A review by jsdrown
Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan

2.0

Utterly disappointed in this one. I have read the hype for this cyberpunk novel for years. The new netflix series getting rave reviews finally motivated me to read it. I found both the science fiction and mystery aspects of the book to be super underwhelming. It also tries to have similar philosophical questions comparable to other cyberpunk works like Neuromancer, Ghost in the Shell, or Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? but there just isn't much to chew on here. No, the cyberpunk elements felt like window dressing for the action sequences and sex scenes. I actually can't figure which of those two were more juvenile. There is a moment in a sex scene that actually made me gag in the real world. I wrote my wife and she was pretty revolted. The sexual stuff in this is at a constant stream. Our main character is constantly talking about his swelling penis, masturbating, the figures of every woman he meets(which always happens to be a 5/5 knock out)As far as the action goes? Probably the best thing on display here. That's not to say the action isn't cliche. Richard K. Morgan also loves his guns. He goes into great detail about every single weapon in the book. In fact I think the page or so has our main character playing around with guns. When it's not guns it's samurai swords.

The point is that this book reads like bad Ghost in the Shell fan fiction. I'm sure the show is great. The cinematography and music look phenomenal. This book was all around a bad read for me. I never felt like Takeshi Kovacs came to life for me. I likely wont read any further into the series.