Altered Carbon

For all science fiction novels there is a certain donee you must accept upon reading, this book by Richard Morgan is no different.

Death is no longer the end, if you have enough money. All people have 'stacks' atop their spinal cord where all memories and thoughts are digitally stored. Thus were the body, or 'sleeve', to die the mind can be placed in another body and the person will live on. As a result real death has become rare with even those too poor to be resleeved being put into digital storage, occasionally using rented sleeves for relation's weddings and alike.

This brings us to the plot of our novel. A very wealthy man suffers real death and awakes, from a back up copy of his brain, questioning why? The police investigate and find the man to have committed suicide. A prognosis he does not deem to aline with his own ideas. His thinking being he had wanted to end his life he would have made sure he didn't come back. So enters our protagonist, although not by choice. Takeshi Kovacs a former UN Envoy, a solider of the protectorate who can adapt quickly to new environments and bodies, recently discredited and imprisoned for his criminal activities. Kovacs finds himself released onto Earth a planet he had never previously visited and into the custody of Laurens Bancroft, our aforementioned wealthy man. Bancroft gives Kovacs the ultimatum of find the real reason for his death or return to storage.

Finding himself between a rock and a hard place with the bankroll to pay for an army Kovacs delves deep into the quasi-cyberpunk dystopian that Earth has become in search of answers. Due to Takeshi's often blase way of investigating his presence is soon noticed and his own past brings about additional obstacles in his search for the truth.

Throughout this decent into a sordid underground of a modernistic society Morgan develops our protagonist to become much more than just an anti-hero, in some aspects he is also the victim. This style helps to pull you head first through the dark and gritty world it is set without loss of sight of a light at the end of the tunnel.

All told this is one of the best si-fi novels I have found of late. It has an intriguing plot which will keep you reading, with characters which will make you care and set in an all too convincing view of the future.

Thus if si-fi is your thing or your looking to give it a chance I would urge you to start here, with Altered Carbon.