Emerging from the ashes of cyberpunk, Richard K. Morgan hit the scene with ALTERED CARBON, which won the Philip K. Dick award in 2003. WOKEN FURIES is a continuation of the exploits of ALTERED CARBON’s (and sequel BROKEN ANGELS‘) noir protagonist Takeshi Kovacs.

Neurologically trained by the government to be part of an elite squad of infiltrators and insurgents, Kovacs is man a half-step away from humanity who is able to observe the brutal cycle of human nature with a sneer and, at the same time, hope that this time, things will be different.

The twist is this: In Kovacs’ universe, every human being has a chip implanted in his or her spine that contains their consciousness; as long as this “cortical stack” is intact, a person’s consciousness can survive death itself and be “reseleeved” in a fresh body. This also enables people to send their consciousness into virtual environments (for training, sex or torture) or across interstellar space into a new life and a new body. While being extremely cool in and of itself, the idea of impermanent death opens up a philosophical can of worms that Morgan explores with aplomb.

FURIES opens some time after ANGELS, with Kovacs up to no good on his home planet of Harlan’s World, until his own nature and unfortunate consequences leave him facing the remnants of revolution, the possible reincarnation of a long-dead hero and a younger version of himself … trying to take him out.

Whereas CARBON was straight-up detective noir with a James Bond ending and ANGELS took readers into the guts of war, FURIES is about confronting the past and the demons that accompany it. It’s to Morgan’s credit that he can pull off existential crises without getting sappy and trite; the emotional responses always seem real, if unexpected. Indeed, Kovacs is much the same as ever: one step ahead most of the time, methodically ruthless when he must be and always prepared to be unsurprised, even when he’s freaked out. Self-knowledge serves Kovacs well, and that gets him through when others fail, leaving him to wonder again and again why humanity can’t break the chains of history and try something new for a change.

Deeper elements aside, action fans will not be left wanting. Plenty of high-tech weapons are bandied about and and discharged with gusto (there’s even a knife that dispenses super ebola), and bodies come with upgrades that would be the envy of Steve Austin. Unlike so many “cyberpunk” offerings of late (too many of which are described as being “on speed” or “on steroids,” i.e. “It’s like DRIVING MISS DAISY on
speed! An adrenaline rush of take-me-to-the-market nihilism!”), the spurts of violence and gore in FURIES, while sometimes meaningless and grim, are never gratuitous.

That is what sets Morgan’s books apart from the pretenders to the noir-cyberpunk throne. We’re not living the 25th century, nor are most of us trained as über-assassin revolutionaries. What puts WOKEN FURIES near the top of the heap is that despite these differences, it’s possible to understand how Takeshi Kovacs feels, and to sympathize.