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Altered Carbon: A Takeshi Kovacs Novel (Takeshi Kovacs Novels) | 
 enlarge | Author: Richard K. Morgan
Publisher: Del Rey
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
Buy Used: $1.46
You Save: $6.53 (82%)
New (38) Used (33) Collectible (1) from $1.46
Rating:  207 reviews
Sales Rank: 37395
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 544
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.4
ISBN: 0345457692
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780345457691
ASIN: 0345457692
Publication Date: February 28, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Professional bubble-padded shipping! USPS Delivery Confirmation # (tracking) emailed to you! Paperback. Very nice covers. No marks. A few spine creases. VERY GOOD!
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Product Description
In the twenty-fifth century, humankind has spread throughout the galaxy, monitored by the watchful eye of the U.N. While divisions in race, religion, and class still exist, advances in technology have redefined life itself. Now, assuming one can afford the expensive procedure, a person’s consciousness can be stored in a cortical stack at the base of the brain and easily downloaded into a new body (or “sleeve”) making death nothing more than a minor blip on a screen.
Ex-U.N. envoy Takeshi Kovacs has been killed before, but his last death was particularly painful. Dispatched one hundred eighty light-years from home, re-sleeved into a body in Bay City (formerly San Francisco, now with a rusted, dilapidated Golden Gate Bridge), Kovacs is thrown into the dark heart of a shady, far-reaching conspiracy that is vicious even by the standards of a society that treats “existence” as something that can be bought and sold. For Kovacs, the shell that blew a hole in his chest was only the beginning. . . .
From the Trade Paperback edition.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 202 more reviews...
 Sci fi noir at its best October 6, 2008
Hizon (Makati Philippines)
A debut novel, Altered Carbon is an impressive piece of work. Richard K. Morgan has crafted a fully realized universe and within that rich backdrop, he plunked former Envoy Takeshi Kovacs in the middle of it. With a plot that's akin to a Chinatown-esque conspiracy and set in a Blade Runner-esque universe but still retain its originality and inventiveness, it's both heady and convoluted yet satisfying. Morgan immerses the reader with details, so you can fully grasp the unusual concepts he presents like resleeving, Methuselahs and theme hotels with personality. Such concepts offer philosophical musings despite the comic book/graphic novel-like action tableau, pacing, violence and descriptions (oh how he describe the sex scenes) which makes the book satisfying and profound. In the hands of a lesser talent, this would be a disposable book likely to be forgotten and perhaps regretted buying. But with Morgan's sure-handedness or confidence, this is a work worthy of to be compared to Philip K. Dick's works.
Still, Altered Carbon is not for everybody. Don't buy it if you're expecting a quick read during your commute. Altered Carbon demands your attention with all its intricate details and meticulous world-building. If you do go for those, you will be rewarded and will be looking forward to reading Takeshi Kovacs next adventures.
Spectacularly good SF August 18, 2008
ReadsLots (Madison, WI United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've been reading SF since back in the 50s, and have watched the Old Masters gradually die off, with me losing more interest in the genre with each passing year. This book has re-kindled my early enthusiasm, and makes up for the dreary stuff I've fought through. The cortical stack conceit is novel and astonishing, and the character is superb. Read it!
 avoid this book August 14, 2008
Gino Lee (New Jersey)
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
Based on other good reviews I saw here on Amazon, I made an impulse purchase of this book for my Kindle, since I like science fiction.
After reading about 5-6 pages, I realized I had made a mistake in purchasing it.
The characterization is buffoonish and weak and the writing is awkward as well.
Anways, if you have a Kindle, try to read the sample chapter instead of buying it outright. You will likely save yourself some money.
futuristic Chandler July 24, 2008
Marky
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Morgan writes with real verve and creates a richly detailed and morally complex world, much like Raymond Chandler, to whom the novel is obviously indebted. Another obvious comparison would be William Gibson, who put these elements (noir detection and sci-fi) together first, but Morgan is actually a much more skilled writer than he. All in all an impressive and engrossing work. My only problem was philosophical in nature: the idea that our "pure mind" can be extracted from our bodies and "re-sleeved" in another body is actually fairly old-fashioned in its dualism. Whatever consciousness is, it is clearly embodied, and to think of it as existing apart from our bodies perpetuates a time-worn fallacy.
Altered Carbon July 20, 2008
Storm (Marin County CA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Well paced and cinematic. Just waiting for someone to scoop the rights! See ya on the big screen
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