Even five years after Altered Carbon's final episode, it's still one of the canceled sci-fi shows I'm the maddest about. Adapted from the book trilogy by Richard K. Morgan, Netflix's version of Altered Carbon may have strayed from being a faithful reimagining in season 2, but it was still enjoyable.
Following the show's end, I sought out the Altered Carbon books for more adventures from Takeshi Kovacs, and I ended up massively preferring them to the live-action adaptation. I inevitably dived deeper into Morgan's collective works, and came across a two-book series that ticked all the same boxes as Altered Carbon. I loved reading the duology, and I'm convinced other Altered Carbon fans will too.
Thirteen & Thin Air are great spiritual successors to the Altered Carbon trilogy
First published in 2007 and titled Black Man in some territories, Thirteen was Richard K. Morgan's first book after the Altered Carbon trilogy concluded in 2005. It's clear that he was still in a similar creative headspace, too. The 2007 novel is also a heavily cyberpunk affair that focuses on what it means to be human in the far future.
It took eleven years for Morgan to pen a follow-up to Thirteen, but a book named Thin Air did eventually hit shelves in 2018 after he'd written an entire fantasy trilogy. However, Thin Air isn't a traditional sequel to Thirteen. Instead, both books simply take place within the same canon. So, while Thirteen and Thin Air do create a sort of duology, they can be read independently of each other.
I can personally attest to the fact that they don't need to be read in order of publication. While I have since read and enjoyed Thirteen, I actually stumbled across Thin Air first. When I got around to reading Thirteen, Morgan's expert worldbuilding in Thin Air had set me up to make me feel wonderfully at home as I returned to the same lore and set of rules. Similarly, I didn't read Thin Air with any sense that I was missing out on anything. I highly recommend both books.
There is also more Altered Carbon content you might not know about
If you're still not over Altered Carbon and won't be content with properties that are just similar, then you may be in for a treat with the information I'm about to give you. While Morgan's 2000s book trilogy served as the source material for the show, especially in season 1, he's also written two Altered Carbon graphic novels.
Altered Carbon: Download Blues was published in 2019 while the show was still active, and Altered Carbon: One Life, One Death hit shelves in 2022. In addition, although it isn't written by Morgan, there is a feature-length Altered Carbon anime spinoff from 2020 called Resleeved. So, it's a deceptively large franchise, and you might still be able to get a fresh Altered Carbon fix before you move on.