This is a review for someone who has read the book or watched the show or someone who doesn’t care about teeny-tiny spoilers (I won’t tell anything that could be interpreted as a clue, I won’t make any important spoiler, I’ll just talk about small details that won’t ruin your experience)

As a fully committed random reviewer, I tried to watch the show separated from the book pretending the bled, the sweat, the tears and the dictionary checking in every single page because I read a SciFi novel in a language is not my mother tongue, never happened. I was fully committed to forgetting all my effort put into the reading and imagining I was just a very happy girl watching a very expensive SciFi show I knew nothing about. And because I fought, I triumphed.

Yes, I did it, I enjoyed the Netflix version, I felt like a champion, like defeating the final boss, like going through the phase where you stop being a teenager and start being a real mature human being who feeds herself. Because being able to enjoy the live action of a book you’ve read, let me tell you, are MAJOR words. But I did it.

Or at least, I did it until chapter 4, then everything became a mess.

Some say it’s an adaptation, but I definitely wouldn’t go that far. I can’t even say it is an inaccurate adaptation, and I don’t think that just because I read the book and I’m the kind of annoying person who always hates book adaptations. I say that because it’s a fact. A loyal adaptation would be Sharp Objects, made by HBO, which by the way I truly recommend (both series and book) because it is an amazing adaptation and a very good story with the most gorgeous, beautiful, smart, amazing, wonderful, powerful, incredible, breathtaking person ever alive (drum roll) …. Amy Adams!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAY (And YES, I read the book before watching the show!)

But sadly, we’re not here to review this amazing show and talk about my beloved Amy Adams so let’s proceed with Altered Carbon, shall we?

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The changes made are too numerous to associate the book with the series. We have almost the same characters, a similar world and the same storyline, but everything else is changed. Scenes that never happened in the book, behaviors that shouldn’t even exist, hostility where there wasn’t and Hollywood clichés there and everywhere with an excessive and ridiculous amount of violence.

Don’t misunderstand me, violence is cool, I love violence and action in movies and shows and I really enjoy shooting scenes, but when you like something you have to distinguish when it’s well done and relevant and when it isn’t. And in the Laeta Kalogridis Altered Carbon, violence is most time pointless. The real story is not about violence and Meths, it‘s a SciFi mystery novel which focal point is who murdered Laurens Bancroft, and then very small stories are developed from that point but they never become more important than the case. Once the murderer is discovered in the book, the story gets so excitant and fun you couldn’t stop reading, but in the series… well, we will see that.

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Morgan created a loner Kovak, someone who refused to have guns or any kind of violent artifact at first because he thought the investigation was going to be peaceful. Someone who only asks for help when he really needs it. Someone who definitely wouldn’t bring Lizzie’s dad with him everywhere and wouldn’t let him live in the hotel, because Kovak works alone unless the situation requires it. He is a loner, a sarcastic and sassy man, you enjoy reading the conversations he has and laugh more than once. But this experience is totally missed in the show. We could say the funny pink unicorn bag is a way to compensate the funny Kovak side the viewers cannot see, and it was actually hilarious, but still, the Kovak in the series is too earnest, tough-looking and too agressive (I mean what’s up with his reaction when he’s released in chapter 1? unnecessary angry). He’s just the boring Hollywood tough guy who never laughs type.

The book is good, really good, it has nothing but good reviews all over the internet. It is a difficult reading due to Morgan’s writing and the insane amount of characters who are all important but would just show up once or twice (definitely not enough to remember them all). It’s very easy to get lost in the way and having to go back to read some chapter because you missed some detail. But it is totally worth even for someone who almost lost her mind reading it in English.

I cannot deny Netflix Altered Carbon, as a solo product and with no comparison with its book, is good material. It is a good show, maybe too many clichés but this is a business we’re talking about and some have to make a living. The CGI used is totally impressive and worth to see. We have the opportunity to see all this Sci-Fi technology, buildings, transport… you know, all the stuff we won’t see once they exist because we will be pretty much dead by then. You can tell Netflix spent good money on CGI and I think they did very well. Just because of the set design I don’t regret at all my time spent in this series. But I can’t and I won’t say it is a good adaptation.

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Just to give you an idea about how good is the CGI, the estimated budget for each episode is believed to be $7 million, though Netflix hasn’t confirmed this rumor and the director Kalogridis confirmed in an interview by hollywoodreporters that this number wasn’t accurate, we know that’s how the show’s been valued. The only thing we know for sure is that Altered Carbon is one of the most expensive Netflix shows, and anyone could tell it just by watching the first 20 minutes of the series.

And after this small comparison, it’s time to begin with this Carnage (god I am so funny).

Netflix is a well-known company that favors a lot LGBT community and empowers female characters, and this goes in crescendo. Every new series they launch has a strong woman (Sabrina, The Order, Russian Doll…). Me myself and I are extremely pleased and happy to see such female characters, and that’s exactly why I don’t understand why the hell Netflix did what they did with Altered Carbon. They changed females for males and even deleted some female characters like Hendrix, who when first appeared was a 33 years old blonde woman booking Kovak room. I just get angry everytime I think about the females represented in the show. Of course, everyone has their own interpretation of characters when reading a book (maybe I read Ortega’s and Reileen’s fragments in my own way), but those interpretations are very much alike. Nobody would think Kovak is a coward because he’s clearly not. So then, why Netflix? Why?

The issue, dear friends, is the Reileen of the show. Reileen is not Kovak sister, we don’t even know if he has a sister. She’s, in fact, his former boss in the criminal organisation he joined after the Envoys. But we could forgive it, we can see Netflix just wanted to dramatise the plot. What we can’t forgive is Reileen motive to do what she does. She just looks like a crazy and obsessive bitch in love with her brother. That is wrong, just wrong. I can’t say more because it is not my desire to ruin your experience by making spoilers, but just have in mind my words and observe Reileen’s characterization, which is far away from the Reileen in the book. Both are the evil of the plot indeed, but the one in the book works for herself, she’s powerful and plays with people just to please herself. That’s what I call a strong woman (whether it’s for good or bad).

Though not everything about female characters is bad, Ortega’s role is a good one. She’s more important in the show than in the book and we see more of her family (actually we see something about her family because in the book there is no word about them, we just assume she’s only got Ryker). There are many false details about her, but she’s got the same strong character than in the book and my expectations were totally surpassed. She’s the kind of Hispanic woman you would think about who wouldn’t be trampled by anyone (remembers me of Gloria in Modern Family). So that was good Netflix, thanks.

HOW E VER.

In the series there is a stupid dependence between Ortega and Kovak, a supposed true love story that looks like every tv show in the world has to be in order to become viral. Well, let me tell you: no, it hasn’t, and we didn’t need this love story because everything was supposed to be about Kovak and he being a loner trying to resolve the murder, saving people and feeling attracted to Ortega just because of Ryker’s sleeve. Anything else.

That was key, the spark of the dystopian world, the fact that everything is determined by chemicals and AI, even the love someone can feel for someone. The concept of sleeves is the big deal this world, but it is not in the series.

Sarah, the woman in the epilogue and in the first scene of the show? Never mind Netflix, let’s just put her like an extra and forget about how important she really is in the book.

The show focuses more on showing what is a Meth like, what makes me think if they were trying to create some connection between the Meths and the rich elite we have in our world. There was a particular scene in which Bancroft goes to a poor neighborhood to give toys to the kids. Does that ring a bell to you? Exactly, that is what famous people do nowadays to gain sympathy among people: go to a poor town usually in Africa, and gift clothes and even accessories like sunglasses (yes this happened in Spain and it was a bit of wth) so they can take pictures and post them on social media. I am not saying all of them do that as a way of hypocrisy, but c’mon… some definitely do.

Netflix exaggerates Meth’s life a lot, we see them eating a tiger and enjoying a modern version of gladiator battles in the first chapters. But none of this happens in the book, Morgan doesn’t focus so much in showing such brutality, though I don’t think Netflix is far from the truth. This people are rich and have lived for hundreds of years, they know they can have anything they want because everything has a price. I was shocked to see those scenes and upset at the same time for such indiscreet way of selling a product. Bancroft is not as bad as Netflix wants us to believe, but of course, this is just the thought of someone who softly and gently would take a spider stocked in her room outside in the garden so they could go on with their spider life. Someone who rescues cats instead of eating them, someone who prefers to look for good things instead of bad things.

The Bancroft are not accurately adapted at all. Miriam is supposed to be in a younger sleeve and his attitude is less hostile, as well as Lauren’s. He’s not as aggressive as in the series, he and Kovach have a few disagreements but nothing like attempting Kovach life during the “Meth’s dinner”. I mean, Bancroft is the employer, he “hires” Takeshi to investigate his murder, he’s obviously not interested in Takeshi hating him nor dying, but in the show Laurens is a real piece of shit with him and he even calls himself “the owner of the last Envoy Takeshi Kovach”

We couldn’t miss the analysis of The Hendrix or The Raven (depends on what version you saw/read first). Netflix made a very different version of the hotel in which Kovak lived during his entire mission, but it is quite good if you enjoy the goth and romantic vibe (I absolutely do). It was a good choice to substitute the original hotel owner, Hendrix (inspired by Jimmy Hendrix in case you didn’t notice), for a recreation of Edgar Allan Poe. A change that was of course needed since the Jimmy Estate refused to be involved in something violent. But they could’ve created a regular hotel, and instead, they respected the hotel was dedicated to someone famous and replaced a famous by a famous. That’s what I call equivalence and a well-done job (yaaay Netflix).

THOUGH

There are so so many clichés I could be writing for hours. What’s up with the Lizzie thing? She’s nothing in the book yet in the series she becomes a superwoman whose transformation we barely see because it was not supposed to happen. The producer, Kalogridis, argued she did that to empower an almost invisible character, but what she did was just making Lizzie’s mother less important in exchange of the empowerment of her daughter, but this just doesn’t work. They just substituted mental power with physical power and I am not very sure if this is good or bad for female empowerment. Irene provides the hack and technical part of the ending, she’s vital in the book, but violence sells more, and a broken girl who overcomes his past is worth (and I won’t say more because of possible spoilers though I already talked too much, don’t hate me please).

Or maybe they tried to recreate the two sides of power: Ortega would be the mental one and Lizzie the physical one. Also I couldn’t empathize with Lizzie since I was too influenced by the book and Netflix didn’t show that much of Lizzie (again because it was never supposed to haven and everything was about Kovak god I’m so frustrated). So… mayme I am seeing ghosts? Maybe the Lizzie thing was good? Who knows… (Well I do, Lizzie sucks and Irene deserves better)

And please don’t make me talk about the awful, horrendous, terrible, atrocious, hideous, dreadful thing Netflix did to Irene/Ava sleeve because I want to preserve my youth and happiness. Ok, I understand they did that to dramatise her love story and focus on the true love his husband feels for her. He doesn’t care she got a man sleeve and that is extremely sweet and romantic. But that is not what happened in the book so I don’t like it at all. I feel like they just played with Irene characterization.

Last but not least, a small change that really matters because it makes no sense and it actually encourages something unhealthy. I have thought about this one a lot and I have come to no conclusion, there is no reasonable explanation to why the hell Takeshi Kovak smokes in both Asian and Caucasian sleeve. Kovak hates smoking, he struggles a lot in the book trying to have Ryker’s sleeve quitting of smoking because he’s not used to it. And that is because in the book, even though in the first scene of the series we see Asian Takeshi smoking, he didn’t smoke in his last sleeve. So, what’s the point of smoking? It was good to see Ryker’s sleeve addicted to smoking, this taught us that addiction and diseases remain in the body despite the stack who is inside so deleting it is just a way to make the Altered Carbon world less special.

And that is why my dear friends, my final recommendation to have a happy life, and my lifestyle from now on, is, Watch and then Read.

Now a bunch of random and personal thoughts about society

There’s a saying that is “we are what we read”, and I kind of feel the more we read and the more varied the books are, the more human we become. When I finished Altered Carbon and stopped to think deeply about society in this dystopia, I realized how sad, selfish and unfair is the way we see and think about old people and even people in all age range. We see them just as what they are at the moment we meet them, we don’t care about who they were and what they did in the past as long as it wasn’t something bad or harmful. But the reality is that old people loved and were loved too, they cried and they laughed, they suffered and they were happy. There are countries like Japan whose culture realizes how important and respectful old people are, but the rest of the world doesn’t. My country, my culture, doesn’t. Most people only see them as persons who are not productive anymore, and we, as a capitalist world, don’t care about things if they do not improve our wealth or life quality. That is how we live, we don’t fire people with families and responsibilities but employees to improve our budget.

I am someone.

And I will be always someone.

I struggle with things, I’ve been through a lot in only 25 years, I still have my entire life to make mistakes and be successful. I have been watching anime since I was 6 years old, now I’m 25 and I still watch it. My mind hasn’t grown in certain aspects and it never will. I will be just a young mind in an old body, I will feel displaced. My wrinkles won’t define who I am, neither my health problems nor my 20 daily pills will. But the world will, and this feeling is extremely heartbroken.

I’ve never had a close relationship with my grandparents, no one taught me how important they are, how much they love me, how sad they’ve must have felt with the idea of some girl sharing their DNA out there in the world growing up and not being able to see it. No one taught me how to love them, no one ever taught me old people were once young and funny and lively and that they did the same things I am doing right now.

So, thank you, Richard Morgan, for writing this book, even though your goal wasn’t open the eyes of a 25 years old almost-woman. I am more human now. I’ve realised we get old because of our body and not because of our mind. Our personality will be always the same but our character will change because we will see how our body deteriorates day by day, and this is something no one could not be sad about. We will feel how our bodies can’t do things 30 years ago we did without even blinking, and that is how our soul will get old. Our movements will get old because we know they’ve become slow and clumsy

Youth is something bounded to our body, the fact I don’t wear school skirts anymore is just because I’m aware I have a 25 years old body and I think it’s not the age to wear these clothes because they don’t suit me, even though the only thing that has changed over these 5 years is that I don’t have that baby face anymore. My body is exactly the same. I’m still 180 cm tall, my hair is still brown, my curves are in the same place they were 5 years ago and I have no wrinkles at all. And yet I don’t wear them. If my body was 20 years old and my mind 25, I would, just because I would look like a 20 years old young lady. Just because I know the limit in our society is the year we were born and the year we’re currently living in.

If you’re young you’re too young to be good, and if you’re old you’re too old to be useful.

This is nonsense.

But this is how things are pretty much everywhere.

If we could just get sleeves like in Altered Carbon we would never be considered old, we would have a 300 years old mind in a 20 years old body, and just because our skin is smooth and our hair shiny, we wouldn’t be old.

But what I have learned is, the bodies are old, not the people inside them.