Altered Carbon

Netflix Altered Carbon book 1

By: Richard Morgan

Narrated by: Todd Mclaren

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 shouldn¿t 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.

Read by Todd Mclaren

(p) 2005 Tantor, Inc©2002 Richard Morgan

Critic reviews

Outstanding. An astonishing first novel

An astonishing piece of work. Intriguing and inventive in equal proportions (Peter F Hamilton)

Thank God for RK Morgan A CyberPunkFuturist.

I own all five of his books, in print, audio & video.
Thank God for Morgan, the sci-fi/CyberPunk futures he gives you in his works maybe a glimpse of what we have in store in the coming years.
Morgan is one of my favourite writers, he has taken the time to flesh out his characters and Takeshi Kovac is a creation like no other, a one time U.N. Envoy, Merc for hire, general Hard-Man and problem solver.
Morgan writes full fuelled boys own rip your fucking head off stories, in worlds created and as fully populated as you can witness out your own front door.
His works are dense, considered, controlled and as clear as mud but once you get hooked you just go with it
Be warned but he is addictive.

Wild ride

Watched the TV show prior to listening to the book. Book is probably better but show is great too. Excellent reading by Todd. Would definitely be recommending this to my friends.

Slow starting book with an action packed ending

If you are a patient listener, are good at remembering names, and like sci-fi this is a book for you!
Voicing might seem a little dull at times, but actually the choice of voicing gives the book it's own charm.
For me the 3/5 is a good solid score, that is entertaining above average, but still lacks a little in voice acting. The books biggest difficulty are the many characters you are introduces to, after hearing all the book, I got them correct placed, but it confused me a lot in the first 75% of the book.

Watch the TV show instead

Lots of interesting ideas. But the sex was awkward: it felt shoehorned in to make the story "more adult." It was mechanical and out of place.

Unlike a lot of the other ideas, the sex wasn't really used: yes, our digital soul is at the mercy of our base physical body. And sometimes the body makes demands of its own. (I understand.) This just wasn't followed-through sufficiently.

The made-for-TV version missed some cool extra details and twists. But it also added some. The characterization of the hotel-AI, for example, is better on screen than in the book. So is the history of the Envoys.

The narration is awkward at times. There are gaps between speakers in conversations that feel overly long. Sometimes I even wondered if my phone had crashed. If the intent was to make the listener wonder if the narrator/MC was a "synth," Bladerunner did it better.

I'm not going to continue with this series. Nor will I seek out the narrator. But I will continue to explore the author's other works. (I liked the series that starts with The Steel Remains: very adult, but fantasy rather than sci-fi.)

Sound is pretty bad on this one.

Sound is really bad on this one. Especially voice acting part between characters.. Very muffled.

Overall a good cyberpunk story, very different from the tv show.

Sex scenes were too long and pornographic for my taste. I mean... Nearly 20 minutes at one point.