Does the world really need another Richard Morgan novel?
I’ve just learned via InstaPundit that Richard Morgan has another book out, titled Thirteen in the US and Black Man in the UK.
My first Morgan book was Market Forces, which is what sci-fi would read like if Leon Trotsky wrote sci-fi. Seriously. Think Robo-Cop, but more contrived and excessively stylized. I’ll spare you the painful plot details, but I can convey the gist of the plot in bullets:
- Distopian near-future ruled by the forces of capitalism
- Conflict Investment firms provide weapons and support to warloads and ‘freedom fighters’ in the hopes of profiting from their victories
- CI executives drive around in souped-up European sports cars, armed and armored, and fight each other to the death in a sort of Mad Maxx meets Demolition Derby lamefest
- Most of the population poor and hopeless
- Feckless UN staffed by weary Marxist idealists powerless to stop the evils of Market Forces
And that’s pretty much it. It’s the kind of book a Liberal Arts student might write to impress the Marxist coeds. I suppose if you’re the type that walks out of a Micheal Moore movie and thinks to yourself “Dammit, that fat prick let the neo-con corporate zionist cabal off WAY too easy”, you’ll like this book. I certainly didn’t.
Undaunted, I went ahead with Altered Carbon, which is supposedly more Gibsonian and less…well…Marxist. What can I say; I was in Iraq at the time, and desperate for some light reading.
I will admit that I rather enjoyed Altered Carbon. Sure, Morgan’s contempt for free markets and concentrated wealth was on full display, but this time it was more subdued; a part of the scenery, not a blunt plot instrument. I then went on to the other books in the series, Broken Angels and Woken Furies. Much like Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game series, each book was better than the ones that followed. By the end of Woken Furies, we’re back to the same old Marxist sermonizing that made Market Forces such a shitheap.
Now I’m presented with a new Morgan book, Thirteen. Glenn Reynolds seems to like it, but then again, he reported liking the Altered Carbon series too, so I don’t know if I can trust his judgement. I will note this Richard Morgan quote, supposedly offered in an interview discussing Altered Carbon:
Society is, always has been and always will be a structure for the exploitation and oppression of the majority through systems of political force dictated by an élite, enforced by thugs, uniformed or not, and upheld by a willful ignorance and stupidity on the part of the very majority whom the system oppresses.
This sounds as much anarchist as Marxist, which is actually a good sign. The review goes on to say:
Fans of Morgan’s earlier work will detect hints and signs of this being related in spirit, if not also in “universe,” with his Takeshi Kovacs novels or with Market Forces. But instead of Thirteen being a mere rehash of the themes explored there, it takes on a life of its own, underscoring and pushing further down the rabbit hole towards some rather unsettling truths about ourselves and our societies.
Well, that’s a damn good sign; I don’t think I could take any more rehashing of his Marxist themes. I may give it a try, if nothing else to pass the hours until I can find a Transformers DVDrip.