Woken Furies

Woken Furies (2005) is the fourth published science fiction novel by Richard Morgan. It is a sequel to his two previous novels Altered Carbon and Broken Angels and features the anti-hero 'Takeshi Kovacs'.

Having survived the brutal military conflict on Sanction IV, and corporate conflict over discovered Martian artifacts in Broken Angels, Takeski Kovacs finds himself back on his home planet of Harlan's World. Largely oceanic, Harlan's World is surrounded by Martain 'orbitals' that, for reasons known only to their creators who left long before human settlement of the planet, are programmed to destroy any object of sufficient technological level and flying altitude.

Kovacs is on the run after his numerous bloody attacks against an extremist religious order, upon which he has declared a personal vendetta, for reasons which are revealed much later in the story.

While trying to secure passage after his most recent bloodbath, he saves a woman named Sophie in a local bar from a group of religious zealots. In return, she allows him to take refuge with her mercenary crew as they head out to 'decommission' sentient military hardware that has run amok on a nearby Harlan's World continent. During one of these "decom" missions, Sophie collapses, and upon recoverery her personality appears to have been replaced by that of long dead revolutionary leader Quellcrist Falconer.

The crew return to base where they discover a younger version of Kovaks is looking for them on befalf of the Harlans, dictators of Harlans World. Sophie's gang is killed and Sophie/Quellcrist is captured. Kovacs schemes to rescue her by approaching old followers of Quellcrist Falconer.

The quellists mount a sucessful attack on a Harlan fortress and rescue Sophie/Quellcrist. Hiding from Harlan forces in a floating mafia base the quellists are sold out by its owner and recaptured. Another assault by Kovacs and a detachment of UN Envoys ends with Orbital weapon fire called down by Sophie/Quellcrist killing everyone everyone except Kovacs, Sophie/Quellcrist and Kovac's younger self. Kovacs fights his younger self to the death.

The novel ends with Kovacs and Sophie/Quellcrist planning to start a new revolution on Harlans World using the power of the Orbitals, which she is learning to control.