Who of us haven't at least once, thought of what could be like to live in another body?! I'm not talking about Lindsey Lohan in Freaky Friday (I enjoyed it quite a bit when it came out, don't judge me ^^' ), it's more about your consciousness being deployed like a software into an empty minded body (sleeve)... Furthermore, imagine you could have yourself (identity, ego, awareness) downloaded equally into several bodies, interacting together as a unit, until their experiences differ and they diverge. Who would then be the real you? and what is death, if your consciousness can be digitally backed up and re-casted into a new "you"?
In Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon, humanity in the 25th century has (finally!) interstellar travel linking space colonies together by "hyperspatial" data-casting and sublight ship voyages. Human consciousness is transmitted digitally between the stars!
Meet Takeshi Kovacs, an ex U.N. ninja soldier with a dark past, who is casted into a sleeve on earth's Bay City (formerly San Francisco) to solve a mysterious crime/suicide. Follow our protagonist as he basically kick ass , while unraveling darkly weaved conspiracy, and learning what is it like to live on our planet 400 years from now.
If you're a fan of cyberpunk sci-fi (Blade Runner, Neuromancer, Ready Player One) or interested in exploring the genre, then this book is for you... Alternatively, the show on Netflix has relatively good reviews, so you could watch Season 1 and bring your sleeve to the discussion ;)