Listen free for 30 days
-
Altered Carbon
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 17 hrs and 10 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $39.46
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Buy it with
-
A Mark of Kings
- The Shattered Reigns, Book 1
- Written by: Bryce O'Connor, Luke Chmilenko
- Narrated by: Nick Podehl
- Length: 18 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Despite his youth, Declan Idrys knows of the evils of the world. He knows of the bastards and brigands who plague the King's lands, of the monsters skulking in the wooded depths of the realm. Together with his companion, Ryn - a beast of rather peculiar talent - he has spent the last decade of his life beneath the bloody banners of a half-dozen mercenary guilds, hunting precisely such festering wickedness within the borders of Viridian.
-
-
Absolutely amazing
- By Doug Ross on 2019-08-18
Written by: Bryce O'Connor, and others
-
Snow Crash
- Written by: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 17 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Neal Stephenson is a blazing new force on the sci-fi scene. With the groundbreaking cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, he has "vaulted onto the literary stage." It weaves virtual reality, Sumerian myth, and just about everything in between with a cool, hip cybersensibility - in short, it is the gigathriller of the information age.
-
-
Rambling and incoherent
- By Jeff on 2019-06-06
Written by: Neal Stephenson
-
Seveneves
- A Novel
- Written by: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal, Will Damron
- Length: 31 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space.
-
-
Great novel, only somewhat held back by narration
- By Ryan Love on 2019-02-27
Written by: Neal Stephenson
-
Cyberpunk 2077: No Coincidence
- Written by: Rafal Kosik, Stefan Kielbasiewicz - translator
- Narrated by: Cherami Leigh
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In sparkling Night City, a ragtag group of strangers have just pulled off a heist, robbing a convoy transporting a mysterious container belonging to Militech. The only thing the group has in common is that they were blackmailed into participating in the heist—and they have no idea just how far their mysterious employer's reach goes, or the purpose of the artifact they stole.
-
-
Interesting story but very confusing pov changes
- By F Golemo on 2023-09-11
Written by: Rafal Kosik, and others
-
Children of Time
- Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Mel Hudson
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Adrian Tchaikovksy's critically acclaimed stand-alone novel Children of Time is the epic story of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet. Who will inherit this new Earth? The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age - a world terraformed and prepared for human life. But all is not right in this new Eden.
-
-
SF masterwork in the style of Brin or Vinge
- By Blythe on 2018-09-16
Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
-
Salvation
- Salvation Sequence, Book 1
- Written by: Peter F. Hamilton
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 19 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2204, humanity is expanding into the wider galaxy in leaps and bounds. Cutting-edge technology of linked jump gates has rendered most forms of transportation - including starships - virtually obsolete. Every place on Earth, every distant planet humankind has settled, is now a step away from any other. And all seems wonderful - until a crashed alien spaceship of unknown origin is found on a newly located world 89 light-years from Earth, carrying a cargo as strange as it is horrifying. To assess the potential of the threat a high-powered team is dispatched to investigate. But one of them may not be all they seem....
-
-
Good story but slow at first
- By Grant M. on 2018-10-22
Written by: Peter F. Hamilton
-
A Mark of Kings
- The Shattered Reigns, Book 1
- Written by: Bryce O'Connor, Luke Chmilenko
- Narrated by: Nick Podehl
- Length: 18 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Despite his youth, Declan Idrys knows of the evils of the world. He knows of the bastards and brigands who plague the King's lands, of the monsters skulking in the wooded depths of the realm. Together with his companion, Ryn - a beast of rather peculiar talent - he has spent the last decade of his life beneath the bloody banners of a half-dozen mercenary guilds, hunting precisely such festering wickedness within the borders of Viridian.
-
-
Absolutely amazing
- By Doug Ross on 2019-08-18
Written by: Bryce O'Connor, and others
-
Snow Crash
- Written by: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 17 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Neal Stephenson is a blazing new force on the sci-fi scene. With the groundbreaking cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, he has "vaulted onto the literary stage." It weaves virtual reality, Sumerian myth, and just about everything in between with a cool, hip cybersensibility - in short, it is the gigathriller of the information age.
-
-
Rambling and incoherent
- By Jeff on 2019-06-06
Written by: Neal Stephenson
-
Seveneves
- A Novel
- Written by: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal, Will Damron
- Length: 31 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space.
-
-
Great novel, only somewhat held back by narration
- By Ryan Love on 2019-02-27
Written by: Neal Stephenson
-
Cyberpunk 2077: No Coincidence
- Written by: Rafal Kosik, Stefan Kielbasiewicz - translator
- Narrated by: Cherami Leigh
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In sparkling Night City, a ragtag group of strangers have just pulled off a heist, robbing a convoy transporting a mysterious container belonging to Militech. The only thing the group has in common is that they were blackmailed into participating in the heist—and they have no idea just how far their mysterious employer's reach goes, or the purpose of the artifact they stole.
-
-
Interesting story but very confusing pov changes
- By F Golemo on 2023-09-11
Written by: Rafal Kosik, and others
-
Children of Time
- Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Mel Hudson
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Adrian Tchaikovksy's critically acclaimed stand-alone novel Children of Time is the epic story of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet. Who will inherit this new Earth? The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age - a world terraformed and prepared for human life. But all is not right in this new Eden.
-
-
SF masterwork in the style of Brin or Vinge
- By Blythe on 2018-09-16
Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
-
Salvation
- Salvation Sequence, Book 1
- Written by: Peter F. Hamilton
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 19 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2204, humanity is expanding into the wider galaxy in leaps and bounds. Cutting-edge technology of linked jump gates has rendered most forms of transportation - including starships - virtually obsolete. Every place on Earth, every distant planet humankind has settled, is now a step away from any other. And all seems wonderful - until a crashed alien spaceship of unknown origin is found on a newly located world 89 light-years from Earth, carrying a cargo as strange as it is horrifying. To assess the potential of the threat a high-powered team is dispatched to investigate. But one of them may not be all they seem....
-
-
Good story but slow at first
- By Grant M. on 2018-10-22
Written by: Peter F. Hamilton
-
The Martian
- Written by: Andy Weir
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive - and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. But Mark isn't ready to give up yet.
-
-
Well worth it for Wil Wheaton.
- By Gregory Russell Jr on 2020-01-14
Written by: Andy Weir
-
The Black Witch
- The Black Witch Chronicles, Book 1
- Written by: Laurie Forest
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 18 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A Great Winged One will soon arise and cast his fearsome shadow upon the land. And just as Night slays Day, and Day slays Night, so also shall another Black Witch rise to meet him, her powers vast beyond imagining. So foretells the greatest prophecy of the Gardnerian mages. Carnissa Gardner, the last prophesied Black Witch, drove back the enemy forces and saved her people during the Realm War. Now a new evil is on the horizon, and her granddaughter, Elloren, is believed to be Carnissa's heir—but utterly devoid of power in a society that prizes magical ability above nearly all else.
-
-
Fun Book
- By DM on 2018-09-12
Written by: Laurie Forest
-
Necronomicon
- Written by: H. P. Lovecraft
- Narrated by: Richard Powers, Bronson Pinchot, Stephen R. Thorne, and others
- Length: 21 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Originally written for the pulp magazines of the 1920s and '30s, H. P. Lovecraft's astonishing tales blend elements of horror, science fiction, and cosmic terror that are as powerful today as they were when first published. This tome brings together all of Lovecraft's harrowing stories, including the complete Cthulhu Mythos cycle, just the way they were when first released.
-
-
Spot on performances
- By Amazon Customer on 2021-04-21
Written by: H. P. Lovecraft
-
Hyperion
- Written by: Dan Simmons
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor, Allyson Johnson, Kevin Pariseau, and others
- Length: 20 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all.
-
-
Simmons is a complete hack
- By FuzzyThoughts on 2021-04-14
Written by: Dan Simmons
-
14
- Written by: Peter Clines
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There are some odd things about Nate’s new apartment. Of course, he has other things on his mind. He hates his job. He has no money in the bank. No girlfriend. No plans for the future. So while his new home isn’t perfect, it’s livable. The rent is low, the property managers are friendly, and the odd little mysteries don’t nag at him too much. At least, not until he meets Mandy, his neighbor across the hall, and notices something unusual about her apartment. And Xela’s apartment. And Tim’s. And Veek’s.
-
-
I enjoyed this audio book very much.
- By John on 2019-02-28
Written by: Peter Clines
-
Lovecraft's Monsters
- Written by: Neil Gaiman, Ellen Datlow - editor
- Narrated by: Bernard Clark
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Prepare to meet the wicked progeny of the master of modern horror. In Lovecraft's Monsters, H. P. Lovecraft's most famous creations--Cthulhu, Shoggoths, Deep Ones, Elder Things, Yog-Sothoth, and more--appear in all their terrifying glory. Each story is a gripping new take on a classic Lovecraftian creature. Contributors include such literary luminaries as Neil Gaiman, Joe R. Lansdale, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Karl Edward Wagner, Elizabeth Bear, and Nick Mamatas.
-
-
Awesomely grotesque!
- By Claire Lussier on 2022-12-07
Written by: Neil Gaiman, and others
-
I Am Legend
- Written by: Richard Matheson
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 5 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In I Am Legend, a plague has decimated the world, and those unfortunate enough to survive are transformed into blood-thirsty creatures of the night. Robert Neville is the last living man on earth. Everyone else has become a vampire, and they are all hungry for Neville's blood. By day, he stalks the sleeping undead, by night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for the dawn.
-
-
Excellent
- By Jen Anderson on 2019-02-25
Written by: Richard Matheson
-
Wool
- The Silo Saga, Book 1
- Written by: Hugh Howey
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 15 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world outside has grown toxic, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. The remnants of humanity live underground in a single silo. But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are given the very thing they want: They are allowed to go outside.
-
-
Different from the show. Enjoyed it!
- By kushal.geesawor on 2023-06-30
Written by: Hugh Howey
-
The Farseer: Assassin's Apprentice
- Written by: Robin Hobb
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 17 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With unforgettable characters, a sweeping backdrop, and passionate storytelling, this is a fantasy debut to rival that of Robert Jordan. Filled with adventure and bloodshed, pageantry and piracy, mystery and menace, Assassin's Apprentice is the story of a royal house and the young man who is destined to chart its course through tempests of change.
-
-
you really can't judge a book by its cover
- By John on 2017-10-21
Written by: Robin Hobb
-
Overlord, Vol. 1 (Light Novel): The Undead King
- Written by: Kugane Maruyama, so-bin
- Narrated by: Chris Guerrero
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For 12 years, the virtual world of Yggdrasil has served as the playground and battlefield for the skeletal lord Momonga and his guild of fellow monsters, Ainz Ooal Gown. But the guild's glory days are over, and the game is shutting down permanently. When Momonga logs in one last time just to be there when the servers go dark, something happens - and suddenly, fantasy is reality. A rogues' gallery of fanatically devoted NPCs is ready to obey his every order, but the world Momonga now inhabits is not the one he remembers.
-
-
LOVE IT
- By Anonymous User on 2021-09-14
Written by: Kugane Maruyama, and others
-
Stan Lee's Alliances: A Trick of Light
- Written by: Stan Lee, Kat Rosenfield, Created by Stan Lee, and others
- Narrated by: Yara Shahidi
- Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What is more real? A world we are born into or one we create for ourselves? Legendary creator, master storyteller, and cultural icon Stan Lee sets off into a new universe in search of answers to some of the most pressing questions of our time! The only question left: Will you join him on this journey?
-
-
Book might be good
- By Tom Allen on 2020-10-12
Written by: Stan Lee, and others
-
Off to Be the Wizard
- Magic 2.0, Book 1
- Written by: Scott Meyer
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's a simple story. Boy finds proof that reality is a computer program. Boy uses program to manipulate time and space. Boy gets in trouble. Boy flees back in time to Medieval England to live as a wizard while he tries to think of a way to fix things. Boy gets in more trouble. Oh, and boy meets girl at some point.
-
-
It's funny, over the top, and a good time waster
- By Ben on 2018-01-15
Written by: Scott Meyer
Publisher's Summary
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.
What the critics say
"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)
More from the same
What listeners say about Altered Carbon
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Alex
- 2018-02-18
Good book, awful audio quality
I tried to listen for this book for maybe an hour, but the audio quality is so bad I cannot continue.
Cannot return it, so writing this review in order to warn others - check the audio quality first!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
70 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Chase Jonasson
- 2018-03-01
Recording is awful
I managed less than 20 minutes into this book, the recording is so bad. It sounds really amateur, overly bassy, muffled and you can hear background noise in places. I was looking forward to listening to this, but 17 hours at this quality can't be done.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
48 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- DChou
- 2019-08-16
Narrator isn’t clear
The story is great but it’s great despite the narrator. Narration is heavy on the base that tends to deepen even further into guttural mumbling that’ll require you to constantly raise the volume to hear the details. The voices of different characters tend to be a mix of the narrators own voice and what I assume is his best impression of Kermit the frog.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
13 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Patrick Willmann
- 2018-10-16
A few interesting ideas that get buried in genre stereotypes and pulp
Full disclosure, I couldn’t finish the book. The audio quality, as others have indicated, leaves a bit to be desired. The low frequencies need some compression (very boomy), and there’s ambient noise in the background here and there. The narrator was fine.
As for the story: I love science fiction and cyberpunk. I went into this book assuming I would like it. I went in expecting something thought provoking, with interesting and novel commentary on the nature of humanity when it’s so fundamentally altered by a technology that lets you stick your mind into another body. What I got felt like an entirely too pulpy, ham-fisted, gratuitous, and somewhat exploitative detective story, drawing on and amplifying the stereotypes of the genre, while only superficially considering some admittedly very interesting ideas.
The book is written from a first person perspective, which, rather than giving the reader a deeper glimpse into the protagonist’s motivations and feelings, frequently only serves to have him remind the reader whenever possible of a particular female character’s boobs, the state of his erection, or to convey one of the most awkward, cringe inducing sex scenes I’ve ever encountered in a book. I’m totally fine with sex and sexuality in fiction, but it felt more like a ham-fisted “this will make the book gritty!” device, rather than a natural progression of the core narrative.
I’m just gonna listen to the Peripheral again.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
10 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- riley
- 2018-08-06
Terrible recording. Get the book.
Couldn’t get through the first 30 min. The recording is awful. Going to read the book instead.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- dang vo
- 2018-08-16
Good story, sounds quality is bad
The trick is to tune down Bass in your device. I can barely listen to the story before that, really bad quality control.
Very good story though!!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- LesleyB
- 2018-06-21
hated the narration
really couldn't get into it. the narrator made it too difficult to keep track of who was talking.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Michou
- 2018-05-10
Good story, not a great performance
Great story, different from the show which has better suspense and intrigue in the writing. Voice acting is unfortunately very flat
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Cherie
- 2018-08-18
Netflix did it better
normally when I watch a show or a movie and I learn there is a book, I read said book and 90% or more of the times I enjoy the book more. Harry Potter, American Assassin, Da Vinci code and more. but in this case I found the characters boring. the main lead was bland; and reminded me of my first RPG character that just did what the gm put in front of me cause I wanted to play.
I'm sorry. but I recommend watching the show over reading this. I wont ne reading the sequels. I'll wait for netflix.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kayla Martin
- 2020-10-21
Too horny!
the story started off amazing but quickly became quite slow and didn't really pick back up. I struggled to finish this audiobook and I found myself laughing ironically at the horniness of it all. the protagonist has not met a pair of breasts that he hasn't described thirstaly in detail.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- Jake Williams
- 2007-09-22
Altered Carbon
Sex, violence and drugs become a strange brew in this futuristic novel with the premise that what we are can be contained in a small device implanted into any body. The hero, Takashi Kovacs, is a detective (of sorts). His neural systems are enhanced.
When people die in this future, except for Catholics, they can be brought back in another body if their device (called a stack) is not destroyed. Catholics do not have stacks.
So Kovacs, who is disliked by almost everyone in the novel, is called by a rich man, who believes his suicide was murder.
With more plot twists than a tub full of snakes, the story unfolds complete with some of the nastiest villans around.
If you like plenty of violence and strange machinations, read this novel. The writing is colorful and interesting and the plot moves along wihtout undue burdening by explantion of the science, politics and culutres involved.
The ending has a twisted nobility that I found appealing.
This is not high art, but it is darn good listening.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
140 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Richard
- 2015-05-07
Bad audio
Audio is of horrible quality. It's almost as if audio engineer was loosing hearing and compensating by boosting lower frequencies.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
123 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- S. Casey
- 2005-05-02
Harder Than Gibson
The Takeshi Kovacs (pronounced Kovotch) novels have revitalised interest in the long-dormant cyberpunk genre. Mr. Morgan has created a believable future, with a wonderful anti-hero in the tradition of Philip Marlowe, Holden Caulfield, and Yancy Slide. This story has all of the action you'd expect from a work like DaVinci Code, but less slipshod and implausible. It's harder and more brutal than the early woks of Gibson, yet it maintains a three-dimensional quality rarely found in the sci-fi.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
88 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- Rusty
- 2005-07-25
Very good - very long as well
I really enjoyed this book and recommend it. It is a Raymond Chandler-esque sci-fi private eye story. A couple of caveats. It was graphically violent. The violence was appropriate but close going over the top at some points. In the beginning I worried the book was going to be none-stop blood and smashed faces and I considered stopping, but I'm glad I didn't. There is very graphic sex as well, which isn't unusual, but somehow it feels funny having a guy read it to me! The book is so long that I wished I had a cheat sheet of the cast of characters, as sometimes he'd start talking about someone and I wouldn't remember who it was for quite a while. Overall, I'd call this Blade Runner meets The Big Sleep.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
81 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- Lydell
- 2009-04-15
Sci-Fi actually made up of real people.
OK, for those who do not like sex in their reading leave NOW. It's not a major point of the story (this is not debbie does sci-fi), but it is integral to intereactions of a few characters and it shows the mentality of people who have many different versions of reality and the culture they are in. Basically, if you can get passed the fact the book actually shows how normal people are and act (ie we all curse and have sex), then you will find very interesting characters and a really good who done it sort of story. If you follow on to the other two books like I did, you will find an interesting universe that is severly self referential (pay attention in the book because things will come up later!).
I happen to really like the job this narrator did on the books as well (not the same guy on all three but this guy is my favorite Takeshi Kovachs), and I really think he was able to give life and personality to a story that is in essence, a recap of past events. It felt like someone was telling me a war story over drinks in a bar at times, and for me that's a good thing.
I really enjoy my sci fi scruffy and unrefined. If you do too then you will love this series.
PS. For those who shrank at the torture scene please realize that if you don't feel the weight of the torture it stops being the abborant act it truly is. So your gut reaction is exactly what the author was going for.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
77 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Charles Joshua Bain
- 2019-10-27
If you like the show then skip this.
if you are a fan of the TV show then you may not want to try this. This is one of the rare times where the book is by far worse than the show. It comes across clunky and alot of times is basically a really bad porno. I really can not express enough how bad this was.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
52 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- David
- 2013-04-21
Cyberpunk meets noir thriller
This was pretty good contemporary cyberpunk. Morgan doesn't have William Gibson's way with words, but his characters are more interesting and his pacing and action scenes are much better.
There is the potential for a space opera here - the world of Altered Carbon is a far future in which humans have spread to the stars, and the protagonist, Takeshi Kovacs, was born on another planet, but this story takes place entirely on Earth, in "Bay City" (what used to be San Francisco). That and all the Japanese names and yakuza and such seem to be conscious nods to Gibson.
Kovacs is your basic bad dude ex-commando killing machine with a tortured past. He used to work for "Envoy Corps"; in this far future, the U.N. is apparently the interplanetary government and it trains super-soldiers as "Envoys" to go do all the usual killing and pacifying for what turns out to be corporate interests and rich people. Same as it ever was. Kovacs gets disillusioned and turns rogue, and the book opens with a criminal enterprise he and his girlfriend are running going very badly. This is how we are introduced to the most interesting technology in this world: "resleeving." Basically, human minds can now be digitized and transferred ("sleeved") in new bodies. People convicted of crimes can be sentenced to virtual "storage" — your mind goes into a data bank for some period of time (potentially centuries) and in the meantime, someone else can buy the right to walk around in your body. Mix this with artificial intelligences and virtual worlds and you can see the possibilities for cons, grand schemes, and cunning plans is enormous.
Kovacs winds up on Earth, freed from his virtual sentence following his botched enterprise in the prologue, because a very rich "Methuselah" (someone who's been resleeved repeatedly for hundreds of years) wants him to do a job for him. Mr. Bancroft died, violently, a few days ago, and upon being resleeved from his backup storage, he of course has no memory of what happened prior to his last backup. The police say either he killed himself or his wife killed him. Bancroft refuses to believe either scenario, and wants Kovacs to find out who actually blew his head off and why.
This is where Altered Carbon crosses cyberpunk with a hard-boiled detective novel. Kovacs has to go looking for clues, and of course runs into all sorts of people with conflicting interests all of whom threaten him or bribe him to do what they want. The way in which he eventually uncovers what's really going on, gets caught up in an extensive web and snagged on multiple hooks and conflicting obligations, was quite skillfully plotted. He eventually unleashes bloody vengeance as is typical for this sort of story, and of course he runs up against multiple dangerous dames with whom he has a lot of graphically and sometimes laughably-described sex.
If you are fond of the "hard-boiled lone wolf bangs babes and carves a swath of bloody vengeance" genre, then Altered Carbon is the book for you. The whole digitized humans angle contains no ideas that haven't been floating around in cyberpunk for decades now, and certainly other cyberpunk novels have been written with a noir feel to them, but this is the best of the lot I have read recently.
There were some authorial indulgences (the sex scenes, the Jimi Hendrix AI-run hotel, and a whole lot of prostitutes) which are characteristic of a freshman SF novel (though I kind of liked the Hendrix). But overall, this paid tribute to its predecessors while not being wholly derivative, and I enjoyed it quite a lot, and wouldn't mind seeing a little more extra-solar SF next time.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
49 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- PF
- 2007-07-13
Future Marlowe Noir
Brilliantly imagined, carefully worked out, and intensely detailed, Morgan's somewhat Philip-Marlowe-ish future is gripping. His core premise is that death has been (mostly) conquered; most deaths can be undone by re-"sleeving" the dead person's consciousness, or "stack," in a different body. He's worked through a consistent vision of how much (and how little) that alters society, conduct, and people -- exactly the sort of exercise good sci-fi does best. If you like Sam Spade and thoughtful SF, you'll like Altered Carbon.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
45 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- David
- 2005-05-05
Best Sci-Fi/Private Eye Book of last ten years!
I read this one a few years ago and highly recommend. If you liked Ender's Game or Snowcrash... you'll love this one. I don't want to spoil anything about this book by putting details of this intricate plot in my review, but if you enjoy science fiction or mysteries... then this one is for you. Enjoy!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
43 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- Richard
- 2005-09-22
Great Sci-Fi, not sanitized for your protection
An exciting read to unravel a unique crime. The story exposes us to a wide slice of future life, the "have" and the "have nots" and how their lives are incredibly differentiatied through technology. If you want to find deeper meaning, the story allows you to explore what makes an individual unique, and whether or not being in someone elses body changes who we are. We're also dragged through the gutter numerous times, so prudes or those seeking a sheltered existance beware. Good, but gritty sci-fi.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
38 people found this helpful