Woken furies

I have now finished a third volume by Richard Morgan, Woken Furies. As a third book, the incredible novelty has somehow worn out (in terms of a new Universe, new characters, etc.) but it remains a very good book, exploring the society and the political structures glimpsed during Broken Angels. On the positive side, the book explores at last the possible paradoxes created by resleeving as the occurrence of autonomous doubles, uncontrolled reincarnations, and the permanent loss of a person. The main character, Kovacs, is as ambiguous as in the previous novels, with terribly dark sides—as in his “crusade” against a religious order responsible (in action or creed) for the definite death of his lover—and a beginning of a self-questioning that is rather interesting.  A wee related with [my favourite] Chandler’s The Long Goodbye. Religious orders are thus more present than in the earlier volumes, maybe too close to existing situations, but interesting nonetheless. The fact that the reincarnation happens with the lost leader of the main revolutionary  movement of the past centuries has obvious consequences on the political setting of Kovacs’ universe. The pace is as fast as in the other books, with a lot of unexpected deaths and combats, even though both the sleuth work and the military perspectives of the previous books. On the less positive side, I find some dialogues rather poor and lacking in perspective, some characters difficult to understand or improbable, a lack of constancy in Kovac’s beliefs, and (as previously) some chance occurrences completely unbelievable. All in all, this remains a high quality and enjoyable scifi’-cyberpunk novel! (Now is time to switch to another author, for a change!)