There’s quite a lot of techno stuff in the background of this story. Altered Carbon is hard paced and fun indeed: the setting is compelling, and events keep on coming.

That doesn’t make the book less entertaining, since the details and the action are what it’s all about. That seems original at first, but as he and his wife were the only people with access to the room where he shot himself, and the wife seems innocent, the book starts with a classic case of a Sherlock Holmesy mystery setup: an impossible murder or an inexplicable suicide? As the options to unravel such a setup are limited, the basic outlines of what happened were clear to me early in the book. Outside of his own will, Kovacs is forced to investigate the apparent suicide of some tycoon: after his death, the tycoon was downloaded into a new body, but doesn’t remember events 48 hours prior to his passing, as a continuous backup process doesn’t exist. He refuses to believe he killed himself. Takeshi Kovacs, the protagonist, is a badass off-planet ex-soldier with some super duper training (“conditioning”) turned PI. There are some practical restraints (like money), but basically, without technical failures, the really wealthy can live forever. Altered Carbon is set in the 25th century, and the core idea of the book is that people are able to store their personalities digitally, and download them in a new body when they die. That’s not to say the novel doesn’t have merit:Īs I said, it’s entertaining, and the world Morgan envisions is quite interesting. Events as: being ambushed, being shoved into a limousine to see some mighty powerbroker, being confronted by a female cop followed by kissing, being tailed, being seduced by the wife of your client, being put into a fighting pit (bare knuckles to the death!), going to an arms dealer to get new toys, etc., etc. Don’t believe reviewers who speak of a complex plot: one has to pay attention, yes, but the story simply goes from point A to B: easily recognizable events take the protagonist by the hand throughout a murky world to the inevitable conclusion, and new clues pop up at regular intervals. It’s an entertaining read, and fairly easy at that. It won the 2003 PKD award, and comparisons to Blade Runner and Neuromancer are found in reviews all over the net. Morgan’s debut, and instantly got acclaim. If done right, this “pure high-octane science fiction” mixed “with the classic noir private-eye tale” will lend itself pretty well to the 21st century TV audience.Īltered Carbon is Richard K.

It’s hardly surprising Netflix has announced a 10-episode series based on this book.

Altered carbon by richard k morgan