The Fractal Hall Journal

“…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 elite, enforced by thugs, uniformed or not, and upheld by a wilful ignorance and stupidity on the part of the very majority whom the system oppresses.” – Richard Morgan, from an interview on saxonbullock.com, via Wikipedia.

A few days ago on Twitter I mentioned that if Rambo was an adjective, it would describe this book. Let’s expand on that, Internet Friends.

In the US the novel’s been retitled Thirteen, I’m assuming due to difficulties anticipated with the original name. If this is due to race issues (I don’t know for sure that it is, but it really wouldn’t surprise me), then it makes an interesting echo of some of the themes of the book.

Set about two hundred years in the future, the story is broadly about a genetically-engineered Thirteen’s hunt for a serial killer. Thirteens were created as supersoldiers, all throwbacks to pre-agriculture human hunters, a species of lone killers bred out of the human race hundreds of years ago. With wiring so different from modern humans, they’re seen as psychotic monsters to the general population. There’s a lot of subtext here about views on race and religion, but also on what humans actually are, what role our genes play in behaviour, how behaviour shapes society, but also whether or not life experience really does shape who we are. The “black man” describes the protagonist not just in terms of race, but how his society views him. It’s a dark, cynical book, one that echoes many of this author’s usual themes, outlined most clearly in the quote above.

It’s also incredibly violent, with people getting dispatched in many and various bloody ways. The swears are many, and there’s a couple of extremely explicit bongo scenes. A book for Grown-Ups, in other words.

While occasionally uncomfortable, it’s still very well written and easy to read. On his website, Morgan mentions that a fair few people don’t like the book very much, because they were expecting another Altered Carbon (his debut). Which is a surprise, because it’s not that radically different in terms of style or even theme, although the religion thing tends to get people hopping mad. Morgan has a distinctive voice, and that’s not a criticism. His next one is a Heroic Fantasy (capitals added for extra grandeur), which really will be a proper departure from previous work.

It’s probably not the most accessable of his books; it’s got something to piss of practically everybody and it slows down a bit in a few places, but it’s still very good and damn near essential if you like your SF both thought-provoking and blood-thirsty.