Rating: 
Summary: An SF Roller Coaster Ride
Review: A stunning first novel, Altered Carbon grabs you by the throat and (almost) never lets go. Refer to the other reviews here, for I could not improve upon them. However, I felt that the "solution" to the mystery was just a bit too weak and matter-of-fact. I would give this book a 4-star review for this reason, but the rest of the novel is so incredible it would be unfair to not give it the highest rating possible. Read it so you can tell everyone else how amazing it is! I look forward to Mr. Morgan's next Kovacs novel. Supposedly, this book has been picked up by Hollywood for movie treatment, but I fear they will not do it justice. Hope I'm wrong.
Rating:
Summary: Good stuff!
Review: Outstanding first novel. Richard K. Morgan has just made a fan for life with this book, I hope we will see a series featuring this character. Filled with everything I love in a book, sex, violence, a little mystery and a little romance, and a [tough] character that takes no [guff]. In a future where people are able to "download" themselves into different bodies (what they call sleeves), Tak Kovacs is a breed a part from the rest. Being a former Envoy in which his mind is conditioned to exert itself and any "sleeve" he wears. Great idea, however I have seen this played out before in a couple low rate movies. Namely "The Sixth Day", in which you wonder if humans are only made up of the product of there memories. I would like to have seen Morgan dig a little deeper into that realm. However you will enjoy this novel.
Rating:
Summary: In the Future Death is only a memory!
Review: Richard Morgan got a hit on his hands with this stunning sf noir thriller set in the 25th century where real death is only a memory to a select few!Technology exists in this future society where a person's consciouness can be stored in a cortical stack and download into another body(sleeve). Ex Un envoy Takeshi Kovacs is killed in a firefight with the authorities and he finds himself in another body on Earth in Bay City which use to be San Francisco. He is hired or threatened by the rich Laurens Bancroft to find out who had him to kill himself! Morgan's sf thriller has it all: scenes of brutal violence as Kovacs uncovers a rather sinister conspiracy that will rock this future society to it's core. Morgan's vision of the future where human life is bought and sold and where death loses it's sting to select few who can afford it.Another thing I love about this novel is wonderful characters both good and evil who inhabit this world: Takeshi Kovacs-a man who finds his conscience as he battles his corrupt enemies. Kristin Ortega-the cop who has ties to Kovacs that makes her distrust him at first. Laurens Bancroft-
centuries year old man who's hires Kovacs to find out who tried to kill him. Miriam Bancroft-Laurens wife who has some dark secrets of her own as she tries to seduce and stop Kovacs.I love the gritty feel of this book with it's scenes of future eroticism
and gory violence and it's theme of in the future technology changes but human nature doesn't!Greed and betrayal figure in this advance world. I can't wait to read the next Kovacs novel!
Rating:
Summary: Ahead of the pack
Review: Richard Morgan's debut novel is a perfect example of the new breed of UK sci-fi and fantasy writers that are revolutionizing the genre. From Alastair Reynolds gothic space operas to China Mieville's baroque genius, this group is the best thing that happened to discriminating readers in ages, genre aficionados or not. Morgan's book is a solid slice of cyberpunk noir set in a brutal future san francisco that seems haunted by william gibson, raymond chandler and the warchoski brothers. His writing is sharp, full of energy. His plotting is solid and his characters snap with wit and invention. Violent and no-nonsense, this novel is a joy to read, a high-octane injection of fun, intelligence and sheer storytelling. Save yourself from the lame, formulaic and tired drivel that jams the shelves and plunge into virtual scifi-heaven, or hell...
Rating:
Summary: Hardcore Cyberpunk meets Solid Fiction! + a whodunit!
Review: Maybe the best new author I've read. The whole books reads as fast and tight as the first pages of "Snow Crash" (Neil Stephenson) but has the emotional depth and personal honesty of Elmore Leonard. Like most S.F. if makes you accept a basic impossible premise, then explores the implications of that idea. In this case, Morgan explores ALL the implications of that idea in the course of a riotous run through the future. Morgan stays within the "rules" he's set up, and delivers the hardest hitting book I've read in a long time. Oh, and a bonus, it has a real ending! (not the sort of "everyone drops acid and wierd things happen" kind of ending you get from Gibson).
Rating:
Summary: who-done-in inside a vividly descriptive far future galaxy
Review: In the twenty-fifth century, former military operative of the Envoy Corps Takeshi Kovacs knows death is part of life so he is not shocked to find he was killed on Harlan's World as a century long sentencing for his criminal activity. However, he admits to a bit of surprise that he awakens not long afterward on Earth because wealthy industrialist Laurens Bancroft has hired Takeshi to investigate the murder of Bancroft. The police claim he committed suicide, but Bancroft sees inconsistencies in the official theory that he blew his head off as he questions why he would do so since he always employs an electronic backup and has clones available just in case. Having no choice, Takeshi investigates what happened by visiting the ratty underbelly and the hedonistic elite while assimilating and adapting to his new skin. However, as the danger mounts, Takeshi's past life surfaces changing the scope of his assignment from determining who would want the mogul dead to personal survival because the threat of death this time could prove permanently real. Though a superb blending of a who-done-in inside a vividly descriptive far future galaxy, the key to ALTERED CARBON is the ethics issues cleverly interwoven within the story line. The plot is action filled, the earth and technology of the future seem genuine and real, and the lead protagonist feels like a twenty-fifth century Sam Spade not Buck Rogers. However, it is the cerebral underpinnings that propel the audience to think of current questions on cloning, death, and the widening wealth distribution gap that makes Richard K. Morgan's novel a one sitting gem for fans of both genres. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: A great book--If you're 13.
Review: I bought this based on reviews on this page, and after reading it I have to say that it has been way overhyped. To give you some background, I've read a lot of William Gibson, i.e. Neuromancer etc. Reading Altered Carbon after reading Neuromancer is like eating cheap hot dogs after feasting on filet mignon. The characters feel flat, there is absolutely no subtlety or rich description. It feels like a film treatment for a Vin Diesel movie, with multiple shootouts and burnt stumps. Take everything that is submerged in Gibson, or hinted at: the decrepitude of the super-wealthy, the off-page violence--and then describe it in unimaginative, wooden detail. That's what this book is. It's a page turner, but when you're done you feel like someone just picked your pocket. There's a sense of loss, and it's not the sense of loss that comes from missing the characters, it's the loss of hours of your life. Take this review for what its worth. I like Gibson's style, and I was turned off by the violence (it wasn't well done) and thought the main character was pretty dull, actually. As an action/thriller without a lot of depth, it probably would deserve a slightly higher rating. Oh, and there was one throwaway line about whales/mars that was kinda cool.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Dirty SF/Noir-esque Post-Modern Fun ...
Review: but not a work of genius. I enjoyed it a lot though, if only because I liked saying "TAK-shi Ko-vach" to myself everytime the hero comlained about someone mispronouncing his name.
I also enjoyed the steampunk frisson that I always get from reading a novel set in the future US in which everyone employs 21st century British locutions.
Like I said, lots of fun, although those inclined to nitpick probably won't enjoy quite it as much.
Rating:
Summary: Great Stuff! SciFi and Detective Novel All in One!
Review: A good fast read.
Richard Morgan takes Kovacs, his protagonist through an amazingly imagined 25th century roller coaster ride planet jumping planets to "earth" where we find him playing detective trying to unravel a case with more layers than an onion. Morgan's creation of the 25th century sounds perfectly believable and it's 20th century references make our world today feel almost quaint and innocent! With few sources of "death" mankind seems poised to live forever, exchanging damaged, older bodies for healthy new ones (re-sleeving), the world becomes increasingly difficult to tell who's who and what one's agendas are.
Morgan takes the classic hardboiled detective novel and spins it on its ear in a world, I'm not certain I want to live long enough to be a part of. But I'm picking out a new sleeve, just in case!
Though very well written, be forewarned there is graphic stuff on every level including violence and sexuality that may put off some readers. For those who can "handle" it - you're in for a great ride - er, I mean read!
Rating:
Summary: One of the finest post-human SF novel's I've read.
Review: I've read a lot of SF novels, good, bad, and otherwise. Altered Carbon immediately moves up to my top ten SF of all time list. The plot is exciting, the twists are unexpected. The protagonists are all deep and well fleshed out. Picture the best of Ken McLeod and Neil Stephenson, but unlike those two, Morgan's novel actually makes sense. Very rarely did I have to go back to re-read a sentence or paragraph that was poorly written in the first place. The central plot device, the idea of having a "stack" and being "sleeved" is well explored and makes the book far more than just a mystery that happens to take place in the future.
Post-human scifi ala Vinge, McLeod, and others gets a powerful ally in Richard Morgan.
I really hope he writes prequels covering the Newpest street gangs, the battles on Sharya, and Kovacs adventures in the Envoy Corps.
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