Broken Angels

By: Richard K. Morgan

Narrated by: Todd McLaren

Length: 16 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

Cynical, quick-on-the-trigger Takeshi Kovacs, the ex-U.N. envoy turned private eye, has changed careers, and bodies, once more, trading sleuthing for soldiering as a warrior-for-hire and helping a far-flung planet's government put down a bloody revolution.

But when it comes to taking sides, the only one Kovacs is ever really on is his own. So when a rogue pilot and a sleazy corporate fat cat offer him a lucrative role in a treacherous treasure hunt, he's only too happy to go AWOL with a band of resurrected soldiers of fortune. All that stands between them and the ancient alien spacecraft they mean to salvage are a massacred city bathed in deadly radiation, unleashed nanotechnolgy with a million ways to kill, and whatever surprises the highly advanced Martian race may have in store. But armed with his genetically engineered instincts, and his trusty twin Kalashnikovs, Takeshi is ready to take on anything...and let the devil take whoever's left behind.

Broken Angels is the second Takeshi Kovacs novel. Don't miss the first, Altered Carbon, or the third, Woken Furies.

©2003 Richard K. Morgan (P)2005 Tantor Media, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A superior, satisfying cyberpunk noir adventure." (Publishers Weekly)
"A lively follow-up to an energetic debut, with a still refreshingly cynical hero." (Booklist)

Too much bass

I liked the story. The reading was difficult for me. There was too much bass in the recording which made it difficult to listen to, especially in the car. Also I wasn't fond of the narrator's voice for female characters.

Not sure why this is considered a sequel

The book is supposed to be a sequel to "Altered Carbon"; however, the only tie to the first book is the name of the main character. This story is Takashi Kovasc 30 years after the events of "Altered Carbon" but it might as well be a completely different character as the events of the first book have no bearing on the second book.

I enjoyed "Altered Carbon" a great deal because the author illustrated several circumstances that the world of re-sleeving can cause. That was missing in this book.

"Broken Angels" is a straight forward military space sci fi story and didn't have the interest or the depth of "Altered Carbon", even the sex scenes in BA were contrived and served no real purpose in the story.

As a stand alone novel "Broken Angels" is average sci fi but it lacks the depth of the first book.

Fresh story with an imaginative premiss

Fresh and imaginative sci fi that will leave you on the edge of your seat

Not bad, but lost something since the first book.

Gritty and still original. Tak is less likable, but still a great anti-hero. Great world building and the side characters are deep enough to relate too. Overall good, not great.

Hip and sexy, unafraid.

I really enjoyed this. Even though I personally don't buy into the idea of seperating mind and body which stands as the backdrop of the book, the story stays consistent with the rules he lays out.

In the mean time the story itself MOVES. Its crisp and very hip. Its sexy when it wants to be, brutal when it needs to be, and gritty as hell. I liked it a lot. The characters here are pretty real. They have failings and strengths. I only wish in this story he'd taken the voodoo theme just a little further along rather than abandoning it.

great without the longwinded

I really enjoyed Altered so was anxious for the second Broken. Morgan didn't back away from his gritty and sensational as in the first so the second continued on queue. The only that thing that took away from Broken which seemed to get worse the deeper you went was the long-winded narration or explanation of history and technology where, I feel, a brief review would have been suffice. It slowed the pace considerably especially at the end when all the lose ends needed to be tied up.

Great follow up

Just as good if not better than the first. Im excited to see how Netflix portrays the world's the author has built.

excellent all around audio book.

I found it hard to put it down. good sci-fi. good fights. good story line with mystery, intrigue, suspense and a couple raw sex scenes to boot.

Good Listen

Good continuation of the Altered Carbon series. Impressive narrator with an ability to utilize many voices. The constant fallback to the main character's "envoy" skills is wearing a little thin, though.

First book was better

First book was better. This one just stretched out slowly for me. I was often apathetic about the characters and the story. Around the 2/3rds mark the story finally picked up and became exciting again. I enjoyed the last third of the book and the ending. I am not sure whether or not I will continue with the series.