I LOVED Altered Carbon. It’s a neo-noir with a lot going on philisophically. The core underpinning of the world of the book is that humanity has escaped death by loading consciousness onto a device that is embedded in the brainstem. That consciousness can be transplanted from body to body, as well as transmitted at the speed of light as data from planet to planet. The implications of this technology open up all kinds of possibilities in terms of equity (superior bodies for the rich, selling one’s body to pay debts, “real death” vs the death of a body, breaking down the concepts of gender and race (as a person can be “sleaved” with whatever gender or skin-color they wish)).
The sequels did not live up to the original.