spectru
4/15/2014
Altered Carbon is a tough-guy detective novel. It's in the sci-fi genre because in it people have a cortical stack with which they can be resleeved. That is, a small device which holds the persons mind, memories, and personality is inserted in their bodies and if they should be killed, they can be fitted with a new body, a clone of their own, or someone else's. That little arrangement really changes things. Getting killed is just an inconvenience, unless of course its RD, real death, in which the stack is destroyed. It's amazing how motivations are changed. Still, its a detective story, but like many sci-fi stories, there are flying cars.
I believe Altered Carbon is Richard K. Morgan's debut novel. He writes as if he's an old pro at it. If you like detective stories, you'll probably like this one. Sam Spade meets Blade Runner, with plenty of plot twists, selfish motivations, a couple of steamy sex scenes. It really deserves more then the measly three star rating I gave it, but it just wasn't my cup of tea.
A side note: In the book, Catholics are apposed to being resleeved, as a matter of conscience. They believe that resurrection should be left to God In the second two books of Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos, Endymion and The Rise of Endymion, resurrection through the cruciform is a major tenet of the Catholic faith and one must accept the cruciform upon conversion to Catholicism. I thought it ironic, the Catholic take on resurrection in future societies by two different authors.