Altered Carbon
Plot
Plot
In the novel's quasi-cyberpunk and somewhat dystopian world, human personalities can be stored digitally and downloaded into new bodies, called sleeves. Most people have stacks in their spinal columns that store their memories. If their body dies, their stack can be stored indefinitely. Catholics have arranged that they will not be resleeved as they believe that the soul goes to Heaven when they die, and so would not pass on to the new sleeve. This makes Catholics targets for murder, since killers know their victim will not be resleeved to testify. A UN resolution to alter this legal position forms one strand of the novel's plot, in order to allow the authorities to temporarily sleeve a deceased Catholic woman to testify in a murder trial.
While most people can afford to get resleeved at the end of their lives, they are unable to update their bodies and most go through the full aging process each time which discourges most from resleeving more than once or twice. So while normal people can live indefinitely in theory most choose not to, only the wealthy are able to acquire replacement bodies on a continual basis. The long-lived are called Meths, short for Methuselahs. The very rich are also able to keep copies of their minds in remote storage, which they update regularly. This ensures that even if their stack is destroyed, they can be resleeved.
One such Methuselah--a man named Laurens Bancroft--has apparently committed suicide, in which his stack was destroyed. He is resleeved from a backup. Because his stack is on a 48 hour back-up schedule, he has no memories of his actions during the previous 48 hours. He believes his apparent suicide was actually a murder and hires Takeshi Kovacs to investigate his death.
Kovacs was an Envoy, a member of a military unit formed to cope with the challenge of interstellar warfare. Faster-than-light travel is only possible by transmitting a digitally stored consciousness across space into a new sleeve. Transmitting normal soldiers in this way would severely inhibit their effectiveness, since they would have to cope with a new body and an unknown environment while fighting. To combat this, Envoy training emphasises mental techniques necessary to survive in different bodies over physical strength, and the sleeve in which they are transmitted has special neuro-chemical sensors which amplify the power of the five senses, intuition and physical capabilities. The effectiveness of the Envoy Corps' training is such that Envoys are banned from holding governmental positions on most worlds. Kovacs is persistently wracked by his memories of the action taken by the Envoy Corps in a battle on the planet Sharya and especially by the military debacle on Innenin, in which the Corps suffered extensive casualties after their stacks were infected with a lethal virus, Rawling 4851.
Kovacs, killed in the novel's prologue and stored in digital form, is downloaded into a sleeve formerly inhabited by Bay City (formerly San Francisco) policeman Elias Ryker. The plot unfolds through Kovacs' narrative. Kovacs eventually solves the mystery, but only after a great deal of violence, including torture in virtual reality, which he is able to bear only because of his Envoy training.
Awards and nominations
Philip K. Dick Award Best Novel winner 2003
Film adaptation
According to the back cover of Market Forces, and the review by Inchotaus Group the rights to Altered Carbon for film production have been purchased. A film version had been in development at Warner Bros with James McTeigue attached to direct.
Release details
2002, Great Britain, Victor Gollancz Ltd, ISBN 0-575-07321-7, Pub date February 28 2002, Hardback
2003, Poland, ISA, ISBN 83-88916-91-2, Pub date 2003, Paperback
2004, United States of America, Del Rey, ISBN 0-345-45768-4, Pub date March 4 2003, Paperback
2004, Italy, Editrice Nord, ISBN 88-429-1287-5, Pub date 2004, Hardback
2006, Hungary, Agave Knyvek, ISBN 963-7118-38-1, Pub date 2006, Paperback
2006, Croatia, Algoritam, ISBN 953-220-422-9, Pub date 2006, Hardback
2007, Finland, Like, ISBN 952-471-973-8, Pub date 2007, Paperback
2008, Romania, Triton, ISBN 978-973-733-206-6, Pub date 2008, Paperback
2008, Portugal, Sada de Emergncia, ISBN 978-989-637-085-5, Paperback
References
^ Havens, Edward (2007-07-17). "Studios and Production Companies set their pre-strike priorities". FilmJerk.com. http://www.filmjerk.com/news/article.php?id_new=521. Retrieved 2007-11-08.
External links
Review by Victoria Strauss
Review by Inchoatus Group
Review of the unabridged audiobook
Audio review and discussion of Altered Carbon at The Science Fiction Book Review Podcast
Richard K. Morgan: The New King of Cyberpunk Fiction (Interview by Jewels of JIVE Magazine)
Altered Carbon at the Internet Movie Database
Categories: 2002 novels | Postcyberpunk | 2000s science fiction novels
Altered Carbon
By: xt
Cleveland Launcher Driver 2009 on Sale Acidic Urine - 3 Things You Want To Avoid Orange You Glad To See This Titleist AP2 Iron Set on Sale Barium Hydroxide Is Now The Time To Get My Associates Degree? A letter To Bill Gates The Tale Of The Popular Ogre Building A Concrete Pond How To Sing Properly The Green Office Universal Soldier The Gennext Cricketer Nail Care Should Not Just Be Based On Tradition