Altered Carbon

20 hrs. 48 min.

Language Russian

Author Richard Morgan

Narrator Igor Knyazev

XXV century. Humanity has spread across the entire galaxy, and technology has changed the very concept of life. Now people can record their own consciousness and easily upload it into a new body. Death has become only an obstacle on a screen.

Takeshi Kovach, a former member of the Corps of Extraordinary Envoys, has been killed before—but this last death was especially unpleasant. Waking up 180 light years from home in a new body on Earth, Takeshi is tasked by billionaire Lawrence Bankcroft with investigating the murder of his latest body. The detective by force still doesn’t know that he’s been placed right in the middle of a real conspiracy—one that’s cruel and merciless even by the standards of a society where the existence of a person has long been something that can be bought and sold.

From the performer: “Altered Carbon” is the first novel in the trilogy about Takeshi Kovach, a super-soldier from the Corps of Extraordinary Envoys. More precisely, a former soldier, because (Morgan’s favorite topic) it’s hard for these super-killers to be on the “bright side” of the law. But unlike the later “Thirteens,” the CE— are not GMO; they’re simply specially prepared people. Their consciousness is digitized, and at any moment it can be reloaded into any physical shell, which are grown even artificially, using technology of the same “altered carbon.” What it is, they don’t tell us—and there’s no need to: with our modern knowledge, there’s no point in digging into that line. Then it’s a western detective story. The hero fights for justice purely out of selfish motives, shooting only to incapacitate—and at the same time indulging in incredible sex with beyond-beautiful women. That’s also one of Morgan’s favorites. Plot-wise, to me, it seemed more interesting than “Black Man,” and otherwise everything is pretty similar. If you liked “Black Man,” then “AC” will definitely appeal too.

And.

1. Altered Carbon (narrated by Sergey Krasnov) 1. Altered Carbon 2. Broken Angels (narrated by Sergey Krasnov)