A Takeshi Kovacs Novel (Takeshi Kovacs Novels)
526 pages
English language
Published July 27, 2006
It's the twenty-fifth century, and advances in technology have redefined life itself. A person's consciousness can now be stored in the brain and downloaded into a new body (or "sleeve"), making death nothing more than a minor blip on a screen. Onetime U.N. Envoy Takeshi Kovacs has been killed before, but his last death was particularly painful. Resleeved into a body in Bay City (formerly San Francisco), Kovacs is thrown into the dark heart of a shady, far-reaching conspiracy that is vicious even by the standards of a society that treats existence as something that can be bought and sold. For Kovacs, the shell that blew a hole in his chest was only the beginning.
I really enjoyed this book. An hard-boiled, engaging story which aligns with the themes and the style of its genre, but succeeds at the same time in creating something really unique. Language is simple, straight to the point; explicit at times, but under no circumstances vulgar. A Dense, intricate plot, a crescendo of suspense.
Entertaining, but a bit confused. I did not really connect with any of the characters, and the elaborate conspiracy didn't grab me enough to keep me interested or even bother to keep track of all the names.
The occasional attempts to shock felt a bit overwrought, but otherwise the writing flowed well and was quite fun to read.
My main disappointment was that the central idea of storing and moving consciousness was not really explored in a lot of detail. I know this was intentional (this is not a hard SF novel about the core of identity) , but it really was the most interesting thing about the book.
So, fun, but flawed.
