From Publishers Weekly
In Morgan's powerful third cyberpunk noir SF novel to feature Takeshi Kovacs, whose consciousness is transferred from one ultra–combat-ready body to another in the service of various unscrupulous powers, the interstellar mercenary returns home to Harlan's World, thoroughly pissed and dangerous. Despite his justified cynicism, he finds himself trying to protect a young woman who
may house the soul of a martyred revolutionary from centuries earlier. He also must fight a hired killer who's a younger version of himself. To succeed, he has to sift through his past to see which allies and memories he can trust. Morgan has become even more nervy since winning the Philip K. Dick Award for his confident first novel,
Altered Carbon (2003). This book develops a baroque, appallingly complicated setting, full of opportunities for revelation and betrayal. Both violence and sex are troweled on thickly but appropriately; they have significant consequences for these people who are trying—in circumstances even more desperate than our own—to discover who they really are and who they might have a chance to become.
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From AudioFile
Working undercover, Kovacs falls into the clutches of a woman with two personalities, perhaps three. Together they search for an old weapons system, while fighting off the younger version of Kovacs sent to obliterate him from the universe. Special effects include digitized voices and extended use of echo chambers to suggest memory. The book opens with such a long echo segment that the listener is tempted to give up in the first hour. The effect simply doesn't work. While William Dufris's characterizations offer clear differentiation and personality, his over-the-top performance suits the over-the-top writing in a manner that will draw dedicated listeners but may repel the casual sci-fi observer. R.L.L. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine--
Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
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