Rating: 
Summary: Detective Noir in the 23rd Century
Review: Terrific hard SF. A very well written, well laid-out story. Certainly a lot of fun. With so much drivel being churned out (even William Gibson is, now, a little disappointing) this is a great little gem. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Bad novel, bad noire, bad SF
Review: Obviously my very strong negative reaction to this novel is in the minority, so before anyone takes my opinion too seriously he/she should take a look at some of the other reviews. Since I am writing in dissent here, I apologise for my less than pithy comments. To see where I'm coming from, you might want to read 'Voice of the Whirlwind' (Williams) which is very similar to 'Altered Carbon' and which succeeds where 'Altered Carbon'falls short. I can review the high points quickly, the thumbnail sketch of the noirish detective story is very good (the overall plot strategy you might say) and the writing on a scene by scene or at the line level frequently sizzles, however at the operational level of plotting and character 'Altered Carbon' mostly failed to work for me. It doesn't work as good science fiction either, and that's a good place to start.The first person narrator (Kovacs, the 'detective') is supposedly an informed citizen of his future, yet he often lapses into modes of thought which are more appropriate to much more primitive times. This lapse into anachronistic thought patterns happens either for the sake of expedience or to create bogus 'surprises' for both the reader and the narrator. There's a good example of the expedient variety where the protagonist goes off onto a pointless killing spree, knowing that he's under close surveillance by the police and one or two other parties without worrying about any sort of precautionary or evasive action. Maybe Kovacs is just being stupid because the guy doesn't even look over his shoulder, but it also shows that he isn't worrying about futuristic bugs, vastly improved video surveillance syetems etc. So I guess this exemplifies two shoddy practices, expedient anachronism and stupidity. Obviously, the author's aware of this fault as there's an attempt to paper over this problem, when it's later revealed that the police lost track of Kovacs, but of course he had no way of knowing that at the time he set off on his rampage. If devices of this sort are employed sparingly, I'm pretty forgiving, but if I see that the writer uses them knowingly and often, I think he's disrepecitng my intelligence and indulgence. The problems with character and plot in 'Altered Carbon' are so closely entwined it's hard to treat them separately. However, the first big problem is that Kovacs is inconsistent, and ironically, another character in the novel obligingly points that out to us, though the inconsistency encompasses more than merely his personality. He's supposed to be some sort of renegade super-effectvie super-psychopath as the result of special training and conditioning. However, he seems more like an impotent, gratuitously violent, unpredictabley sentimental thug, maybe someone like Bobby Brown (Whitney's beau). Everybody in the story, including the viewpoint character, tells us the opposite though. In the context of all the violence and adulation, the reader expects Kovacs to be a smart tough guy, but looking at what he does, how he does it, and why he does it, there doesn't seem to much support for that belief. In order to talk about why the protagonist appears to be wonderfully ineffective and how most of the other characters fail to work for me, I'll need to look at the plot. The plot moves largely by employing a hackneyed device from detective stories. Almost every bit of knowledge or effective action that comes Kovacs' way is either provided by, done by, or massively enabled by the various women that our hero encounters. Virtually everything he does on his own is either wrong or futile or stupid. Basically, the women he meets fall over themselves to help him out (to be fair at least one wants to kill him) it's like watching a TV episode of 'Mike Hammer' which equally relied on this cliche, but with tongue firmly in cheek, 'Altered Carbon', alas, has no sense of humor about it's absurdities or awkward bits. This dependence on others renders Kovacs very passive and ineffective as a character and makes it hard to beleive what we're told about him or that he qualifies as an amazing and scary guy. Anyway, in order to believe that all these women (and at least one computer) are willing to go to great lengths, take substantial risks, and go against their own best interests to help Kovacs out, I require either sufficient motivation or plotting that manages to keep me from worrying about what is motivating the characters. In this case, I worried a lot about motivation and generally found it wanting, though there's one striking and very cool counterexample. I think I'll now close with another coupled defect, an example of noire failure and the eager embrace of a dangerous and very popular plot convention which has been ruining many Science Fiction novels for years. A classic noire story is a gestalt allegoy. It starts with the protagonist working on the basis of bad data, mistaken theories and flawed methods, he/she follows these and tests them against a radically different reality, which leads to an enlightenment and some sort of action and conclusion in harmony with the true state of affairs. The point of maximum cognitive dissonance generally occurs very close to the climax. In 'Altered Carbon' this point occurs about 1/3 of the way through the story, and at that point the first part of the novel has an abortive termination and then the novel gets started almost from scratch all over again. For me, the tempo never felt right thereafter. I've seen this structure work, but most of the authors I consider superior noire stylists don't even try. The practice of throwing away a big chunk of a novel and starting all over again is bafflingly common in Science Fiction, and the conventional noire plot easliy lends itself to it, but it's rarely pulled off in either genre or combinations thereof.
Rating:
Summary: Oh, yeah!
Review: There is a heck of a book, and that's from someone who has been reading SF since he was 11. Man, this guy can write! I've heard it's supposed to be made into a movie. If it is, I hope it's a good one, because I'd hate to see such a wonderful novel ruined. This book is something rare--both science fiction and mystery, full of technowonders, with the anti-hero a hard-boiled detective with a jacked-up military-grade nervous system right out of Bester's _The Stars my Destination._ And I can mention a lot more
novels that appeared to have influenced this book, but I don't need to, except to say that it equals and often transcends the best of SF out there, in the past, and today. Heck of a good book, so don't miss it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Cyber Pulp Debut
Review: Ever since I saw Blade Runner as a kid, I've been in love with the idea of blending science-fiction with crime, and this is a totally compelling mix of the two. Set about 500 years in the future, the story follows Takeshi Kovacs, a former space marine who has been "resleeved" to investigate a suicide on Earth. You see, in the future, one's mind or consciousness can be digitized and stored in "stacks" implanted in the base of your skull. If you commit a crime, your stack is removed and placed in storage for the duration of your sentence (usually decades or centuries), and then you are "resleeved" in a new body. Of course, resleeving costs, and for many people, a new body is like a new car or new house, with monthly payments to keep up lest your body get repossessed... The flip side of this is that dying is only a temporary thing-unless your stack has been somehow destroyed and there's no backup, then you're subject to "RD" (real death). And if you've got enough money to get into cloning and data storage, one can live a virtually endless and seamless life. It's one of these "Meths" (after Methuselah, just one example of the excellent creation of slang in the book), who has Takeshi remanded and "needlecast" (digitally freighted) from offworld to investigate his alleged suicide in Bay City (aka San Francisco). Takeshi had been in prison, having been captured as a mercenary in a vibrantly kinetic prologue. The meth, Bancroft, is one of the future elite, weaving elaborate corporate and political webs with others of his kind. Apparently he committed suicide a few weeks ago, but he's convinced it was murder. He's paid heftily to have Kovacs released and resleeved to investigate his death and what happened in the 48 hours leading up to it-48 hours that elapsed between his last stack backup and his temporary death. This is a great setup, as we have a reluctant protagonist grudgingly working on a case for a sinister Bancroft, quickly getting caught up with Bay City PD, Bancroft's hyper-sexy wife, and all kinds of foes. It's an extremely convoluted tale, with lots of double-crossing, plot twists, hidden agendas, sexual tension (and outright graphic sex), dry tough guy humor, and excellent action sequences. It's so jam-packed it almost gets overwhelming at times, and one wishes Morgan had been able to trim just a little bit here and there. However, he's built a very intriguing and nasty future earth, where-as one might well imagine-a lot of the technology gets channeled into the sex trade. This is great pulp fiction, with great characters, including my favorite: the AI Hendrix Hotel. It's a hotel that runs itself using artificial intelligence, making for a hilarious, yet plausible, character. This is a great genre-blending debut, let's hope the sequel (Broken Angels) is as good.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing Sci-Fi Cyber Novel
Review: Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon is an excellent, intriguing novel that straddles multiple genres, and straddles them well. It's science fiction in that it takes place in the distant future when individual consciousness can be downloaded into a new body (or sleeve) should the need ever arise. There is plenty of space travel as the protagonist and narrator, Takeshi Kovacs travels from his world to what we know as earth. Altered Carbon is also a crime novel, as Kovacs has been hired to find the "murderer" of a centuries old wealthy man, who's consciousness was simply downloaded into a newly cloned sleeve. The story is well-written, compelling reading. Very enjoyable and imaginative.
Rating:
Summary: A perfect book
Review: Hey All
I bought this book simply for the publisher and the fact that it was a "First novel". It is an original work. I urge you not to read anything about it as it will ruin the suprise as well as the novelty of the "world" where Altered Carbon takes place. That being said, I must warn you - dear reader - When you fall in love and wish to buy more of this "world" do not fall into the trap. Stay away from "Fallen Angels". It is bad and will soil the memory of Altered Carbon. There can be no sequel. This book is uniqe.
Rating:
Summary: The Phillip Marlow of the Future
Review: The film noir of Cyber-punk!! I could hardly put this book down. The ideas in this book about cloning, digital consciousness, body modification, and immortality made for fresh and exciting read. And even if there was no "sci-fi" part of the book, the "mystery" of this book, I feel, held its own in the mystery genre. The plot moved smooth and steady with no "slow" spots. I think being written in first-person made the mystery more entertaining than if it would have been in third-person. Richard Morgan did a great job of not giving too much away but keeping the reader interested with great ending. For those of you out there in cyberspace that love sci-fi and love a good mystery, this is a must read!!!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Surprisingly good for a first novel
Review: Mr. Morgan surprised me with the quality of his language, depth of character development, and off-handed technical understanding. To explain this last item, I've found that many new SF writers get overexcited by the wonders of whatever world they are exploring. For "Altered Carbon"'s characters, the technology that 2004's most powerful people would beg for is as widely-understood and understated as microwave ovens. A note of caution to timid and/or young readers: this book gets very precisely violent at least a dozen times and very sensuous at least five. Murder, war, rape, corruption, and rotted love are the grit of the story, and double(and triple)speak is common. The lies and colorations of the dialogue is sometimes difficult to follow, as there are more than twenty major characters (i.e. with at least a page of dialogue and a wish to kill the narrator at one time or another :) ). Perhaps another note of caution is the constant reminder of the narrator's status as an intelligent soldier - there is a great deal of musing and reciting from warrior doctrine. If you were annoyed by the "propaganda" in "Starship Troopers", your patience will be severely tested by "Altered Carbon". The narrator, Takeshi Kovacs, is a James Bond without the dashing good looks or tact. His training (and former job) was Envoy of the United Nations, a doublespeak word for exterminator/guerilla/ninja. Since actually sending an army through space is not feasible for timing reasons (I believe the idea was "they'd get there in time to interrogate the rebel's grandchildren"), the U.N.'s armies are conveyed digitally over near-instantaneous communications and placed inside dormant bodies to fight insurgents. Criminals' minds are put into storage, and their original bodies are often put to good use reviving those whose bodies have died. The basis of all of this is the "stack", a small, armored piece of diamondoid circuitry that records the states of the brain it's implanted in. <ah! So that's why this is in the science fiction section> The narrator (and most of the rest of the characters) have switched bodies often enough to call them "sleeves". Takeshi is hired in the first chapter to find the killer of a very powerful man on Earth. This is a detective story, and if you like detective stories (like me) you just might read all 300-odd pages in 22 hours. The "truth" revealed at the end is a superb summation of the evils that can accumulate in a world where it's difficult to die. One obvious editing problem appeared: a name appeared in the last chapter which hadn't been used before; it referred to a victim who had several names already for business reasons. Otherwise, characters grew like wild roses : in bursts whenever you're not looking. Overall, this book is an excellent read and a worthy volume to go beside my Gibson and Niven. Mr. Morgan hasn't reached Asimov status in my eyes yet, but the next book is due 2 March, and I can't wait.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent cyber-book from "first-timer"
Review: I really loved "Altered Carbon" and highly recommend it as well as anxiously awaiting more of such books from its author, Richard Morgan. I have added this book to my cyberpunk and sci-fi/high-tech collection: "Neuromancer", "Virtual Light", "Prey", "Snow Crash", "Cryptonomicon", and "Darkeye: Cyber Hunter". Get 'em all if you can.
Rating:
Summary: Lots of fun
Review: This book was great; one of the better books I've read in a while. The pace was quick, and the story started off with a bang. I don't think there were any slow moving parts, for me. Other people have mentioned the violence and sex. They didn't bother me at all. The violence added to the excitement of the story. I can't wait to read Morgan's next novel!
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