Altered Carbon

The Book

Richard Morgan's intriguing future is set in a time where the natural laws of ageing and death have been almost eradicated. A person's consciousness can be stored in a disc (stack) that fits into the spinal column at the base of the neck and the body becomes nothing more than a sleeve in which to inhabit.

Some people, like Laurens Bancroft, have lived for hundreds of years and are the rich elite called Meths (after Methuselah). When he is murdered before he is able to back up his consciousness, his next clone, with the vital block of data missing between back ups, employs Takeshi Kovacs, the last Envoy soldier, to investigate his murder.

Essentially it is this premise that makes the book an interesting read above a science fiction detective novel. The murdered can be brought back to see justice is done by identifying their killer. Criminals can be downloaded into the mainframe and kept on ice for years whilst others inhabit the body. People become reckless and regard their bodies as just worthless shells they can use and abuse.




This leads to quite a lot of bloody violence in both the book and the TV series. In addition, whilst in stasis they can be tortured ad infinitum in virtual reality suffering multiple deaths. The main instance where I feel this leaves a nasty misogynistic virtual taste in the mouth is when Kovacs is uploaded into the VR body of a woman (a woman has a larger sensory array and hence can feel more pain is the argument but if its VR surely that's moot). It is probably quite a release for some people when they experience RD - real death - by having their stacks destroyed (usually a gun shot to the back of the neck will do it).

Head in the Clouds is another deeply disturbing part, where young girls are used as snuff fantasies for wealthy clients but unbeknown to both participants the victim is never revived in order to avoid legal repercussions.




The TV series

For those who love the Blade Runner films, Netflix's 10 part series is unashamedly set in the same design universe: Off Worlds, dark cityscapes with neon advertising, rain and umbrellas, and of course the flying vehicles.

The TV series departs from the book in a couple of big ways with a lot of flashbacks and whole episodes devoted to Takeshi's past, his family, his links to the resistance - not everyone thinks people should live past their natural body life - and his developing love for its leader. I found this aspect detracted from the story but did help to flesh out the character. The other big change is who the kingpin baddie Kawahara is. Here the writers have added a whole extra dimension and it worked very well.

The main thing I liked about the series was that it takes the idea of being able to inhabit other bodies and challenges your modern day prejudices. In a world where you can be downloaded into any body - any race, sex or class - you have to accept and love people for who they are inside and not based on looks.

This is highlighted to comic effect when a dead grandmother is brought back in the body of a tattooed thug for Day of the Dead celebrations but also in a more touching instance when a wife is brought back in the body of a man and the husband and daughter can instantly recognise who they are talking to.

My final change of note that I really enjoyed was the substitution of the AI Hotel from Hendrix to The Raven, complete with Edgar Allan Poe. He featured much more and was a bit of light relief (never thought you'd say that of Poe!).

If you enjoyed the book there are two others in the series - Broken Angels and Woken Furies.