Altered Carbon | 
 enlarge | Author: Richard K. Morgan
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Category: EBooks
List Price: $9.95
Buy New: $7.19
You Save: $2.76 (28%)
Rating:  209 reviews
Sales Rank: 14327
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Pages: 544
Number Of Items: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
ASIN: B000FBFMZ2
Publication Date: January 1, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
In the twenty-fifth century, humankind has spread throughout the galaxy, monitored by the watchful 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. For Kovacs, the shell that blew a hole in his chest was only the beginning. . . .
From the Trade Paperback edition.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 204 more reviews...
Altered Carbon is a blast January 4, 2009
T.G.
Richard K. Morgan tells a great story full of new ideas that are well developed in Altered Carbon. The societal laws and political descriptions help carry the unique technical ideas. The story is a page turner with lots of action and suspense. It gets a bit graphic with sex and violence; I would place it as a solid R rating if it had been a movie. I am buying the next to books in the series tomorrow.
 Impressive first novel October 25, 2008
Christopher H. (California)
'Altered Carbon' has a lot going for it. The plotting is dense and fast-paced, the dialogue snappy, the characters well-drawn, and the writing quite capable. Probably the most rewarding aspect of the novel is its very deep and well-developed setting. Morgan takes the idea of human immortality through storing consciousnesses separately from bodies, and plays with it to an astonishing degree of detail, exploring all the psychological and social repercussions that this technology would drag in its wake.
A master worldbuilder will fail as a novelist if his prose is not up to scratch; but Morgan is successful in this regard as well. The plot of 'Altered Carbon' is so thick that a second reading would be rewarding for fully comprehending it; and the high quality of the writing makes the prospect of such a re-read quite pleasurable. Some shrivelled-up nay-sayers may call science fiction and good writing oil and water; 'Altered Carbon' is a clear counterexample.
(I must mention my one pet peeve: like so many others in this sad age, Richard K. Morgan does not realize that a question must always end in a question mark.)
Sci fi noir at its best October 6, 2008
Hizon (Makati Philippines)
A debut novel, Altered Carbon is an impressive piece of work. Richard K. Morgan has crafted a fully realized universe and within that rich backdrop, he plunked former Envoy Takeshi Kovacs in the middle of it. With a plot that's akin to a Chinatown-esque conspiracy and set in a Blade Runner-esque universe but still retain its originality and inventiveness, it's both heady and convoluted yet satisfying. Morgan immerses the reader with details, so you can fully grasp the unusual concepts he presents like resleeving, Methuselahs and theme hotels with personality. Such concepts offer philosophical musings despite the comic book/graphic novel-like action tableau, pacing, violence and descriptions (oh how he describe the sex scenes) which makes the book satisfying and profound. In the hands of a lesser talent, this would be a disposable book likely to be forgotten and perhaps regretted buying. But with Morgan's sure-handedness or confidence, this is a work worthy of to be compared to Philip K. Dick's works.
Still, Altered Carbon is not for everybody. Don't buy it if you're expecting a quick read during your commute. Altered Carbon demands your attention with all its intricate details and meticulous world-building. If you do go for those, you will be rewarded and will be looking forward to reading Takeshi Kovacs next adventures.
Spectacularly good SF August 18, 2008
ReadsLots (Madison, WI United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've been reading SF since back in the 50s, and have watched the Old Masters gradually die off, with me losing more interest in the genre with each passing year. This book has re-kindled my early enthusiasm, and makes up for the dreary stuff I've fought through. The cortical stack conceit is novel and astonishing, and the character is superb. Read it!
 avoid this book August 14, 2008
Gino Lee (New Jersey)
2 out of 11 found this review helpful
Based on other good reviews I saw here on Amazon, I made an impulse purchase of this book for my Kindle, since I like science fiction.
After reading about 5-6 pages, I realized I had made a mistake in purchasing it.
The characterization is buffoonish and weak and the writing is awkward as well.
Anways, if you have a Kindle, try to read the sample chapter instead of buying it outright. You will likely save yourself some money.
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