Altered Carbon

Richard K. Morgans mind truly is a dark place, and Altered Carbon is an impressive work of dystopian sci-fi. If you watched the mini-series, read the novel. I liked both, but there are major differences between the novel and mini-series that make each worth your time.

Apparently, I was not as impressed with this book are several other people. The reason I was not impressed is that the book is really a CSI-style murder mystery mixed with a dollop of Sci-Fi sounding jargon and made-up words, along with a few erotic scenes thrown in for some unknown reason. The erotic scenes struck me as completely gratuitous and irrelevant to the story line, and I found myself skipping over them if they were more than a sentence or two long. Character development is thin, transparent, and uninteresting. I did read the entire book but found myself not in the least captivated and found it a bit of a slog to get through. I have no intention whatsoever of reading the subsequent volumes of the series.

I made the mistake to watch the first series of Netflix’s show based on this book before I read it. Also, I deliberately waited for a month or so after I finished the show because I didn’t want that experience to interfere with the reading experience. I had done both things wrong. First of all, it’s a great show, but that’s not what I’m reviewing here. The book is so much better (as always). And because there were really big changes made when it was turned into the show, there is no reason not to enjoy both versions.

I thought that the world building is really exceptional here. The whole system and the workings of society are very well thought out. The writing and also the twists and turns in the story elevate this book among the great classics, at least for me. It instantly became one of my all-time-favorites.

So I’m planning to read the rest of the series for sure.

I recommend this to sci-fi fans and detective story enthusiasts alike. Also, I recommend this to everyone 😀

Wow, I was not expecting the book to be this good when I bought it. I typically have lower standards for books on Kindle Daily Deals due to the some of the offerings I see and the lower prices, but this book was amazing sci-fi/noir mystery. The writing was great and the whole story flowed very well to an exciting conclusion. This is a pretty long book in a very good way, I couldn’t believe how much the author managed to fit in. The sci-fi concepts behind the book were also very interesting, had never read about concepts like this before. Definitely seems like a very realistic dystopian future in some ways and really makes you appreciate something as simple as human mortality.

Background: I typically buy my Kindle books as part of the Kindle Daily Deals and plan them for airplane reading or times when I am away from home and cannot do more exciting or responsible tasks. This means that my standards are not too high and I am looking for books in the beach read category under the fantasy/sci-fi genres. I try to rate fairly on the star scale and personally consider anything 3 stars and up to be fine.

Harsh raw worlds, run by wars and politics, by rich people who will never die. Souls and memory stored digitally, and death just means having to worry if you can afford the next body, or ‘sleeve’. Except for the rich, who can grow their own clones, ready to put on like clothing when they wished.

And in this harsh reality, a ‘Meth’, or Methusila, is murdered, and when his backup is restored, missing the last 24 hours of his life, he’s pissed. He can’t believe he’d kill himself, so he ‘hires’ Takeshi Kovacs to find his murder.

With Bladerunner bleakness, old Earth is full of those who’d be dying, if Real Death were even a thing anymore. An interesting take, and some good (if ugly) world building. The violence is pretty graphic, and unlrelenting at times, but not only the mystery pulled me in, but watching Takeshi work as well. The character was interesting enough to keep my interested, even through the story’s most violent scenes.

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