Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - Altered Carbon

An interesting read but I don't think I will seek out the sequel. The concept and world of this story were interesting. It was a future that was easy to picture from our current reality and the depiction of inequity felt so realistic it was painful. Richard K Morgan unflinchingly wrote characters who were fleshed out human beings with both good and bad within them. It was well writte and I did stay engaged until the end. I think my only problem was that this story felt strongly framed from the male prospective. Maybe it was the repeated sexual and physical violence against women or the repeated mentions of hard cocks and hormones, but it made it hard as a female reader to feel fully enthralled. I felt as though these otherwise scary realities were just plot points instead of the deeper social commentary it could be of how the stacks continued to perpetuate inequal power dynamics. Plus for a world where bodies are interchangeable it was pretty cishet lol!! Either was I did like the characters and the world but I don't think I would go back as it just didn't feel like a story for me.

Content Warnings

discerninggm's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

voxvenati's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Please take a look at content warnings before reading this if you have any things you’re even iffy on. It’s pretty graphic on several fronts.

There isn’t exactly a specific content warning tag for this, but it’s going in spoilers for anyone who doesn’t want to know:

It doesn’t get extremely graphic, but there’s moderate depiction of bestiality toward the end of the book. It was disturbing and took me by surprise so I wanted to add that in here. It is not endorsed by the main character, it’s about how fucked up a no-name character is, but still relevant for content warnings beyond just the “animal cruelty” tag.

After all that, I did enjoy the rest of the book. The Netflix show deviated from the book in a lot of respects, but they’re both just as engaging, and I had a good time with both. The world building is phenomenal. I’m obsessed. I enjoyed the characters, especially Kovacs. The plot was solid. I found myself thinking about this book almost constantly when I wasn’t reading it. People hate on the sex scenes, but I found them better written than most of the romance and erotica I’ve read this year.

The most fascinating thing in the book is, of course, the altered carbon. The way Morgan discusses the implications of such a technology - how resleeving affects people psychologically, how the government takes advantage of it, what happens when you can’t afford to bring a loved one back, how organized religion would react to this, how class disparities become so great that the 1% virtually become gods. Really good shit. Chef kiss.

Even so, there were a few negatives for me. First, the above spoiler/content warning was really unexpected. It made its point but the amount of time spent on it hurt me. Second, I’m not sure how I feel about the treatment of sex work in this world. Takeshi seems neutral toward it, but Ortega makes several disparaging comments about the “whorehouses” and people working there. Last, the treatment of the Sharya culture and peoples was distasteful at times.

This book certainly has its issues, but the writing, characters, concepts, and plot really made up for it in my opinion. If none of the content warnings are a dealbreaker, it’s worth a read. Just don’t expect it to be the Netflix show.

Content Warnings

loedai's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Content Warnings

fahyhallowell's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

My favorite character is the lonely A.I. hotel inclined to violence and subterfuge.

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