Altered Carbon

What a wonderful little book this turned out to be! Morgan starts off with the 'mind as information' idea that is so liked by modern SF authors, and spins it into a clever and surprising detective novel that hits all the right buttons.

Yeah, the SF concepts are cool, but what's really nice about this novel is the pulp detective novel it contains. In that regard, SF and Noir perfectly complement each other and prevent the novel from ever devolving into something derivative. The SF concepts are good, but as fuel material for a detective story, they allow Morgan to give a 'classical' detective narrative in an entirely new light, in a world populated by 300 year-old megalomaniacs and where your body is just one form of very expensive suit.

The fact the novel played out like a very classic detective story is one of the reasons I found it so endearing: there were moments, throughout the books, when I just KNEW what was gonna happen, but like seeing a remastered version of your favorite classic, that's a good thing: it was still entirely worthwhile.

Altogether, what truly makes 'Altered Carbon' memorable is not the SF, though it is amazing, and not the detective story, though it is an absolute delight to read: it's the perfect balancing act between the two, a mix of genres I have rarely seen executed so well.