Richard K. Morgan
Altered Carbon (2003)
Author: Richard K. Morgan
Genre: SF/Detective/Thriller
Plot Summary:
Set in San Francisco circa 2500 CE, Altered Carbon is what I would consider a tour de force of the science fiction genre. Takeshi Kovacs has been hired by a wealthy man named Laurens Bancroft to find out who murdered him. The police had ruled his death a suicide, but he is convinced he was murdered. Kovacs is a sort of Delta Force commando from the future (a U.N. Envoy) who could earn his freedom for a series of crimes off-world if he solves the crime. Wait? What's this I said about a murdered man hiring someone to find out who killed him...er, tried to kill him? Well, in this future the "soul" is stored in a "stack" attached to the brain stem (sometimes these stacks download to a disc in a storage facility). As such, bodies are now referred to as "sleeves". Bancroft has his stack downloaded every 48 hours to an offsite facility that also house clones of his preferred sleeve. Thus, he is somewhat un-murderable (though he can't recall the details prior to his last download). Kovacs story is complicated by the fact that he's wearing the sleeve of a recently incarcerated police detective who just happens to have been the paramour of the detective who had been assigned to the Bancroft murder case.
The story combines the best of story-driven SF with interesting elements of psychological SF while ruminating on a possible future where real death is less and less common. Morgan won the 2003 Philip K. Dick Award for this tale that could easily be set in the PKD-inspired world of Blade Runner (based on Dick's Do Andriods Dream of Electric Sheep, 1968). Morgan's tale is definitely not for the faint of heart. There is a plethora of graphic sex and violence in addition to copious quantities of foul language. But this did little to deter me from the tale. The detective/thriller aspect of the story made the book a real-page turner, and I'm looking forward to more from this excellent writer.
Geographical Setting: San Francisco, California coast, primarily urban
Time Period: 500 years in the future
Series: Morgan's first novel
Appeal Characteristics:
Excellent SF elements both in terms of new technologies and philosophical ruminations on said new technoligies; a fast-paced detective/techno-thriller that will keep you past your bed-time; gritty texture to futuristic San Francisco including visits to brothels, fight domes, A.I. managed hotels named after Jimi Hendrix; the tone is very noir with an appropriate peppering of black humor; Morgan captures conversations well and has developed an appealing futuristic street lingo, settings are colorfully described, a lot of the philosophical elements are left for the reader to chew on though Morgan does address some dilemmas within the context of the story.
Red Flags: graphic violence, detailed sexual situations, harsh language
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