Altered Carbon

By: Richard K. Morgan

Narrated by: Todd McLaren

Length: 17 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

In the 25th 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 180 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.

Altered Carbon is the first Takeshi Kovacs novel. Don't miss the sequels Broken Angels and Woken Furies.

©2003 Richard K. Morgan (P)2005 Tantor Media, Inc.

Critic reviews

"This far-future hard-boiled detective story is a lovely virtual-reality romp." (Booklist)
"Fast-paced, densely textured, impressive....Morgan's 25th-century Earth is convincing, while the questions he poses about how much Self is tied to body chemistry and how the rich believe themselves above the law are especially timely." (Publishers Weekly)

Awesome story, great narrator, bad editing

My only complaint is with the poor editing stitching together the narration: volume jumps, irregular pauses, occasional entrance mid-word. Otherwise this is a thrilling cyberpunk story in the same flavor as Snow Crash or Neuromancer, expertly narrated and thoroughly enjoyable!

An Excellent Surprise

This author was recommended in a magazine article, which doesn't often carry much weight given the unknown differences between the writer and the reader of the article. But I needed a book for my Next Listen so I gave it a shot. Am so glad I did. If you are not a sci-fi fan, you can stop reading now, as this is a heavily weighted sci-fi version of a noir detective novel. Unlike many sci-fi authors who take pains to give background on the "new" world in which the story takes place, Morgan seems to take pleasure in teasing the reader with a flurry of words, concepts, historical events, and images that are unexplained and (often) confusing. As the story unfolds, however, bits and pieces are dropped so that the puzzle comes together slowly in the reader's consciousness. Maddening, and yet wonderful at the same time. The story rockets along with breathtaking action, steamy sex scenes, and gut wrenching violence, all described tastefully (yeah, I know--that seems unlikely, but it's true) under the circumstances. In the middle of this swift-flowing plot, Morgan casually drops a concept, or an image, or a reference to a historical event that the reader must store away for when it is explained later. Sometimes it isn't so much explanation as understanding by inference. This book was the most challenging in that regard since Anthony Burgess' Clockwork Orange (I didn't find the glossory in the back until I finished). It takes a bit of surrender to not let the unfamiliar stuff knock you out of the story flow. I have now downloaded 2 more of Morgan's works and look forward with a mixture of excitement and sadness to the end of Altered Carbon--sorry for it to be over, and excited to move on to another of Morgan's novels. Like Orson Scott Card's stuff, this is excellent writing that just happens to be science fiction. It may not have the extensive character development of a Card story, but it is hell on wheels in the action department. BTW, the narration is top flight as well, and provides an excellent immersion int he noir environment.

Decent Story Spoiled by the Narration

I rather enjoyed the concepts behind the story, and while I have to admit I was taken a bit aback by the torture scene, I did not go in with my eyes closed. I'd read the reviews and knew that there would be explicit sex and violence, but I'm a grownup so, yeah. Whatever.

Once in awhile, the characters' dialogue has a little bit of a "first novel" feel to it (and small wonder, given that this is Morgan's first novel), but this might have been a function of hearing it aloud rather than reading it on the page.

Speaking of which: the narration, as noted elsewhere, is awful. The reader has a hard time maintaining accents for characters and actually mispronounces words--in one case so badly that he changed the intent of the sentence! I think I'll do the sequels via dead-tree or Kindle edition.

Fully Complex

I see no point at reading anything after I've watched the show or movie. What is the point. You already know how its going to end. Total waste of time. After I watched "Altered Carbon" on Netflix, I asked my friend if the first book was worth reading. Months after his recommendation, I finally got around to it. I should had read Richard K. Morgan a lot sooner.

The first book is so much better than the show. When I was watching the series on Netflix, I kept saying that something was missing. It wasn't that descriptive enough to catch my eyeballs on the screen. I managed to finished the first season and thought to myself, "Meh?"

After I listened to the first chapter of the book, I was hooked. It's exactly what I wanted science fiction wise. Blade Runner and Japanese Noir mash altogether. The eroticism got me instantly excited where I wanted to know more about each different skins. I will be continuing on with the trilogy because it's complex enough to keep my focus at what I'm listening to.

Now I need the next one!

As a connoisseur of sci-fi and especially of future stories, I am vastly impressed with Richard K. Morgan's excellent tale of Takeshi Kovacs, ex UN Envoy, hard boiled detective and completely unpredictable character - the story is well crafted and complex. There are many wonderful details in this future of things I've not seen before. A joy and a surprise in any book. Extraordinarily creative. This is one you will listen to a second time.

so-so story with poor narration

The story, a noir-mystery, set in the San Francisco of the future is interesting for many of the techs it dreams up and puts into play. The noir style fits, but not perfectly. This is the first audio book that I've listened to (of about 20) where the technical aspects of the recording significantly detracted from the experience. The narrator is sub-average. Audio levels vary, mike noise pops in and out, they obviously had the narrator read all lines of a character in a row, then spliced them together - resulting in a really inconsistent audio stream.

A good story well told is a beautiful thing

Overall, one of the better audio books. I have enjoyed listening to it. Very well read and a great story with plenty to think about in the human condition, as the best science fiction often provides. There are a few well written but explicit sex scenes, but they are an important part of the story, too? if you are easily offended by such graphic descriptions you might want to be forewarned. But, by understanding how they fit in, you should be able to enjoy the richness of the characters and the story that Morgan has created.

audio is muted

great book and performance, but the recording is muted.i had to crank my speakers every time I listened to it.

Altered Carbon

A great listen! Richard K. Morgan has a unique concept that captured me from the beginning and carried me right through to the end. He never loses track of where he's going with the story. The characters are clearly defined, each with his or her distinct personality and voice. I was sorry to reach the end of this fascinating tale. The reader did a superb job of helping to create the mood of each scene.

To long

This book has an interesting plot is a good read. The next two books in this series are worse so you can stop here.