The Richard Morgan Thread

[needle]

Great interview, which actually inspired me to go out and get Market Forces on my lunchbreak yesterday.

Sitting in a cafe, devouring the first 40 pages or so, I couldn't help but be fascinated by a couple of guys sitting next to me who sounded/looked like writers or publishers ( or both). They turned ound and asked me if it was any good, and we had a brief chat about the awesomeness of Altered Carbon. The last time somebody in public asked me about a book, it was also Richard Morgan. Dunno what all that proves, except if you want to talk to randoms, carry Richard Morgan about with you.

Oh, and I'd never bought Market Forces before because a lot of people (whose opinion I trust) here didn't like it. But I'm really enjoying it, so far.

[Balefont]

Oh, and I'd never bought Market Forces before because a lot of people (whose opinion I trust) here didn't like it. But I'm really enjoying it, so far.

Me too. Me too. Me too.

And yes, I'm so going to pick it up within the month (even though I just bought 15 other books recently).

[Argon]

Er, the urban legends - ain't books sexy? Just unfortunately that they work in one direction only, needle. <grins>

Anyway, wanted to tell you if you haven't seen it already that Richard enabled comments on his blog. Cool.

And the other news is that "The Steel Remains just got nominated for the David Gemmell Legend award" Now how cool is that?!

Actually I would love to write on this thread:

http://gemmellaward.ning.com/forum/topic/s...8%3ATopic%3A885

but I haven't read it up to now, and won't until June'09. Hate Gollancz.

But you folks, can, and hopefully will. No?

Ah, did I say that I hate Gollancz? No? Well then, I hate Gollancz! Arggghhh.

[Mandiric]

I already posted some quick thoughts on Altered Carbon in the November reading thread – basically that I enjoyed the book enough to read it in one sitting, would gladly recommend it to others, but that I wasn’t wholly satisfied.

I think the main reason is that I felt a broad sense of detachment throughout the book. For me, the story lacked emotional resonance. I felt like Morgan introduced some profound concepts, then used them as plot points instead of exploring them. That may not be a fair perspective (it’s a SF noir action thriller, not a treatise on the human condition), but I couldn’t shake the feeling that the story was perhaps a bit too plot- and action-driven, and that the characterization and themes suffered to achieve the rapid pace.

I’ve considered that Kovacs is, through training and necessity, a somewhat emotionally detached character, and that this colors his (and the reader’s) understanding of events. Fair enough. But that also makes it tough to appreciate some of the intricacies Morgan sets forth. Resleeving is a fascinating concept to open the story with, but Kovacs doesn’t pay it much mind other than to notice his current sleeve comes with diminished lung capacity. I thought the idea of Ortega having to work closely with the image of her ex-lover would be fertile ground for conflict, but Kovacs is too busy thinking about other things, after some scattered resistance and tough-chick posturing, Ortega falls into bed anyway. After the events at the Wei clinic, I thought we might see Kovacs endure some consequences for his actions, but he kinda skips away from the whole thing and thus avoids any confrontation that might give his personality greater depth.

These parts of the story felt ambivalent to me, which made it tough for me to care what happened to the cast. Oh well. Can't please everyone.

Anyway, a very good book, well worth the money and time. More than enough to convince me to try The Steel Remains.

[Sheep the Evicted]

^^^

Why read the steel remains when all of your concerns are addressed in the next two books, especially the excellent woken furies.