Altered Carbon: Book Versus The Series

I recently watched the Netflix series Altered Carbon and a few days ago read the first book in the series of three. While reading the book there were certain parts that confused the hell out of me. When I read books I attach actors to the characters. This helps with reading quickly for me which is funny because when I write my own stories I never describe someone except for maybe what they are wearing. All these years later and no one but me even knows what Johnny Panic looks like. Other than how certain characters in Altered Carbon looked like and their attitudes being changed there are some characters completely left out, some combined, others with different sexes, and most made up entirely for the show.

I am going to try and think of some of the biggest differences between the book and the series. This isn't going to be a list of complaints, just things that would have been nice to know before reading so I didn't struggle so much trying to understand what was going on. I liked the first book though it dragged a bit at certain times and I liked the series for what it was. But I do think that if I had read the book first I would not have enjoyed the show nearly as much. This will be full of spoilers. Like...super full.

The Hotel

In the series the hotel is named The Raven and the AI that runs it is based off of Edgar Allan Poe. He is very proactive and my favorite character in the series. He shows up in physical form most of the time and has a lot of personality. The hotel itself is dark, Gothic, and Poe themed. In the book the hotel is called The Hendrix and based off of Jimi Hendrix. He shows up in physical form one time and it isn't even all that cool. The hotel has a psychedelic design and also a female voice interacts with visitors. Personality wise the hotel also seems to have more reservations regarding breaking rules while in the series Poe openly offers to do illegal shit.

There Is No Sister

At least according to the first book the main character Takeshi Kovacs has no sister. Dichen Lachman plays her in the series as a character named Reileen Kawahara. In the series Kovacs has a sister that he reconnects with hundreds of years later and she will do anything to be with her brother again. Her obsession with him is way too strong in the series and borders on lust. In the book she does not exist. There are no flashbacks with a sister and whenever the past is mentioned there is no little sister. The character Reileen in the book is a Meth (someone who is rich as all hell and hundreds of years old) and uses the hell out of Kovacs and he wants to kill her and eventually does. The fact that there is no little sister is a really big deal to me. There is also another character that the combine the sister with that would have been really cool to see in the show that I'll mention next. So pretty much the sister was a combination of three different people and this confused me the most while reading.

Trepp Is A Man Now

There is an assassin in the book named Trepp. She is badass, funny, and a great partner for Kovacs that he killed while she was in a previous body but since it reboots every so often does not recall that happening and thinks she probably deserved it. In the series Trieu Tran plays Mister Leung who is sort of based on this character. I kept waiting for this guy to show up in the book but he never does. Instead Trepp in the series is Kovacs sister/Reileen/Mister Leung. I am not quite sure why they needed to even do this the way they did and now knowing how cool and interesting Trepp was I would have been upset with her exclusion in the series.

Takeshi Kovacs' Entire Life Is Different

In the book and series Kovacs has a shitty father but in the series he kills him and leaves with his sister. They are then separated and he is recruited as a child to become a soldier. In the book his father is resleeved (put into a new body) and abandons Takeshi and his mother. Also, his military training is different. He hooks up with the Protectorate and then joins the Envoys and leaves not because everyone was killed by a virus uploaded into their stacks but because of the stuff they were doing. The Envoys are also not this rebel alliance living in the jungle. They are soldiers for the government used to commit brutal crimes.

Other Quick Differences

Quellchrist Falconer is not someone who Kovacs bones down with. She wrote a book that inspires him and others on his planet and he quotes from her writings a lot throughout the book. In the series she trains him, returns as a ghost multiple times, bones down with him, and has her stack held hostage by his sister. She is not in the book at all. The actual woman he is doing everything for, Sarah, dies in the first episode of the series and not really mentioned again. Also Takeshi does not freak out when he first sees his new face. That does not fit his character from the book at all. When Takeshi is tortured in the series it sucks. In the book it is way worse because he is a woman and they use up one body to torture and place him in another. Plus the torture is very woman body specific. Also, Kristin Ortega is not in the book as much and her entire family story does not take place.