Rating: 
Summary: A skillfully rendered sci-det yarn.
Review: I'd never read Morgan before. It's always risky investing in a book by a new author. This time the risk paid off. This is a delightfully convoluted science fiction detective story. The characters are well developed and multi-faceted. The detective element has just the right mix of honest hard bitten cynicism. You can hear Bogart narrating in the background. The setting, and premise are wonderfully unique and twisted. Definitely worth a read.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful and gritty
Review: This is an amazing first offering for Richard Morgan. He combines excellent use of metaphor and visualization to paint a sharp picture of a near human future. The cortical stack is a key element in his vision of tomorrow, and it is well worked into the plot and attitudes of the characters. The story is tight and there's plenty of action and violence to keep you glued to the pages. I was very impressed; it compares well to Neuromancer, which is a high point I don't feel Gibson ever managed to surpass.
Rating:
Summary: Fast, Hard-Hitting, and Witty
Review: I think, if you take Bruce Willis in Die Hard, advance him about 300 or so years in the future, update his weaponry, and replace the dialog and style with a more Quentin Tarintino-esq approach, you begin to get a sense for Morgan's Altered Carbon. It's a furious violent read; gritty and intensly visual. As darkly humorous as it is, it is clear Morgan is a serious writer capable of any genre, and I'm very excited to read new installments. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect if you love SciFi and/or detective stories
Review: I am an avid reader of science fiction books and only picked this one up on a whim. I am usually into hard scifi with a focus on technology, this delivers some of that but also much more. There is a profound philisophical level to this book. In this story the nature of humanity is only tentativly tied to the body. This is a story to continually keep you thinking, as such I would recomend it to anyone. I am also a reader really into science and found this book very intriguing on that level as well. I was also new to the detective element of the story. This kept me glued to the book when I should have been doing other things, and the way that the author brings together all of the unique elements together at the end was very satisfying. I am now looking into this authors other works!
Rating:
Summary: Quality Science Fiction
Review: This is a great first novel, kind of a mix between William Gibson, Raymond Chandler, and Quentin Tarantino. In other words, its a hard-boiled, cyberpunky, frenetically paced and shamelessly, gleefully violent piece of work. But it's also a great piece of s-f in the classic sense, with interesting, plausible ideas and exciting technology. Throw in the satisfying mystery plot, strong writing and engaging characters, and you've got yourself an unusually good read.
If you liked this book, check out John Grim[s]wood's RedRobe and Remix.
Rating: 
Summary: yay
Review: It was strange, although I liked a lot of the ideas, and the details. They are fairly realistic. I think that Morgan, the author, has had a few psychology classes, it's a very human book. A lot of futuristic books you can't relate to or anything like that, but in this one, the people make sense. It also has a great mystery-type plot, which is very tricky, and I can see how it might be confusing. In the end it makes sense for the most part, and most everything is solved and done. I enjoyed reading it, and might read it again someday.
Rating:
Summary: A DEFINITE MUST READ!!!
Review: This is one of the best books I've ever read. In the best tradition of science fiction Richard Morgan has come up with an idea that once you read it you wonder why you never thought of the concept -- very believable, extremely well-written, gripping. (For the faint of heart like me -- I suggest you skip the torture scenes.) I can't imagine anyone not loving this book!
Rating:
Summary: High concept, beautiful writing
Review: Wow. I wasn't expecting it to be this good. Morgan had better keep writing! His character is durable; good for a series. The images are powerful and striking and the ideas are thought-provoking, which is what we want out of sci-fi. The concept of re-sleeving into body after body is deep; who are we, really? I'd say one flaw is too much preoccupation with torture (I skipped those parts), though it is consistent with the idea that [ending life] has become illegal. Lots of depth to other concepts: what do we become when we are rich enough to live for centuries? How would that distort our thought-processes? This novel was a page-turner. I want him to write more so I can turn some more pages.
Rating: 
Summary: i've read better
Review: There are some interesting concepts in this book, as other reviewers have stated, but that wasn't enough to make me enjoy this one. I tend to judge books by how much I want to get back to them when I have to put them down to, say, feed the dogs or go to work. 'Altered Carbon' just wasn't a big enough draw for me to finish it. While I liked the protagonist, i really didn't care at all about the mystery he was hired to solve. I thought the interaction between him and the veteran female cop was clumsy. Morgan's writing style is good, but i was jarred one too many times by being thrust into a scene that took 2 or 3 pages to understand. Morgan shows promise so I will definitely check out his next offering. I'm just totally indifferent to this one.
Rating:
Summary: A hard-boiled detective for the 26th century.
Review: Morgan does one of the most effective jobs IÂ've seen mixing the hard-boiled detective genre with sci-fi/cyberpunk. Kovacs is one mean ex-Corpsman who only gets out of the prison stacks if someone finds a job for him-- and there arenÂ't too many jobs for violent, brilliant borderline-psychotics out there... Morgan combines enough technology details to satisfy most cyberpunk fans, but miraculously enough doesnÂ't take his eye off the ball for the mystery. The plot would be just as suitable in a Chandler novel or a Travis McGee book if the 26th century detailing was [taken] away. (Although the book gets points off for not knowing how to end; the conclusion isnÂ't as satisfying as it should be given everything that comes before.) A great read, and IÂ'll look forward to the next Kovacs installment.
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