NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NOW AN EXCITING NEW SERIES FROM NETFLIX • The shell that blew a hole in his chest was only the beginning in this “tour de force of genre-bending, a brilliantly realized exercise in science fiction.”—The New York Times Book ReviewIn the twenty-fifth century, humankind has spread throughout the galaxy, monitored by the watchful eye of the U.N. While divisions in race, … eye of the U.N. While divisions in race, religion, and class still exist, advances in technology have redefined life itself. Now, assuming one can afford the expensive procedure, a person’s consciousness can be stored in a cortical stack at the base of the brain and easily downloaded into a new body (or “sleeve”) making death nothing more than a minor blip on a screen.
Ex-U.N. envoy Takeshi Kovacs has been killed before, but his last death was particularly painful. Dispatched one hundred eighty light-years from home, re-sleeved into a body in Bay City (formerly San Francisco, now with a rusted, dilapidated Golden Gate Bridge), Kovacs is thrown into the dark heart of a shady, far-reaching conspiracy that is vicious even by the standards of a society that treats “existence” as something that can be bought and sold.
Praise for Altered Carbon
“Compelling . . . immensely entertaining . . . [Richard] Morgan’s writing is vivid and his plotting inventive.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer
“A fascinating trip . . . Pure high-octane science fiction mixes with the classic noir private-eye tale.”—Orlando Sentinel
“Gritty and vivid . . . looks as if we have another interstellar hero on our hands.”—USA Today
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An examination of consciousness, where bodies are sleeves and identities can be stored and transferred. Morgan introduces the human element of greed and societal privilege. Suspension of disbelief is effortless when the uber wealthy take advantage of this technology to make themselves “immortal”.
Netflix adapted this as a 10 episode series but …
When top-notch science fiction meets the best of classic noir, ALTERED CARBON is the result. A distant future described with incredible world building sets the backdrop for a classic whodunit with memorable characters and double-crosses galore.
Cross-genre fusion doesn’t always work, but in this case it raises this page-turner to a higher plane. …
Like a lot of others, I somehow missed this book when it was released, but watched the Netflix series and got really curious. How does someone create a world so intensely visual in words? So, I got the book. Wow does not capture it entirely. The world building is seamless, visual, and disturbing at a deep level, mostly because it’s so easy to see …
Delighted to see we’re running a deal on Altered Carbon, another of my favorite sci-fi novels. It’s built around a classic what-if premise: what kind of world would result if we could store our consciousness in an implanted computer chip that could be “resleeved” into another body after death? Wrap that world around a cyberpunk/noir detective …
In Altered Carbon, set 300-500 years in the future, human minds can be stored digitally and transmitted to other planets or downloaded into new bodies. If their body dies, their mind still exists (unless their cortical stack is destroyed). This makes life incredibly cheap. Even the act of murder is referred to as “organic damage.” The very rich …
I picked this up after watching the television series on Netflix and was not disappointed. While there are some significant changes, Morgan provides a depth of worth and character that make both worthwhile. Takeshi Kovacs is and remains a force to be reckoned with and while sometimes he trends into the Marty Stu realm, as a future cyberpunk …
One of the best speculative fiction/science fiction stories I’ve read so far! Talk about creative and original and mind blowing! Wow! The world building is phenomenal. The characters engaging. The premise and concept complex with layered depth. At turns twisted, but also action packed. I loved it. Now I have to check out what other offerings the …
Altered Carbon turned out to be a very interesting and entertaining sci-fi murder mystery. I couldn’t help but like Kovacs and his hard to like personality. I loved being in his head and seeing how he thinks. Richard Morgan did a great job explaining how sleeves work and how to download your consciousness into a new body. This was the most …
What if you could never die? What would life be like? How would your worldview change if you knew that you could change a body just as easily as buying a new car? The world of Altered Carbon posits exactly that question. It paints a surprisingly contemporary and colloquial world which exists in a world which is still centuries ahead of us. At …
Some wonderful thought experiments about consciousness, gender identity, eternal life, and much more. It does this against a backdrop of a well-paced murder mystery and a very believable and well-constructed world. The writing quality is excellent, with fantastic setting descriptions, clever dialog, and some unexpectedly profound observations …
I picked up this book on a whim. I was at a used bookstore, just looking around when I saw it on a table with a stack of other novels. I checked the back cover blurb and thought, “hey, why not?” Wow. The thought of wearing another body as casually as one wears clothing. Maybe having a couple of them for variety. Meanwhile, the person whose body …
If you think you know SciFi plotting or story lines, you need to read this book and find out (like me) you know nothing. Richard K. Morgan does a fantastic job of building a new reality, and then populating that world with intriguing characters, settings, and action. All futuristic, of course. And all guaranteed to keep you turning the pages.
Great fun. Better than the Netflix series
Extraordinarily well written with tight, packed prose and uniquely original ideas.
Enthralling. You become completely absorbed in the world created in the book. It’s weird in an interesting way.
Great introduction to the trilogy. Thoughtful exploration of what it might mean to live for ever. Vivid characters. Well worth the read.
Original and dystopian take on mind transfer in a star-spanning corporate civilization. Commodified skills and personalities for sale!
Works on several levels: politics, technology, action, espionage, and survival.
For once, I didn’t think the book was as good as the TV show. Maybe that’s because I saw the TV show first. Maybe that’s because the book isn’t in my usual genre for reading (though the TV show is *definitely* in my usual genre for viewing). Maybe that’s because I knew what would happen (in broad brush strokes anyway). For whatever reason, I had …
Love this book. Intelligent and original.
The writer does a great job of fleshing out a wild concept. The ramifications of the tech are well thought out, and the terminology sticks in your head: sleeves, Meths, organic damage. There are lots of echoes of Neuromancer, which is a good thing in my opinion. The lovingly described scenes of carnage won’t be to everyone’s taste, but I felt they …