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Altered Carbon (GollanczF.) | Paperback

by Richard Morgan (Author)

List Price:

$13.17

Available:

Temporarily out of stock. Order now and we'll deliver when available. We'll e-mail you with an estimated delivery date as soon as we have more information. Your credit card will not be charged until we ship the item.

Binding:

Paperback

Publisher:

Gollancz

Page Count:

480 Pages

Publication Date:

September 04, 2008

Sales Rank:

112,838th

EDITORIAL REVIEWS

Product Description
Four hundred years from now mankind is strung out across a region of interstellar space inherited from an ancient civilization discovered on Mars. The colonies are linked together by the occasional sublight colony ship voyages and hyperspatial data-casting. Human consciousness is digitally freighted between the stars and downloaded into bodies as a matter of course. But some things never change. So when ex-envoy, now-convict Takeshi Kovacs has his consciousness and skills downloaded into the body of a nicotine-addicted ex-thug and presented with a catch-22 offer, he really shouldnt be surprised. Contracted by a billionaire to discover who murdered his last body, Kovacs is drawn into a terrifying conspiracy that stretches across known space and to the very top of society. For a first-time SF writer to be so surely in command of narrative and technology, so brilliant at world-building, so able to write such readable and enjoyable SF adventure, is simply extraordinary.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 220 reviews)

Ok but Philip Dick he isn't by Mandobob (Denver, CO)

2 Stars
November 18, 2009
Slow. Ponderous pacing. One dimensional characters. And one intriguing idea (resleeving). Too bad most of the atmosphere is a redo from PD (as are some of the character ideas). Easily twice as long as needed to play out the plot. I was disappointed in the whole mesh-mash given the level of adoration this book garners. I hope the forthcoming movie does more with the book that the author did. BTW - I got about 300 pages through and couldn't finish it. Real glad I got it from the library!

Sci--Fi Excellence by Ralph Jarmon (Los Angeles, CA USA)

5 Stars
August 17, 2009
A Sci-fi masterpiece - contemporary flowing style with complex well developed characters and multiple layers of plot storyline but not difficult to follow. Also a visionary conceptualization of current scientific realities extended far into the future that is inspiring imagery. Add to that amazingly intricate action scenes, and incredibly exciting sexual exploits. This is just a spellbinding masterpiece of twists and arcs that come together in total literary harmony. What a great read. I could hardly put it down. I believe it's destined to be a classic. Unfortunately, Morgan's other books don't come close to this one.

One-dimensional, hyper-masculine gritty romp by M-I-K-E 2theD (Ban Chang, Rayong, Thailand)

3 Stars
July 18, 2009
Richard Morgan's freshman novel lacks the maturity and finesse found in authors of the same genre such fellow Englishmen Iain Banks, John Brunner or Arthur C. Clarke. The plot is blatantly hyper-masculine with the main character Takeshi being a fighting/interrogating tour de force, with the plot being centered around violence and `places of disrepute' and with the emotional content being fixed and one-dimensional. Publishers Weekly described the book as being `fast-paced, densely textured, impressive, timely.' Inherently, I was skeptic to these words and wondered what their true meaning meant. `Fast-paced' is another way to say the book is like an action movie with lots of martial arts, fight scenes, battles, firefights, brain-blowing, blood-spattering and beheadings. `Densely textured' could be taken to mean the book was, at a basic level, well thought out with vivid descriptions of the world in which plot rests (and this I do agree with!). `Impressive' is a bit a stretch for an action novel like this, but some points, indeed, are impressive such as the level of detail in the world and the depth of investigation. Lastly, the term `timely' is just a generic word for another well-tossed-around adjective `noir (meaning black, taken as dark, cynical, violent)' for novels which the publishers feel need an added splash of sophistication. Another all-too-often-used adjective for this book would be the `hard-boiled' to describe the suicide/murder investigation (can't they think of any better terms nowadays to describe a good detective story?). The characters themselves are all fairly one-dimensional with limited motivations including money, a sense of duty to loved ones, limited curiosity, revenge and mega-revenge. Notably, revenge, as petty and draconian as it is, is a key element is fingering the motivations for all the happenings in Altered Carbon. If their actions don't stem from the umbrella of vengeance (or in some scenes where over-the-top mega-revenge occurs) then the alternative expression of action would be the need the lackluster qualities of unbridled loyalty or that-which-killed-the-cat curiosity. Now is the book cyberpunk? It does contain a hint of Gibson-esque, as Asian cultures are lightly woven into the worldly vision. There are scenes which display computer interaction (in the same fashion as Bear's Slant novel) and augmented humans (ala Asher) but the comparison to cyberpunk stops there. So many others did it better than Morgan that this novel shouldn't be aligned with the truer cyberpunk novels. Altered Carbon shouldn't be taken as serious sci-fi, much like how many Hollywood action movies are made purely for action and don't seek to win the major awards even though they may have state of the art (timely/noir) technologies used in the film. Altered Carbon seeks to thrill, pump testosterone from cast to reader, exude manliness in its uni-faceted form and coyly wow the reader with the detailed manly wonderland which Morgan molds. It could be seen as mere pulp. Ultimately, the detective plot tapers off and ends with a long series of confessions stemmed from intuitions, which all ends on a rather poor note. I'm eager, however, to see if Morgan can inject some maturity in his sequels and further explore Takeshi's motivations beyond bloodlust and unbridled loyalty. Noir, hardboiled and cyberpunk are just overhyped labels for this average book. Specifically aimed at the American market, perhaps?

If you like cyberpunk, you will like this novel! by Alexander McKelvey (Los Angeles)

5 Stars
June 04, 2009
This start to a three book series is really good. It is highly imaginative, and full of very interesting future possibilities. And yet, like good cyberpunk, it explores what does not really change as well. How we as human beings still feel, still can be good and evil, and are not really all that changed by the kind of god-like powers afforded man in the future. I like the character as well. He is a flawed but fundamentally decent guy, seemingly trapped in a series of indecent circumstances. I highly recommend this book to anyone that likes this genre.

Noir marries technobabble ... and they produce noirbabble... by e. verrillo (williamsburg, ma)

3 Stars
June 02, 2009
As I don't quite know what to make of this book, I am resolutely sitting on the fence. The fact that I read all of it means it wasn't horrible, but the fact that I was more than happy to put it down means it wasn't great either. So, for me, Altered Carbon falls somewhere in between. On the positive side, the pace was fast and the ideas were engaging. The main character, Takeshi Kovacs, is a former UN Envoy (sort of like the US Special Forces) who has been "stored" due to something he did that was either illegal or simply a bad idea. (It is never really clear what he did.) At this point in the future, human beings have worked out how to become functionally immortal. Consciousness is stored in a cortical "stack" at the back of the neck, which is transferred to a new body when the old one wears out or dies (the process of "re-sleeving"). In this story, Kovacs is re-sleeved into the body of a former cop, and employed to discover the murderer of a wealthy Meth (someone who can afford several re-sleevings). The twist is that Kovacs has been employed by the victim, who is not happy with the way the police have dealt with his case. The plot goes on from there, with Kovacs marching to the tune of lots of graphic violence, torture, kinky sex, murder, mayhem, and accompanied by numerous beautiful, sexy women who assist/sleep with/try to kill him. (I should point out that though their purpose is to add sex to the plot, these women are significantly smarter than Kovacs. They outwit him at every turn.) Although the basic premise was interesting (I'd LOVE to get re-sleeved just about now), the story line got too convoluted. There were so many characters that it was difficult to keep track of who was doing what to whom and why. Too much was introduced all at once. And, in the long run, none of it seemed particularly relevant. It was just action for its own sake. Adding to the confusion, the dialogue was excessively cryptic. Kovacs hints at startling revelations which you, as the reader, haven't got a clue about. (But, not to worry, on the next page Kovacs is bound to shoot a bunch of people, which will take your mind off the fact that you don't know what's going on.) At times, Kovacs starts to think about his past (these sections are in italics), but again, lacking context, his reminiscing (especially about his father) only served to muddy the waters. I never really understood why Kovacs was so enraged, or why he was so sentimental, or why he cared about strangers he went out of his way for, or why he suddenly went on murder sprees (is there a functioning justice system in the future)? The motivations of the main character were simply too opaque to be convincing. And this was Altered Carbon's primary flaw. It was not convincing. After all that "sturm und drang" (the conspiracies, the carnage, the huge cast of characters) the resolution to the murder mystery was anticlimactic. (Almost silly, in fact.) And once there was nobody left to kill, Kovacs simply walked off stage. End of story. I imagine he'll be walking back on in the next book, but I won't be in the audience.

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