Altered Carbon

I listened to the audio version of Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan, this Tantor Media production was read by Todd McLaren. Mr. McLaren is missing his calling. He should be doing work with insomniacs, or be hired to sooth savage beasts. His voice is so smooth and resonant that if I listened to his readings while in bed I would fall asleep within minutes. This is not to criticize his reading, because I loved it, and when I listened while doing housework or working in the yard, I would become engrossed in his dulcet tones and would look for other things to do, so I could keep listening. It's just that his deep, rich tones are so damn soothing.

As for the story itself, well I love a hard bitten private detective novel (Ok I also love the cozy ones!) and this novel harkens back to the days when detectives were as hard as steel and were not above a little strong arm tactics to get the information they needed. Although written in 2002, the tone of this novel would have been right at home with the 20's and 30's detective stories by Raymond Chandler. Because it was set in the future it also had a distinct "Blade Runner" feel to it (Again, No I still have not read the novel that movie was based on, and yes I plan to read it, my plan is to read it in 2016 for the WWE challenge The Defining Science Fiction Books of the 1960's. So just get off my back, OK!)

The story is a pretty straight foreword "who dun it" mystery, but with the added twist that the man who hired or detective, Takeshi Kovas, is also the man murdered. In this future society, with enough money a person can have their mind uploaded into a new body when they die. This has created a new form societal stratification with the Meths, or Methuselahs, who are the super-rich who are able to have their brains downloaded to a server on a regular basis and when they grow tired of the body they currently inhabit, and have themselves downloaded into a newer model.

For me this concept was the best and most interesting part of the novel. People were jumping in and out of bodies like we change hair styles today. It begged the question of what is love? Would I, a firm heterosexual, still be able to physically love my partner if their conscience was in a female body? Can we as humans overlook the physical in all its aspects and love the soul within the body. Because it would not just be the visual changes, but everything about the person would change, their voice and the smell and feel of their skin. I was disturbed by my inability to answer these questions. I'm not sure that the author does either, but it was enough to make me want to read the next book in the series, Broken Angels.

4 of 5 stars