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Altered Carbon

by Richard K. Morgan

A future where death can be bought off

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Awards & Recognition

  • Bestseller

    New York Times bestseller

    Described in the supplied metadata as a New York Times bestseller.

  • Critical praise

    Praise from The New York Times Book Review

    Praised as a “tour de force of genre-bending” and “a brilliantly realized exercise in science fiction.”

AlbakiReads Editorial

A future where death can be bought off

Set in the twenty-fifth century, *Altered Carbon* builds its science-fiction premise around consciousness stored in a cortical stack and transferred into new bodies, or “sleeves.” The technology has reshaped what death means, while access to it remains tied to wealth. Ex-U.N. envoy Takeshi Kovacs is sent far from home and placed in a new body in Bay City, a transformed San Francisco. His assignment draws him into a conspiracy in a society where existence itself has become a commodity. The setup connects its interstellar future and body-swapping technology to enduring divisions of class, race, and religion.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in science fiction built around consciousness transfer and artificial bodies.
  • Those who enjoy speculative settings shaped by class divisions and technological change.
  • Readers seeking a conspiracy-centered story featuring an ex-U.N. envoy.

Themes

Consciousness and mortalityTechnology and identityClass and inequalityRace and religionExistence as a commodity

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - NOW AN EXCITING SERIES FROM NETFLIX - The shell that blew a hole in his chest was only the beginning in this "tour de force of genre-bending, a brilliantly realized exercise in science fiction."--The New York Times Book Review

In the twenty-fifth century, humankind has spread throughout the galaxy, monitored by the watchful eye of the U.N. While divisions in race, religion, and class still exist, advances in technology have redefined life itself. Now, assuming one can afford the expensive procedure, a person's consciousness can be stored in a cortical stack at the base of the brain and easily downloaded into a new body (or "sleeve") making death nothing more than a minor blip on a screen.

Ex-U.N. envoy Takeshi Kovacs has been killed before, but his last death was particularly painful. Dispatched one hundred eighty 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.
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