Broken Angels

Broken Angels (2003) is a military science fiction novel by Richard Morgan. It is set in the same universe and has the same protagonist as his previous novel, Altered Carbon, but it is not a traditional sequel and the story can be read on its own. Image File history File links Broken_Angels_cover_(Amazon). ... Image File history File links Broken_Angels_cover_(Amazon). ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Military Science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction where interstellar or interplanetary conflict and its armed solution (war) make up the main or partial backdrop of the story. ... Richard Morgan (b. ... Altered Carbon Altered Carbon (2002) is a hardboiled science fiction novel by Richard Morgan (his first). ...

Plot

Set some 30 years after Altered Carbon, this novel expands on the "Martians" side detail briefly mentioned in the first novel. Kovacs has escaped Earth, fleeing both the consequences of the events in Altered Carbon, and the relationship he was forced to abandon at the end of that novel. He has returned to his mercenary roots, and is now serving in a dirty corporate war on a distant colony putting down a rebellion against the corporate-sponsored government. Whilst having his latest temporary body repaired after a disastrous land campaign, Kovacs is approached by pilot Jan Schneider, who is looking for protection (and gets a partner) for an expedition to exploit an extraterrestrial artifact discovered just before the war broke out. Altered Carbon Altered Carbon (2002) is a hardboiled science fiction novel by Richard Morgan (his first). ... Takeshi Kovacs is the prime character of the books Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, and Woken Furies by Richard Morgan, which take place several centuries in the future. ... Earth is the third planet in the solar system. ... Altered Carbon Altered Carbon (2002) is a hardboiled science fiction novel by Richard Morgan (his first). ... A mercenary is a soldier who fights, or engages in warfare primarily for private gain, usually with little regard for ideological, national or political considerations. ... Extraterrestrial, as an adjective, refers to something that originates, occurs, or is located outside Earth or its atmosphere. ...

Like the first novel, Broken Angels combines a twisting, gritty, film noir plot with convincing technology, extreme ultra-violence and convincing characters and motivations. Kovacs and co. merely want to escape the hell of the war, and make a bit of cash on the side. This still from The Big Combo (1955) demonstrates the visual style of film noir at its most extreme. ...

The two novels' chief achievement is believably exploring the darker side of a future technology (in this case virtual reality and the ability to digitise and download a human personality) to see the hideous uses which an immoral, corporate dominated world would put them to. Virtual Reality (VR) is an environment that is simulated by a computer. ...