Review of 'Altered Carbon'

I wanted to like this, and feel like I ought to like it - cyberpunk, some interesting ideas and philosophical discussions about identity and memory entailed by the idea of making back-ups of people (something I have considered myself from time to time) - but somehow I didn't. There's a lot of violence, and some rough sex; I don't mind either but didn't enjoy them much here. There's a confusing plot that I couldn't entirely follow. It's not that I mind complexity - I persevered with The Peripheral and ended up quite liking it. Here, though, I felt like I was reading pulp fiction that was dressed up as philosophical; I'm aware that my feelings about were influenced by the fact that I read it on Kindle, where I suspect some of the markers of 'quality' - the font, the paper, the typesetting - are absent.

I think it's a three star book - potential not fully delivered.