Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Re-read 2/27/18:

I had to pick this up again and hop on to the second and third books mostly because I was guilted into it by the Netflix production. :) I really enjoyed the show and found myself misremembering some plot points.

It turns out I didn't misremember. The tv show was close to 90% faithful. :) The other bits might be reveals pulled forward from the subsequent books which I haven't read! I honestly don't know. And that's why I'm doing the re-read. :)

So did I enjoy it more the second time around? Yep, I did.

I really appreciate the whole concept of post-cyberpunk societies running with the technological development and getting established darkly. We're all just meat suits. No one really dies unless you get your implant destroyed or your backups corrupted, but in the meantime, you can get a new meat suit. Or if you have a religious outlook that prevents it, you can't. :) Starting from there, it's a great crime drama, a private PI with a dark past, and enough twists and turns to turn most regular mysteries into cheap trash. :)

So do I recommend? Hell ya. :)


Original review:

Great genre writing, even if it is a perfect mix of noir and post-cyberpunk. I know, I know, cyberpunk is generally associated with noir 50's style tough guy private-eye pulp, only with the shiny.

This is different because it is POST-cyberpunk in the great tradition I love to associate with Brin's Kiln People or any of the hard-sci Stross or some of the best of Stephenson. You know, the sci taken to the second or the third steps, and then twisted and here you've got a stock character thrown into this really messed up science fiction world and it all depends on how well the story is written, and yes, oh, yes, it is written very well and is very enjoyable. :)

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