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Taking It Personal

Altered Carbon Cover.jpg I’m about two thirds to three quarters of the way through my re-read of Richard K. Morgan’s Altered Carbon. It’s better than I remembered. Hell, Altered Carbon is some really good stuff!! I just love it when Takeshi Kovacs channels Quellcrist Falconer, goes apeshit on the bio-clinic, and slags 17 folks to a Real Death.

The personal, as everyone’s so fucking fond of saying, is political. So if some idiot politician, some power player, tries to execute policies that harm you or those you care about, take it personally. Get angry. The Machinery of Justice will not serve you here – it is slow and cold, and it is theirs, hardware and soft-…
If you want justice, you will have to claw it from them. Make it personal. Do as much damage as you can. Get your message across. That way you stand a far better chance of being taken seriously next time. Of being considered dangerous.

I’d forgotten about the little political thread of the Quellist Revolution that ran throughout the book. It’s a relatively minor part of Altered Carbon that explodes in Woken Furies, the third Takeshi Kovacs novel. Still, this element makes the book that much richer.

Okay the sex is overwritten in a few spots, but the tech milieu and styling is on a par with Neuromancer and the hardboiled detective noir is to die for.

Speaking of Neuromancer, it’s next on the reading deck. The pairing with Altered Carbon will make for some nice comparison and contrast.

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