I just reread this after the Netflix series was announced. Death has been redefined by technology, but in many ways current issues of income inequality, religion, race and crime are amplified instead of solved. The world of Takeshi Kovacs bears more resemblance to the tropes of traditional cyberpunk than the futures we're extrapolating now. Many of the ideas wrestled with were timely in the years after the dot com bubble burst but are even more timely now. The hyper-violent, drug and sex filled narrative may be a bit over the top for some, but finding even the glimmers of good in such horrible characters is amazingly uplifting.