About this title: This debut SF novel by British writer Richard Morgan won the 2004 Philip K. Dick Award and was a New York Times Notable Book for 2003. In a dark future, humans have the technology to transfer their consciousness into new bodies, provided that they can afford the procedure. When he dies on the job, UN investigator Takeshi Kovacs gets a new body on the boss's dime, but soon finds that the body comes with some unwanted baggage as he is thrust into the midst of a massive conspiracy that makes no bones about its willingness to use torture--and worse--to get what it wants.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Del Rey Books
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9780345457691ISBN:0345457692
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Clean, pages unmarked and clean-one small ink pen mark to top of pages, hinge tight w slight lean minor shelf wear. 526 p. Takeshi Kovacs Novels. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Del Rey
Date Published: 2003-03-04
ISBN-13:9780345457684ISBN:0345457684
Description: Fair. X-library with library markings, earmarks, wear to cover, lift to cover edge, crease to cover, tanning to pgs, lamination loose at edges, lean to spineShipped in bubble mailer. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Del Rey
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780345457684ISBN:0345457684
Description: Good. Standard used condition. May have light reading or storage wear. All orders processed within 2 business days. Ships from Foxboro MA. read more
Description: Very Good. 0345457684 Great condition Soft Cover book, clean pages, mild creases to spine, light edge/corner rubs, this book is GREAT! Shop & Save With US. read more
Description: New York: Ballantine Books 2003 3rd printing 375pp, 6 1/8 x 9 1/4, large format trade paperback CONDITION: VERY GOOD, very light corner wear o/w an excellent near new copy, near fine condition. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Del Rey Books
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9780345457691ISBN:0345457692
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 526 p. Takeshi Kovacs Novels. Audience: General/trade. Lightly used, PGS in EX cond, CVR in VG cond-edge wear, 1st printing read more
Description: VG+ Used, Like New in VG+ jacket. SOFT COVER, VG+/VG+, Del Rey, 2003, 0.9 in. H x 9.1 in. L x 6.2 in. W, 15.1 oz. This copy has very minimal signs of use, is a former library copy with the usual markings, appears almost uncirculated, is MYLAR jacketed, is in Excellent Condition Overall. Note: expect tanning of any paperback more than a few years old, regardless of condition. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Del Rey Books
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9780345457691ISBN:0345457692
Description: Fine. No dust jacket as issued. Very clean, appears unread. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 526 p. Takeshi Kovacs Novels. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Gollancz
Date Published: 9/9/2002
ISBN-13:9780575073906ISBN:057507390X
Description: Very Good. 057507390X used& Unread Book that May Have Creases, Tears on Cover, Pages or DustJacket. IN-STOCK Now For Immediate Secure Packaging & Delivery! read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Del Rey Books
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9780345457691ISBN:0345457692
Description: New. No dust jacket as issued. Clean & tight, new softcover. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 526 p. Takeshi Kovacs Novels. Audience: General/trade. read more
"This story is a science fiction mystery. The main character is Takeshi Kovacs,Kovacs is a former United Nations Envoy and a native of Harlan's World(the main setting), a planet settled by the Japanese. Its nearly five hundred years in the future, and humans can store their minds on a hard drive, and they can be downloaded into new bodies called sleeves. Virtually erasing death itself. Most people have stacks in their spinal columns that store their memories. If their body dies, their stack can be stored. Most people cannot afford to get resleeved more than once per lifetime, so while some people can live indefinitely, only the wealthy are able to acquire replacement bodies on a continual basis. The long-lived are called Meths, short for Methuselahs. The very rich are also able to keep copies of their minds in remote storage, which they update regularly. This ensures that even if their stack is destroyed, they can be resleeved. The main conflict is when Kovacs meets a meth named Laurens Bancroft, who by as the police claim, commited suicide. Bancroft believes it was homocide. So he has Kovacs investigate the murder. The rest of the story includes Kovacs chasing down false suspects, and trying to hunt down the real killer. I gave this book four stars, there was only one main reason why i didnt give it all five. The story often is hazy in certain ares, and is sometimes hard to understand, often leaving the reader confused. After reading over certain parts I eventually understood."
"This was a fun melding of the gritty detective novel and some far-future science fiction. It mostly did a nice job of not falsely wallowing in the societal implications of people being able to be put in different bodies. A lot of what-if fiction puts our thoughts into the minds of characters who wouldn't be pondering things from our perspective - it's not reasonable to expect them to be considering the things we would if dropped into their lives: they've been in this situation all along and wouldn't consider how things impact us, only how they impact them. And for them this is nothing new.
Morgan's characters don't do that - they just deal with the life they have and have always known. The only place the book fails in that, I think, is how it seems to suddenly develop an interest in the difficulty people have coping with old personalities in new faces way past the halfway point of the book. It feels a little tacked-on as compared to the way other issues develop organically. It's a minor quibble, though, and I'll be picking up the next one."
Altered Carbon is a fast-paced sci-fi thriller with an up-to-date technology perspective and classic sensibilities.
Richard Morgan explores the ramifications of a technology called D.H.F. - Digital Human Format. (The novel's title describes the digital recording medium.) The capability to record and down-load an individual's experiences and personality has broad consequences: manditory implant of individual cortical black-boxes, serial immortality, interstellar colonization by digital transmission, virtual incarceration, and the elimination of ethical boundaries for bioengineering.
Altered Carbon reverberates with the sensibilities and issues of A. E. van Vogt's classic "The World of Null-A" (1949). But in Richard Morgan's future, mankind is able to adapt to the ambiguities of virtual identity.
The plot of Altered Carbon begins with the death of magnate Laurens Bancroft, a death which is labeled as suicide by the police. Believing that he couldn't have killed himself, Bancroft buys a former special agent, Takeshi Kovacs, out of virtual storage and assigns him to find out what really happened. Of course, in a world of D.H.F., suicide may not be what it seems.
By hewing to the essential conventions of the private eye genre, Morgan avoids the post-modern disappointments that infect a lot of cyber-punk. The real world (in all its organic and virtual extensions) really matters, and recognizable moral principles apply. Next time I'm in the mood for an entertaining read, I'll be tempted to try one of the sequels (Broken Angels and Woken Furies).
Parents beware: Altered Carbon is laced with a lot of sex and violence, both depersonalized and intense. These elements are well adapted to the sci-fi assumptions of the novel. But still the story is too coarse for kids."
"This book was a swift kick in the pants! Truly over the top material, with an over the top narrator. This book is set in the future in which memories are stored and can be transferred to new bodies, called sleeves. A few consequences are that death in not usually permanent (with different crimes and punishments lacking murders in most cases), and space travel is possible for people who can resleeve in their new destinations. There are some elements of Philip K Dick found in these pages for sure, in particular "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Ulrich," but I would have to say that Morgan borrowed more heavily from Jonathan Lethem's "Gun, With Occasional Music," in terms of style and soul (I was fortunate to have read the Lethem book immediately prior to this one). Dirty (some very graphic sex scenes), Gritty (a noir stylization), with a wealth of great ideas, the main id-driven character was an unexpected pleasure (a man of his times for sure). A really fun book!"
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