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Review

Rating: 4

I’m a big fan of Richard K. Morgan, I really am. I was excited to get this book. I moved it up in my reading queue because I just couldn’t wait. Unfortunately…..I didn’t like it. I think this was the worst book he’s written. And I feel bad about it - he’s clearly proud of it, and who am I to take that away? But I just don’t agree with him, or Jeff VanderMeer. I really disagree with many of the “13 reasons to read Thirteen” - let’s go over them (refer to the link):
1) It’s not dissimilar I suppose - but it’s very flat compared to the Kovacs novels. I did not feel at home. I felt like I didn’t really understand the world.
2) Not this critical account…
3) I can agree with this. Very interesting genetic manipulation issues.
4) This wasn’t a dystopian world? It sounded pretty bad to me…not somewhere I’d want to live! I was a little confused on the political setup, but I liked the concept. I thought it was a pretty good dystopian world, and I’m a little surprised Morgan himself thought it was a cheery place!
5) I suppose that yes, it *is* unpredictable - but I also felt it was near incomprehensible and convoluted.
6) I suppose….
7) Usually they do - but I didn’t feel that in this book as much.
Eight) OK - not really sure what this means, I guess that he did a good job thinking about the setting. I can agree.
9) I agree. Altered Carbon was awesome.
10) Let’s not get carried away…Marsalis felt like a caricature to me. I thought he was very predictable.
11) Sure, I’ll let that go.
12) Perhaps. Morgan does know gritty realism.
13) I hope the next one is better - and isn’t about Marsalis…

Why didn’t I like this book? The plot spent WAY too much time setting up characters - I got the point on who they are, and there was too much repetition of the same character setup. The main plot was neglected for hundreds of pages. We open the book with a certain scene and villain - and hear virtually nothing about that villain for page after page after page….And then the resolution comes about by accident and very rapidly. I felt like the climax came out of nowhere, and by then I’d forgotten why it was even important, and the post-climax seemed pointless and tacked on. There’s a mini-adventure after the main arc concludes, and I just don’t see why we even needed it. It just made the plot even more confusing.

So Thirteen, a grudging disappointment. Sorry RKM, I feel you missed on this one.