Thirteen

By: Richard K. Morgan

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 22 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

Marsalis is one of a new breed...literally. Genetically engineered by the U.S. government to embody the naked aggression and primal survival skills that centuries of civilization have erased from humankind, Thirteens were intended to be the ultimate military fighting force. The project was scuttled, however, when a fearful public branded the supersoldiers dangerous mutants, dooming the Thirteens to forced exile on Earth's distant, desolate Mars colony. But Marsalis found a way to slip back and into a lucrative living as a bounty hunter and hit man before a police sting landed him in prison - a fate worse than Mars, and much more dangerous.

Luckily, his "enhanced" life also seems to be a charmed one. A new chance at freedom beckons, courtesy of the government. All Marsalis has to do is use his superior skills to bring in another fugitive. But this one is no common criminal. He's another Thirteen, one who's already shanghaied a space shuttle, butchered its crew, and left a trail of bodies in his wake on a bloody cross-country spree. And like his pursuer, he was bred to fight to the death. Still, there's no question Marsalis will take the job. Though it will draw him deep into violence, treachery, corruption, and painful confrontation with himself, anything is better than remaining a prisoner. The real question is: can he remain sane and alive long enough to succeed?

©2007 Richard K. Morgan (P)2007 Tantor Media Inc.

Critic reviews

"Stellar." ( Publishers Weekly)

Excellent book,

Another thought-provoking tale from Mr. Morgan. One warning though, this is not your parents or grandparent sci-fi writing. This is not Arthur C. Clark or Robert Heinlein, this is down-to-earth, with lots of graphic sex and foul language book. Also, if you are an easily offended Christian, this may no be your cup of tea. However, if you want a vision (although a grim one) of the near future and find tales where character are a mixture of good and evil with lots of interesting ideas. You, as i did, will enjoy this book.

Blah Blah BLah

I didn't have the patience to wait for the story to begin. Too much time was spent on the backstories of the characters for me to care. I guess that's why the do the backstory, to help us care, but for me, it did just the opposite.

Pure Awesomeness!

This is an offshoot of the Takeshi Kovacs Series, using the same universe, with a different main character; a "13". A man genetically engineered from the ground up to enhance dominant, Alpha-Male, Traits, with no dilution. Pure "used future" awesomeness!!!

Worth reading

If you like Morgan's previous books then you will like this one. The plot is not as engaging as any of his previous works. It serves as the filler between present day and Market Forces and the trilogy. Don't listen to the people who wrote about the book being hard on religion. It's science fiction and is just presenting a possible view of the future. It's not hard to imagine why the Southern United States could be called Jesus Land...

Eloquent Expressive Imaginative Brilliant

A literary artisan, Richard K. Morgan expresses the gravity, complexity, and intricacy of human nature with intelligence and emotion. His style uses colorful illustrative language — often graphic, always justifiable.

The setting of Thirteen is earth circa late 23rd century. Humanity has yet to employ protoplasmatic weaponry or launch themselves on an intergalactic crusade. They have, however, learned to develop genetically augmented super soldiers. What could possibly go wrong?

Objective readers will thoroughly enjoy this electrifying sci-fi mystery. Zealots, on the other hand, will find themselves in hell.

A narratorial master craftsman, Simon Vance is Simon Vance. You should be well aware of this man's talent by now.

Highly recommend!

Solid, reads like a precursor to Altered Carbon

This is probably the tamest novel by Morgan which I have experienced, and Market forces will be the last of those currently published which I will take in. I will say there is sometimes a bit much exposition but overall I really enjoyed it.

A social commentary punctuated by sex and violence

This book definitely held my attention all the way to the end. The book made me smile and made me cry.

I believe this is an earlier work of Richard K Morgan and it shows. In many passages, Morgan dives deep into his thesis about the masculine, feminine and civilization - to the detriment of the story. The action sequences are well done. I found the sex scenes gratuitous and not necessary to the story.

Simon Vance did a good job of narrating.

I would still recommend it to Richard K Morgan fans.

Just before this book, I read one of Morgan’s most recent books, Thin Air. Both the stories are set in the same universe, but the later book is a lot tighter.

Took a while to get sucked in, but I did.

The reader is great at narration but not for the voices. That distracted me from the story. I did like it in the end, though I’m not a fan of Hollywood – style dialogue where the characters are cussing each other out all the time gratuitously. Kind of annoying. Felt like altered carbon was edited more skillfully. But, if you liked altered carbon and you like Morgan, this is worth a read.

UNCOMFORTABLE REALITIES

Yes, book readers, people really DO talk like this in the blue-collar world. It not "Anne of Green Gables" in any military arena I have ever been.

Also, growing up in the southern bible belt, I have met a lot of Independent preachers that would relish living in a place called Jesusland where "tolerance" is not tolerated..

I watch the polarization of racism toward Republican for whites/Christians and Democrates for minorities/intelectualist and I shiver with the thought that this has the same sci-fi prophecy as Capt. Kirk pulling a flip-phone off his belt in 1966. No society, even one as great as America, will last forever and this author has portrayed a very realistic schism of our society.

This story is interesting but it circles around a lot to get to the point. Very Clancy-ish as well. With very little editing, this story could have taking place in our present time.

Put much into perspective, really enjoyed it.

I admit I was lost for a while trying to keep track of what was going on up until Carl Marseilles came back in chapter 11 but overall I love the story. And I think the narrator did a decent job changing his voice for each character. Sevky was a remarkable character in personality, and I found the story wrapped up pretty well.