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selahmay's review against another edition
Too sexually explicit.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
midnightsharkist's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence
iirreeaadd's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This book was fine. It's core mystery was really solid and I liked the detective aspect of it a lot. The idea of altered carbon and no permanent death and how that would change society is an interesting concept that I enjoyed them digging into. The overall cyberpunkness of it was pretty great too, though it took me awhile to keep all the terms and slang straight. I did like how the cast was overall diverse as well, however the persistent male gaze-iness of it and hyper fixation on the prostitution side of the world was something that turned me off. The plot was also hard to follow at points and not all the characters actions seemed to make sense.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Classism
has3000's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A noir crime book downloaded into a sci-fi body, and ready to kill.
The premise is that hundreds of years from now, human consciousness can be stored in a device in one’s neck, so if you can afford it you can be downloaded into a new body.
There are so many interesting philosophical and technological facets to this, and Morgan does a good job of at least mentioning them, sometimes fleshing them out.
As far as the…”unsavory” things that often crop up in a noir book: The book definitely has a fair bit of sexual content, but it’s not the focus. Drugs, sex, etc. are mostly shown as things that matter less when a body is impermanent. I thought that it was being racist until I realized that “Mohican” was another term for “Mohawk”, and not a reference to Native Americans. Otherwise, the references to race are mostly to describe a characters new body, and callbacks to the MCs involvement in a brutal assault on a Muslim(?) planet. And on sexism, I felt (as a man) that the book did okay. The MC was definitely male, and definitely attracted to women, and there were several women with altered bodies, as well as whorehouses, etc. But there was also a brief aside about the MC having been in female bodies, and how women have a higher pain tolerance than men. Most of it felt like an attempt to accurately display how humanity acts, rather than sexism for sexism’s sake.
There was no LGBTQ representation, which could have fit in super well here, but in a book from 23 years ago that isn’t super surprising.
Overall, having watched the show first I still really enjoyed this book, with my main genre being Sci-fi but hardly ever reading crime novels.
The premise is that hundreds of years from now, human consciousness can be stored in a device in one’s neck, so if you can afford it you can be downloaded into a new body.
There are so many interesting philosophical and technological facets to this, and Morgan does a good job of at least mentioning them, sometimes fleshing them out.
As far as the…”unsavory” things that often crop up in a noir book: The book definitely has a fair bit of sexual content, but it’s not the focus. Drugs, sex, etc. are mostly shown as things that matter less when a body is impermanent. I thought that it was being racist until I realized that “Mohican” was another term for “Mohawk”, and not a reference to Native Americans. Otherwise, the references to race are mostly to describe a characters new body, and callbacks to the MCs involvement in a brutal assault on a Muslim(?) planet. And on sexism, I felt (as a man) that the book did okay. The MC was definitely male, and definitely attracted to women, and there were several women with altered bodies, as well as whorehouses, etc. But there was also a brief aside about the MC having been in female bodies, and how women have a higher pain tolerance than men. Most of it felt like an attempt to accurately display how humanity acts, rather than sexism for sexism’s sake.
There was no LGBTQ representation, which could have fit in super well here, but in a book from 23 years ago that isn’t super surprising.
Overall, having watched the show first I still really enjoyed this book, with my main genre being Sci-fi but hardly ever reading crime novels.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Gun violence, and Sexual content
Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, and Murder
Minor: Animal cruelty
hanfox's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
it's great when you actually understand what's going on. maybe it's just me but the world building in the beginning definitely could have been better because there's a Lot of terms thrown around with little explanation. but eventually you do get it and it becomes really good!! great sci-fi storytelling and good plot twists. gets really philosophical too. the female characters are clearly written through the male gaze though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Gun violence, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
btlitell's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
I enjoyed this book but feel it could have been better in a few ways. As far as cyberpunk/sci-fi it's pretty interesting and the concept felt new enough rather than simply a fresh spin on something that previously existed. I really liked the execution of the transferable personality and a body that can change (in some cases) and thought it brought a nice approach to sci-fi's canon.
The biggest reason for this being a 4-star instead of 5 is the very graphically detailed sex scenes that not only seemed gratuitous but also too "technical" or "textbook" in their nature. Not really interested in that, but it's definitely better than if those scenes were filled with horrible and cliche euphemisms (or worse new attempts at euphemisms that are just ick lol). This is absolutely a me thing and not really anything against the writing or the story itself.
I am looking forward to eventually reading books 2 and 3 as well as watching the show.
The biggest reason for this being a 4-star instead of 5 is the very graphically detailed sex scenes that not only seemed gratuitous but also too "technical" or "textbook" in their nature. Not really interested in that, but it's definitely better than if those scenes were filled with horrible and cliche euphemisms (or worse new attempts at euphemisms that are just ick lol). This is absolutely a me thing and not really anything against the writing or the story itself.
I am looking forward to eventually reading books 2 and 3 as well as watching the show.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Sexual content
Minor: Self harm, Suicide, Medical content, Trafficking, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
makiba's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Wonderful noir cyberpunk worldbuilding. Okay detective-ish mystery.
Narrative and character quality take a bit of a hit towards the end of the book, but highly recommended.
While technically part of a series, it can be read as a standalone so you won't have to commit too much of your limited time.
Narrative and character quality take a bit of a hit towards the end of the book, but highly recommended.
While technically part of a series, it can be read as a standalone so you won't have to commit too much of your limited time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Sexual content, and Torture
Minor: Misogyny
jeffaudio's review against another edition
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Sexual harassment
desert_side_notched's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Violence
aimeecait16's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-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? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Minor: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, and Violence