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songwind's review against another edition
5.0
I was very impressed with this book. It's tightly plotted, intricately detailed, and defies genre stereotypes.
Setup
The story focuses around Carl Marsalis, a "variant 13" genetically modified super soldier. After concerns about the 13s and other gene modified strains of humans came to a boil, they were given a choice between internment and migration to Mars. After winning the lottery, and surviving a return trip home from Mars, Marsalis ends up a UN-licensed bounty hunter, returning escaped 13s to internment.
The other lead character is Sevgi Erteken. She's an NYPD cop turned investigator for the Mars Colony Initiative (ColIn). She and her partner Tom Norton get called in when a returning spacecraft crash lands in the Pacific rather than docking in orbit. Before long they know they have a survivor - a variant 13 that escaped the crash and disappeared. ColIn uses their political pull to spring Marsalis from a jail where he was being held without trial, and put his expertise in tracking down 13s to use.
What follows from there is a combination of action, mystery, police procedural and future travelogue.
Why I Liked It
It would be easy with a book whose premise is "sociopath genetic throwback supersoldier hunts same" to turn into a gung-ho, macho sausage fest. Morgan doesn't let that happen, though. The issues, characters and places presented remain complex, messy and hard to quantify. And though it's clear in some instances where the author's sympathies lay, each segment and viewpoint is given both positive and negative aspects.
The geopolitical situation described in the book is quite different from our own, but feels eerily possible. A colony on Mars, effectively a nation in itself, controlled by a corporate entity. A United States broken into pieces on economic and social fault lines. Indigenous populations in open revolt against the remnants of colonialism.
Morgan also did good work with the prose. It's nicely polished, and beautiful in spots. He also makes use of literary devices like parallels, foreshadowing, etc.
The story also ends up more complicated, far reaching and interesting than it appears it will at first. I thought I was going to be listening to a violent
There's one particular part of the plot that I'd like to call out, but it's a huge spoiler.
I thought Morgan did a great job of taking a repeated trope of sci-fi that often results in shallow characters and cheap motivations and showing that it is possible to do it well.
The denoument of the book is fueled largely by Carl's rage over Sevgi's death at the hands of one of the villains. On the surface, it seems like a classic case of "fridging."
Where Morgan goes right with it is that there was much, much more to Sevgi than her death, and more motivation for Carl. Her death was the catalyst that moved things from "we're going to beat these guys" to "I'm going to build a memorial to Sevgi Ertekin out of [redacted]'s blood, and I'll cut down anyone that gets in my way."
Before that, Sevgi was a central part of the story, and a major force moving the story ahead. Her death came in a fire fight she entered of her own will, and where she took down two 13s before taking the wound that eventually killed her.
For Marsalis' part, we are given reason to think his reaction would have been similar if the death had been one of the few other people he truly considers friends. (Threats to a UN handler if any reprisals happen to his friend the hacker, etc.) The deeper (maybe?) relationship with Sevgi made the reaction more intense.
Sometimes characters die. And sometimes other characters are galvanized by that. Morgan reminds us that it doesn't have to be cheap, simplistic, or schmaltzy when it happens.
Summary
If you like future sci-fi, and don't mind it getting violent, messy and sometimes crude, you owe it to yourself to read this.
Setup
The story focuses around Carl Marsalis, a "variant 13" genetically modified super soldier. After concerns about the 13s and other gene modified strains of humans came to a boil, they were given a choice between internment and migration to Mars. After winning the lottery, and surviving a return trip home from Mars, Marsalis ends up a UN-licensed bounty hunter, returning escaped 13s to internment.
The other lead character is Sevgi Erteken. She's an NYPD cop turned investigator for the Mars Colony Initiative (ColIn). She and her partner Tom Norton get called in when a returning spacecraft crash lands in the Pacific rather than docking in orbit. Before long they know they have a survivor - a variant 13 that escaped the crash and disappeared. ColIn uses their political pull to spring Marsalis from a jail where he was being held without trial, and put his expertise in tracking down 13s to use.
What follows from there is a combination of action, mystery, police procedural and future travelogue.
Why I Liked It
It would be easy with a book whose premise is "sociopath genetic throwback supersoldier hunts same" to turn into a gung-ho, macho sausage fest. Morgan doesn't let that happen, though. The issues, characters and places presented remain complex, messy and hard to quantify. And though it's clear in some instances where the author's sympathies lay, each segment and viewpoint is given both positive and negative aspects.
The geopolitical situation described in the book is quite different from our own, but feels eerily possible. A colony on Mars, effectively a nation in itself, controlled by a corporate entity. A United States broken into pieces on economic and social fault lines. Indigenous populations in open revolt against the remnants of colonialism.
Morgan also did good work with the prose. It's nicely polished, and beautiful in spots. He also makes use of literary devices like parallels, foreshadowing, etc.
The story also ends up more complicated, far reaching and interesting than it appears it will at first. I thought I was going to be listening to a violent
There's one particular part of the plot that I'd like to call out, but it's a huge spoiler.
Spoiler
The Non-Fridging of Sevgi ErtekinI thought Morgan did a great job of taking a repeated trope of sci-fi that often results in shallow characters and cheap motivations and showing that it is possible to do it well.
The denoument of the book is fueled largely by Carl's rage over Sevgi's death at the hands of one of the villains. On the surface, it seems like a classic case of "fridging."
Where Morgan goes right with it is that there was much, much more to Sevgi than her death, and more motivation for Carl. Her death was the catalyst that moved things from "we're going to beat these guys" to "I'm going to build a memorial to Sevgi Ertekin out of [redacted]'s blood, and I'll cut down anyone that gets in my way."
Before that, Sevgi was a central part of the story, and a major force moving the story ahead. Her death came in a fire fight she entered of her own will, and where she took down two 13s before taking the wound that eventually killed her.
For Marsalis' part, we are given reason to think his reaction would have been similar if the death had been one of the few other people he truly considers friends. (Threats to a UN handler if any reprisals happen to his friend the hacker, etc.) The deeper (maybe?) relationship with Sevgi made the reaction more intense.
Sometimes characters die. And sometimes other characters are galvanized by that. Morgan reminds us that it doesn't have to be cheap, simplistic, or schmaltzy when it happens.
Summary
If you like future sci-fi, and don't mind it getting violent, messy and sometimes crude, you owe it to yourself to read this.
noranne's review against another edition
4.0
A gripping plot, kept me reading all day. Not sure about all the genetics involved, but it's hard to say how much is being filtered by the POVs. The future history is interesting, some of the Jesusland stuff is pretty chilling. Typical Morgan stuff, which means getting more descriptions of big-breasted and long-legged ladies running about than I really care for, but the sex scenes are relatively toned down compared to some others I can think of from him. Also the book felt like it did not need to be that long.
pjwhyman's review against another edition
4.0
I had real trouble with this book in the beginning. It started very bleak and although it never really becomes "happy clappy", it does begin introducing more characters and some quite intresting ideas about sociology, genetics, and geopolitics. It also turns some corners I really didn't expect, and so I ended up very much enjoying it. Glad I stayed with it.
shane_tiernan's review against another edition
4.0
Damn Richard K. Morgan can write! It's almost as if this stuff is happening in some alternate universe and he's just there copying it down. His universe is so completely fleshed out you almost expect that he's got a set of encyclopedias sitting around his house with information that relates to the world he has created. In this case it helps that it's set in America but it's a completely different future version of America.
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.
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.
prond's review against another edition
3.0
Все герои книги очень любят разговаривать, только вот одна проблема: ни один из них этого делать не умеет и, как результат, каждый разговор представляет собой череду плохо понятных вспышек ярости и самоуспокоения на фоне попыток вывести из себя своего собеседника. Практически все диалоги происходят по данной схеме - общаются ли друг с другом враги, друзья или незнакомые люди. В итоге интересная сюжетная завязка плотно забивается бесконечными и скучными попытками подобного коммуницирования.
imperia_'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
matbrown's review
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
termith's review against another edition
4.0
Неплохой детектив, завёрнутый в хорошую фантастику.
Я немного был не готов к философским рассуждениям героев, да и выглядели они в книге так, как будто вставлены искусственно (хм, что-то давно не было философии... пора!).
В остальном - отличное чтение!
Я немного был не готов к философским рассуждениям героев, да и выглядели они в книге так, как будто вставлены искусственно (хм, что-то давно не было философии... пора!).
В остальном - отличное чтение!