprawl novels, then later collected in the anthology? (Side note: you can buy original 80s copies of Omni magazine with the first publication for pretty cheap off eBay)
Other authors I've enjoyed, coming off Neuromancer-type Gibson:
Richard K. Morgan (Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, Woken Furies). Closest in tone. For god's sake don't watch the Amazon series for plot.
Effinger comes up on a lot of lists, although I haven't read it myself yet.
Vernor Vinge (A Fire Upon the Deep, A Deepness in the Sky, The Children of the Sky). Space opera instead of cyberpunk, but shares early Gibson's "incremental exposition," where you figure things out gradually vs all at once.
Tbh, I think the best cyberpunk was always in short story form, and mostly before 1990.
- > Richard K. Morgan (Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, Woken Furies). Closest in tone. For god's sake don't watch the Amazon series for plot.
Also (different setting): Black Man/Thirteen and Thin Air.
- If this fascinates you, then you'll like Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, and Woken Furies by Richard K. Morgan. Changing bodies is commonplace for the rich in these novels. They are quite excellent, if not a tad violent, so don't read them if that's not your thing.
The novels are way better than the Netflix S01, which was the first book. I'm guessing there will be 2 more seasons, one for each book.
- Broken Angels is also my favorite. Kovacs is an extremely complex character. He's been tweaked so much, in becoming an Envoy, that he's fundamentally an AI. He's somewhat like the vampires in Peter Watts' novels.
Also, I'm very impressed by Morgan's skill in writing action. Maybe that's what you mean by "pulp".
I also loved the "A Land Fit For Heroes" trilogy. I hadn't read fantasy for years. And from that, I discovered Joe Abercrombie and Matthew Woodring Stover.
- Many great recommandations already. I'd recommend Sterling as well, perhaps "Islands in the net" if you can get hold of a copy. Or "holy Fire". Stephenson's "Diamond Age", "Snowcrash". I read Singh's (non-fiction) "Codebook" before giving "Cryptonomicon" a shot - ended up not finishing it. Do recommend Singh.
Right now I'm reading Atwood's Madd Adam triology - it's shaping up to be some of the best dystopien sf I've read in a long while.
And for something a bit different I stumbled across in a thrift shop: "Canal Dreams" by Ian Banks.
Oh, and Gibson's latest: "The Peripheral".
Second the recommendedation for Richard Morgan, especially "Thirteen / Black Man" and "Broken Angels" (I accidentally started with this, book two of a triology, but actually think it stands well.on its own. The lack of exposition in the first chapter turns it in to a bit of a mystery book (who is this main character anyway?)).
Finally, a must-read (preferably the sci-fi masterworks edition with a foreword by Gibson): Alfred Bester, "The Stars My Destination / Tiger, Tiger".
- I think Broken Angels did a good job of carrying the feeling of Altered Carbon forward. I haven't yet read the final trilogy member, Woken Furies.
