2015: And then the end never stops twisting about ... back-stabbingly beautiful.
I love the way he describes technologies in his future vision of humanity. I am going to miss Takeshi Kovacs, I may even have to read the books all over again.

2018: Did get around to the reread. I had a harder time with the re-read than I anticipated because I did remember just enough to take away the major reveals. However that makes it possible to focus on other aspects of the books more.

I like the writing style, clean, well-paced and with a lot of fun quips that make me laugh or smile. Especially the dialogue scenes make for great reading. As I am not a fan of action and fight scenes in general I can't say much to that. There are enough of them to satisfy those who like them - for me this led to several "breaks" in my own pace reading this.

In this book Takeshi returns to his home Harlan's World, which is ruled by a group of oligarchs named the First Families, first among the first being the Harlans of course. This world is where 300 years back the Quellist uprising was brutally ended, devastating a hole continent (on a world mostly covered by water!) with so-called Mimints (intelligent robotic weapons systems) that are only now being de-commissioned by the DeComs - a group of mercenaries with a new technology that is able to hack and destroy the Mimints. Takeshi himself is currently on a mission/rampage against a local religion he derogatively calls the "Beards" (I think they are called New Revelation).

Through happenstance Tak becomes involved with a squad of DeCom mercenaries and ends up accompanying them back to the continent of New Hok and the Uncleared to hunt Mimints and obtain a new sleeve. Sylvie's Slipins are among the more experienced DeComs but not well-liked by command because apparently they do whatever-the-fuck they feel like.

But Tak has another problem besides needing a new sleeve. Someone high up wants to hunt him down (it is unclear if his murders of religious leaders are the reason for this) and and has warmed up a much younger copy of himself to do so. Obviously he begins to second-guess himself, and he is not always right.

Soon enough he is on the run with Sylvie, in a new sleeve, leaving behind the squad... and Sylvie has other problems to, somewhere among the Mimints she was infected with a viral software that causes her to have blackouts.

While the middle part lulls a little with a few too-long action sequences and scenes that are needed as set-up for the wonderfully intricate twisted ending and Takeshi--again--gets to fuck nearly every major female character... (and his teacher and trainer Virginia whom he seemed to admire so much in previous books with no hints of attraction is the one that gets me most. This could have shown a great friendship but no they have to do it even though she is in a longterm relationship.) Once again, as soon as he sees an attractive woman, Tak is completely controlled by his dick or should I say pheromones? His sleeve-twin being the one exception, thankfully.

The ending and its accompanying reveals make more than up for those weaknesses. The books are now a decade old and hold up well in most regards--especially if you skip/ignore the sex scenes which do not impact any of the plots in all 3 books in any meaningful manner. The sex doesn't mean anything to Takeshi and so it doesn't mean anything to the plot.

I'll leave my original rating of 5 although this time it was more of a 4 read.