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Market Forces | 
 enlarge | Author: Richard K. Morgan
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy Used: $0.85
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Rating:  82 reviews
Sales Rank: 49400
Media: Paperback
Pages: 464
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 0345457749
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780345457745
ASIN: 0345457749
Publication Date: March 1, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: Used Condition - GOOD can be a well cared for Book (including Audio) that is in great condition to a Book that may show some signs of wear. GOOD Books may be marked; have some spine or page creases; exibit signs of aging or an ExLibrary copy. ** Possible marking on cover. 100% Satisfaction guaranteed on all purchases. Delivery is 7-14 days for standard mail. **
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Amazon.com Review
Richard Morgan, the award-winning author of Altered Carbon and Broken Angels, strikes out into new territory with Market Forces, leaving behind the farflung battlegrounds of Takeshi Kovacs for the not-so-distant future of corporate Earth. Here, Morgan extrapolates a world where commodities trading reaches a brutal pitch and the outcomes of banana republic uprisings are the new market. Now, on the road to success, the brokers of the new economy compete for status and promotions via road rage on the freeways of new London. Morgan's conflicted protagonist, Chris Faulkner, is a comer known for one spectacular kill that shot him to the top of mid-range global capital firm. He parlays his reputation and skills as a driver into a job in the emerging field of "Conflict Investment" at the world's hottest and hardest firm. Soon he finds himself running with the big dogs and rises to the top of a brutal realm, but his ascent is quickly threatened by vicious senior partners, gold-digging suitors, fame, fair-weather friends, and his own nagging conscience. Market Forces is at once an anti-globalization treatise and anime fantasy meets The Road Warrior. Morgan employs the graphic-novel imagery of his two previous novels to create a disturbingly brutal picture of slash-and-burn capitalism run amok. There are times when Faulker's moral quandries seem hollow in the face of his actions but this isn't Crime and Punishment. Enjoy the ride and "come back with blood on your wheels or don't come back at all." --Jeremy Pugh Amazon.com Exclusive Content A Winning Translation: An Exclusive Essay by Richard Morgan
 His novels may paint a bleak picture of the future, but Richard Morgan has a great attitude toward language, and one word in particular. Read his Amazon.com exclusive essay and find out why he'll never consider himself, or anyone else, anything worse than an occasional non-winner.
Product Description
From the award-winning author of Altered Carbon and Broken Angels–a turbocharged new thriller set in a world where killers are stars, media is mass entertainment,
and freedom is a dangerous proposition . . .
A coup in Cambodia. Guns to Guatemala. For the men and women of Shorn Associates, opportunity is calling. In the superheated global village of the near future, big money is made by finding the right little war and supporting one side against the other–in exchange for a share of the spoils. To succeed, Shorn uses a new kind of corporate gladiator: sharp-suited, hard-driving gunslingers who operate armored vehicles and follow a Samurai code. And Chris Faulkner is just the man for the job.
He fought his way out of London’s zone of destitution. And his kills are making him famous. But unlike his best friend and competitor at Shorn, Faulkner has a side that outsiders cannot see: the side his wife is trying to salvage, that another woman–a porn star turned TV news reporter–is trying to exploit. Steeped in blood, eyed by common criminals looking for a shot at fame, Faulkner is living on borrowed time. Until he’s given one last shot at getting out alive. . . .
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| Customer Reviews: Read 77 more reviews...
 Absolutely Horrible October 7, 2008
Jon W. Tyree (Kansas City, MO United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
First off, I thoroughly enjoyed Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, and Woken Furies. I loved the high tech, the excellent worldbuilding, the dark noir element, the great action scenes, and the compelling main character. Market Forces has NONE of that. So, I'm extremely disappointed.
Morgan's worldbuilding in this novel is among the most childishly absurd and intellectually insulting I have ever come across. Highly paid 'Wall Street' style analysts in expensive suits drive 'Death Race' matches on the streets of London. This is not only required of them but they are encouraged to 'finish the job' by blowing someones brains out if necessary. OK, I guess this is satire or hyperbole. In fact, this is the only FUN part of the book. Overall its just too ridiculous. Poor people live in the 'cordoned zones' where gangs run freely and violence is rampant. Our suited death race drivers spend their days analyzing and influencing third world countries by 'investing' in revolutions and dictators. By night they run around murdering poor people that get in their way ('cause they can).
BUT! Our main character feels guilty about his evil ways, even though he's really good at it. He has marital problems! Hence the main conflict. There is lots of really terrible dialog between the main character and his wife. Will he give in and have the affair with the sexy journalist?! Who cares? Maybe he can escape his company and go to work for the UN, the last bastian of morality in the world (in the book). That's when I tossed this piece of garbage.
Maybe this should be my primary criticism, but the entire 'moral lesson' this book continuously preaches at the reader is nothing short of Marxism. Morgan should crack open a GD history book and learn about the realities of socialism. Show me where collectivism and central planning has EVER in the history of the world has created more prosperity than economic freedom and capitalism. I can recommend lots of theory and philosopy but history is the proof.
In summary.
A. Absurd and stupid world and concepts.
B. Boring plot. No high tech, minimal action, horrible dialog.
C. Marxist philosophy permeates.
 I hate to say it September 19, 2008
listenswithwolves
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
After reading the Takeshi Kovac's series, I was thrilled when I found
Market Forces. Unfortunately it left me very disappointed. Whereas Morgan
was able to create a rich and textured world of the future in the Kovacs
series, this one is barely believable and somewhat 2-dimensional. The
protagonist is certainly no Kovacs, either, although I suspect that is
what Morgan wanted. My apologies Morgan fans, I did not want to write this
review. In my opinion, though, you can miss this one.
 A good story with only a few flaws. June 13, 2008
R. Meincke (Denver)
Market Forces is a science fiction story about the not so distant future where globalism is taken to an absolute extreme. Corporate executives who wish to score a big contract or receive a promotion have to duel each other to the death on the highways.
After reading some of the reviews here I bought this book expecting to read something of a lower quality than the Takeshi Kovacs series. I was happy to be proven wrong. The writing in this book is on the same level as the rest of Morgan's work. The one real flaw in this book is that the world the story takes place in could have been more polished. You're not given much background on how the corporations got to the point where they have more power then national governments. A couple of times characters will mention an event called the domino recessions, as if that explains everything. One of the characters gives a decent background story about how the executives started dueling each other on the highways. It's just too bad we're not given a similar background story for the rest of the world.
There's a few other things about the story's world the leave you wondering. For example the book is supposed to be about a world where capitalism is taken to an extreme. As a result there's a small executive class who are extremely wealthy and then there's everyone else who's dirt poor and have to live in the "zones". The zones are the slum areas of the city which are sectioned off from the corporate areas. They receive little police coverage or any other type of service. Everyone living in the zones is depicted as being mostly unemployed and members of a street gang. The problem I have with this is that if so many people in the zones are unemployed they should all have starved to death years ago. A purely capitalist society wouldn't give out any form of social welfare. Also there's no mention at all of the middle class. They obviously exist because there's plenty of minor characters in the book who hold middle class jobs. These people aren't rich enough to be executives, but you'd think they'd be killed in the zones by all the out of control street gangs. I suppose there must be some middle class neighborhoods that receive police coverage, but the book makes no mention of this. Probably because that would take away from the coolness factor of the rich vs the poor that the author tries to play up throughout the whole book.
Ultimately the book is still a good read with a solid story. I just wish the author would've let his world evolve from the story rather than trying to force it into a anti capitalism viewpoint.
 Not as good as his other books June 8, 2008
Pancho Cole (Mount Desert Island, Maine USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I liked, but didn't love this book. It had some interesting premises, and I did finish the book, but it isn't as good as his other books.
An Unpredictable Ride June 5, 2008
T. E. Dunn
I had read the Kovacs novels and looked forward to reading more of Morgan's work.
When you read about the beginnings of the book - a short story, a screenplay, then finally a novel - you can feel those roots in the story. The future is unapologetically presented without a lot preamble. The reader has to put together the social climate and try to sympathize with the characters. I felt like an anthropologist observing a culture.
Morgan presents a possible future, perhaps even a probable future, but does not preach for or against it. The morality of his characters are only questioned by each other, not an omniscient voice.
I was constantly surprised by the unexpected turns. Sometimes Sci-fi uses technology in place of good writing to create conflicts to move the story along or resolve plot holes that could only be resolved via technology. Morgan uses people, not tech, to move the story along.
I never believed that car chase scenes would work so well in a book. He didn't overwork a major premise in the book. Each road scene is well treated and interesting to read.
If you are intrigued by concept Noam Chomsky meets Mad Max, you need to read this book.
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