Regular price: $26.64
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.
In just a few short years, Richard K. Morgan has vaulted to the pinnacle of the science fiction world. Now he turns his iconoclastic talents to epic fantasy, crafting a darkly violent, tautly plotted adventure sure to thrill old fans and captivate new readers.
What do you buy and sell when the global markets reach saturation point? The markets themselves. Thirty years from now the big players in global capitalism have moved on from commodities. The big money is in conflict investment. The corporations keep a careful watch on the wars of liberation and revolution that burn constantly around the world. They guage who the winners will be and sell them arms, intelligence, and power. In return for a slice of the action when the war is won.
On the edge of the galaxy, a diplomatic mission to an alien planet takes a turn when the Legionnaires, an elite special fighting force, find themselves ambushed and stranded behind enemy lines. They struggle to survive under siege, waiting on a rescue that might never come. In the seedy starport of Ackabar, a young girl searches the crime-ridden gutters to avenge her father's murder; not far away, a double-dealing legionniare-turned-smuggler hunts an epic payday; and somewhere along the outer galaxy, a mysterious bounter hunter lies in wait.
Meet the galaxy's unluckiest outlaws. Carl Ramsey is an ex-Earth Navy fighter pilot turned con man. His ship, the Mobius, is home to a ragtag crew of misfits and refugees looking to score a big payday but more often just scratching to pay for fuel. The crew consists of his ex-wife (and pilot), a drunkard, four-handed mechanic, a xeno-predator with the disposition of a 120kg housecat, and the galaxy's most-wanted wizard.
Minalan gave up a promising career as a professional warmage to live the quiet life of a village spellmonger in the remote mountain valley of Boval. It was a peaceful, beautiful little fief, far from the dangerous feudal petty squabbles of the Five Duchies, on the world of Callidore. There were cows. Lots of cows. And cheese. For six months things went well. Then one night Minalan is forced to pick up his mageblade again to defend his adopted home from the vanguard of an army of goblins bent on a genocidal crusade against all mankind. And that was the good news.
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.
In just a few short years, Richard K. Morgan has vaulted to the pinnacle of the science fiction world. Now he turns his iconoclastic talents to epic fantasy, crafting a darkly violent, tautly plotted adventure sure to thrill old fans and captivate new readers.
What do you buy and sell when the global markets reach saturation point? The markets themselves. Thirty years from now the big players in global capitalism have moved on from commodities. The big money is in conflict investment. The corporations keep a careful watch on the wars of liberation and revolution that burn constantly around the world. They guage who the winners will be and sell them arms, intelligence, and power. In return for a slice of the action when the war is won.
On the edge of the galaxy, a diplomatic mission to an alien planet takes a turn when the Legionnaires, an elite special fighting force, find themselves ambushed and stranded behind enemy lines. They struggle to survive under siege, waiting on a rescue that might never come. In the seedy starport of Ackabar, a young girl searches the crime-ridden gutters to avenge her father's murder; not far away, a double-dealing legionniare-turned-smuggler hunts an epic payday; and somewhere along the outer galaxy, a mysterious bounter hunter lies in wait.
Meet the galaxy's unluckiest outlaws. Carl Ramsey is an ex-Earth Navy fighter pilot turned con man. His ship, the Mobius, is home to a ragtag crew of misfits and refugees looking to score a big payday but more often just scratching to pay for fuel. The crew consists of his ex-wife (and pilot), a drunkard, four-handed mechanic, a xeno-predator with the disposition of a 120kg housecat, and the galaxy's most-wanted wizard.
Minalan gave up a promising career as a professional warmage to live the quiet life of a village spellmonger in the remote mountain valley of Boval. It was a peaceful, beautiful little fief, far from the dangerous feudal petty squabbles of the Five Duchies, on the world of Callidore. There were cows. Lots of cows. And cheese. For six months things went well. Then one night Minalan is forced to pick up his mageblade again to defend his adopted home from the vanguard of an army of goblins bent on a genocidal crusade against all mankind. And that was the good news.
An all-new Dresden Files story headlines this urban fantasy short story collection starring the Windy City's favorite wizard. The world of Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard, is rife with intrigue--and creatures of all supernatural stripes. And you'll make their intimate acquaintance as Harry delves into the dark side of truth, justice, and the American way in this must-have short story collection. From the Wild West to the bleachers at Wrigley Field, humans, zombies, incubi, and even fey royalty appear, ready to blur the line between friend and foe. In the never-before-published "Zoo Day," Harry treads new ground as a dad, while fan-favorite characters Molly Carpenter, his onetime apprentice, White Council Warden Anastasia Luccio, and even Bigfoot stalk through the pages of more classic tales.
The Galahad, a faster-than-light spacecraft, carries 50 scientists and engineers on a mission to prepare Kepler 452b, Earth's nearest habitable neighbor at 1400 light years away. With Earth no longer habitable and the Mars colony slowly failing, they are humanity's best hope. After 10 years in a failed cryogenic bed - body asleep, mind awake - William Chanokh's torture comes to an end as the fog clears, the hatch opens, and his friend and fellow hacker, Tom, greets him...by stabbing a screwdriver into his heart. This is the first time William dies.
The Ruhar hit us on Columbus Day. There we were, innocently drifting along the cosmos on our little blue marble, like the Native Americans in 1492. Over the horizon came ships of a technologically advanced, aggressive culture, and BAM! There went the good old days, when humans got killed only by each other. So, Columbus Day. It fits. When the morning sky twinkled again, this time with Kristang starships jumping in to hammer the Ruhar, we thought we were saved.
For a new kind of killer roams the streets of the Arab ghetto, a madman whose bootlegged personality cartridges range from a sinister James Bond to a sadistic disemboweler named Khan. And Marid Audrian has been made an offer he can't refuse.The 200-year-old godfather of the Budayeen's underworld has enlisted Marid as his instrument of vengeance. But first Marid must undergo the most sophisticated of surgical implants before he dares to confront a killer who carries the power of every psychopath since the beginning of time.
Not too long from today, a new, highly contagious virus makes its way across the globe. Most who get sick experience nothing worse than flu, fever, and headaches. But for the unlucky one percent - and nearly five million souls in the United States alone - the disease causes "Lock In": Victims fully awake and aware, but unable to move or respond to stimulus. The disease affects young, old, rich, poor, people of every color and creed. The world changes to meet the challenge.
The ancient gods are alive and well in the modern world in this hilarious, action-packed collection of original short stories featuring Atticus O'Sullivan, the handsome, tattooed, 2,000-year-old Irishman with extraordinary magic powers from Kevin Hearne's New York Times best-selling Iron Druid Chronicles.
It's just another day of high school for Zack Lightman. He's daydreaming through another boring math class, with just one more month to go until graduation and freedom - if he can make it that long without getting suspended again. Then he glances out his classroom window and spots the flying saucer.
Dive into the mysteries of Area X, a remote and lush terrain that has inexplicably sequestered itself from civilization. Twelve expeditions have gone in, and not a single member of any of them has remained unchanged by the experience - for better or worse.
At once wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, Ready Player One is a spectacularly genre-busting, ambitious, and charming debut—part quest novel, part love story, and part virtual space opera set in a universe where spell-slinging mages battle giant Japanese robots, entire planets are inspired by Blade Runner, and flying DeLoreans achieve light speed.
In the 20th century Earth sent probes, transmissions, and welcoming messages to the stars. Unfortunately, someone noticed. The Galactics arrived with their battle fleet in 2052. Rather than being exterminated under a barrage of hell-burners, Earth joined their vast Empire. Swearing allegiance to our distant alien overlords wasn't the only requirement for survival. We also had to have something of value to trade, something that neighboring planets would pay their hard-earned credits to buy. As most of the local worlds were too civilized to have a proper army, the only valuable service Earth could provide came in the form of soldiers....
The survivors have come to settle in the mountains of Wyoming, fighting day in and day out to establish a home for themselves in a near-empty world. Things are good at first; scavenging is a workable, short-term solution that seems to be providing all they need. But they know that it’s only a matter of time before the food runs out. They need to scramble to find a sustainable solution before the clock stops, and for a little handful of people up in the mountains, the odds don’t seem very favorable.
Jazz Bashara is a criminal. Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you're not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you've got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent. Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down.
This is high-action, ideas-driven noir SF of the highest order. Morgan has already established himself as an SF author of global significance.
Takeshi Kovacs has come home. Home to Harlan's World. An ocean planet with only 5 percent of its landmass poking above the dangerous and unpredictable seas. Try and get above the weather in anything more sophisticated than a helicopter and the Martian orbital platforms will burn you out of the sky.
And death doesn't just wait for you in the seas and the skies. On land, from the tropical beaches and swamps of Kossuth to the icy, machine-infested wastes of New Hokkaido the hard won gains of the Quellist revolution have been lost. The First Families, the corporations and the Yakuza have a stranglehold on everything.Embarked on a journey of implacable retribution for a lost love, Kovacs is blown off course and into a maelstrom of political intrigue and technological mystery as the ghosts of Harlan's World and his own violent past rise to claim their due.
Quellcrist Falconer is back from the dead, they say and hunting her down for the First Families is a savage young Envoy called Kovacs who's been in storage.
This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?
Someone who doesn't care about details, background information, setting and didn't listen to the first two audio books.
If you’ve listened to books by Richard Morgan before, how does this one compare?
Bottom of the list. I usually enjoy the audio books of Richard K. Morgan, his fantasy novels as well as his scifi but this one was just awful, especially since I took a liking to the first two.
And what's with the editing? Echo sound effects for flashbacks? Why? I had to check my file at the first scene, just to realize it is edited to sound like this. Why the inconsistencies in a trilogy? Highly unnecessary.
How did the narrator detract from the book?
If you can't even get the protagonists name right, you might as well decline the job and choose a different book. The author spent a few lines in his earlier books explaining the pronunciation and origin of his character's name, the narrator just didn't care. The setting of the story has a strong Japanese influence but he couldn't get any of those words right either. Every time the I heard the word yaKUza made me cringe and it didn't stop there. I'm not sure if it was the author's choice to find a new narrator, I really liked Todd McLaren's interpretation of Takeshi and his attitude. Just the right amount of "not giving a fuck", pardon my language. Dufris' character interpretations, especially those of the female characters, all sound cookie-cutter-basic.
If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Woken Furies?
I wouldn't chance it. The author wanted to tell a story, and even though I liked the later parts better, because I had an interest in those plot elements from prior books, the author likes to keep the reader guessing. I'd have liked greater detail regarding the changing environment, since the protagonist had a long and eventful life at this point but we don't read much about the changes in the universe. Altered Carbon still remains my favorite from the trilogy with this one ranking last, even though the plot had me hooked before I even had the chance to pick this book up.
10 of 10 people found this review helpful
Couldn't get past the first few minutes. The lack of effort put into this audiobook is apparent from the start. I would probably read it instead.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
Periodically this audiobook makes use of annoying sound effects on the speakers voice. If you have background noise from sitting in public transport or have a hard time with English because it isn’t your native language I would say you should probably read the book instead. Story is good and fleshes out the universe of Takeshi Kovacs even more but at this point I reckon it’s mostly appealing to fans of the series.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Firstly, the story was not up there with the first part of the series.
Secondly and more importantly, the performance, or more accurately the editing was atrocious! Very annoying echo and distortion sound effects.
And lastly, if the author makes a point about the correct pronunciation of the protagonists name in the first book, make sure to let the new narrator know...
How did the narrator detract from the book?
McLaren read the first two of the series splendidly. The narrator should've at least listened to the style - and learned how to pronounce the Name "Kovacs"!!! It's a running joke in the first book that people outside Harlands world cannot pronounce the slavic "tsh" ending - and now the narrating character HIMSELF mispronounces his own name. Pitiful.
Even worse: The stupid cowboy style voice does not fit a self-control master like an envoy AT ALL. Wish I could return this audiobook, it ruins the series for me.
I totally loved the first 2 audibooks and the author but then this!
I cant stand the new narrator - the singsong voice does nothing for this brutish hardened hero story and does not work for the genre. He is a significant change from the narrator of the first 2 books and cant pronounce the lead characters name.
What on earth happens in the story? Total mess. New characters keep on appearing all the way to the end. Eventually the poor plot just become annoying and I just couldnt care if the hero lived or died. If I hadnt listened to the other 2 books and enjoyed them so much I would have deleted this hours and hours ago. Real shame.
27 of 27 people found this review helpful
If you've listened to the other audiobooks in this series, I'd advise avoiding this one. For whatever reason it was made by a different company and at some point somebody decided that, because its sci-fi it needs cheesy sound effects. Which evidently meant speaking every word of "Envoy recall" through an old Pringles tube, which just cheapened the whole thing.
This alone I could have dealt with...
What is completely unforgivable and the reason I'll be returning this book after I post this, is that the new narrator William Dufris, mispronounces the lead characters name EVERY SINGLE TIME HE SAYS IT! which given that this book is written from Takeshi's point of view means that since the last book he's forgotten how to say his own frickin name!
When you add to this, that in the previous two books Takeshi has occasion musings on how frequently people mispronounce his name, just makes it hysterically incompetent and all the more rage inducing.
William Dufris, you sir are a dingleberry, do your research next time, your a disgrace to your profession.
23 of 23 people found this review helpful
I've enjoyed Morgan's books (and own them in a number of formats - digital and analogue) and was looking forward to listening to the further adventures of Kovacs but didn't make it more than 5 minutes into this talking book. It sounded as though it had been recorded on a Walkman in my garage. In addition the narrator pronounced "Kovacs" with a hard "c" - something that the books themselves decry as incorrect!
I own 30-40 Audible titles and this is the worst quality recording I've come across. It is very disappointing and shows little respect for an enjoyable story.
22 of 23 people found this review helpful
I can't believe they got his name wrong, they make a big thing of it on the first two books, then this narrator gets it wrong. Bad show.
Great book though.
Narrator also needs to lay off the effects.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful
why would they change the narrator for the third in a series? then add in vocal shifting for some elements and not tell the narrator how to pronounce the name of the lead character?! if you can get past these frustrating points it's good but it annoyed me every step of the way :(
16 of 17 people found this review helpful
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
Yes, if anything to finish the trilogy.
Would you be willing to try another book from Richard Morgan? Why or why not?
Yep. Although this third installment was a bit ropy, it was still enjoyable. The first two were superb.
Would you be willing to try another one of William Dufris’s performances?
Absolutely, but no thanks to this audio book. He was brilliant in Cryptonomicon, so I know he can do (a lot) better. I can only assume that this was poor direction by the producers.
Any additional comments?
What were the producers thinking? Did they even listen to the first book? KovaCH, not KovaKS! Takeshi even makes a point about it in the beginning of the first book.
I was binge listening to the trilogy, so having a different narrator in the third book was a bit off-putting. Not because Dufris is bad (see above), but because it was so different from the first two. It's like changing the main actor in a TV series between seasons.
And what's with the cheap audio effects they put on the "dream sequences"? At first I thought they botched the recording. It completely irritated me and, in my opinion, has no place in an audio book.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful
Eventually came around but the change in performer was very jarring with already established pronounciations.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
Why change the narrator? I like Dufris for a lot of his other readings but this isn't good, it doesn't do the book any justice at all. He even has Kovacs pronouncing his own name wrong...
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
The first two books are brilliant and I enjoyed them so much I've listened to them more than once.
Much of the enjoyment is owed to Todd Maclaren's performance and portrayal of the tough and grizzled protaginist Takeshi Kovacs.
William Dufris' interpretation is so disconnected from the first two books, so irritating in his speech patterns and incorrect pronunciation of the lead's surname, that after an hour I had to scrap it.
I'll buy the paperback and read it instead.
What on earth were they thinking changing the narrator for the final book?
Really, really disappointed.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
The story is better than book 2 but the new narrator mispronounces the main character's name throughout.
If you've made it through book 2 then this is definitely worth your time. Otherwise just stop at the end of Altered Carbon.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful
Why they add silly effects and changed narrator story was not as good as first two in series
6 of 6 people found this review helpful
This is an ok book but the reading was overdramatic, made worse by the frequent and tedious echo effects; this made for very poor radio theatre. In contrast, the previous two books in the series were thoroughly enjoyable.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful
A decent cyberpunk/sci fi novel witj a narrator so bad he can't even pronounce that protagonist's correctly.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Initially had difficult with the narrator and the tone changes. Didn't help that this 3rd book was narrated by a different person to the first 2.
Was probably 2/3s into the book before I caught the stride. All up a great story and good performance.