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Just got my copy of The Culture The Drawings and haven't had a chance to even look into it. A bunch of Banks' own concept art and notes got compiled for it.
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# ? Nov 11, 2023 17:59 |
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# ? Jun 10, 2024 12:09 |
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chainchompz posted:Just got my copy of The Culture The Drawings and haven't had a chance to even look into it. A bunch of Banks' own concept art and notes got compiled for it. I've flipped through mine. A lot of the sketches are very basic outlines with some notes about numbers. Then there are some really detailed city maps. I still need to give it a thorough exploration, but I'm excited for that.
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# ? Nov 13, 2023 01:55 |
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It's been a tough year for me, and I was feeling down about it. Then I realized that I've just been... ...Lightly Seared On The Reality Grill. (I should re-read Matter.)
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# ? Dec 22, 2023 03:48 |
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I bought the 10-book collector set off amazon and I'm pretty sure the seller was a dropshipper who was unable to fulfill it, so they've been sending me a random dripfeed of various editions of the books for the last several weeks, which is pretty funny, got 7/10 books so far. Also just reread Player of Games and really enjoyed it, just a fun read and a nice exploration of the premise "What if boardgames were the most important thing in the world?" Of Surface Detail, Hydrogen Sonata, and Matter, what would be the best one?
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# ? Dec 23, 2023 18:20 |
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There's not gonna be a consensus on that one.
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# ? Dec 23, 2023 18:29 |
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Hydrogen Sonata is closest in structure to one of the middle books before Banks started to get a little hubristic in his plotting, but Surface Detail is really fun on how it gets lost in the weeds of its grand ideas sometimes. Matter is the only one where I think it doesn't stick the landing
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# ? Dec 23, 2023 18:54 |
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I really like Surface Detail. Matter had some neat stuff going on too. Hydrogen Sonata didn't catch me, but I could imagine other folks really loving it and that's fine. They're all meanders through different parts of the Culture universe. I think Hydrogen Sonata is vaguely centered on Sublimation. Surface Detail has a lot on people existing in virtual realities. Matter is about Special Circumstances, but I don't really remember how deep it goes into those topics. Read whichever one sounds most interesting to you.
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# ? Dec 23, 2023 19:00 |
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celadon posted:I bought the 10-book collector set off amazon and I'm pretty sure the seller was a dropshipper who was unable to fulfill it, so they've been sending me a random dripfeed of various editions of the books for the last several weeks, which is pretty funny, got 7/10 books so far. Matter.
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# ? Dec 23, 2023 19:04 |
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I always say that Hydrogen Sonata should be read last, it deals with finality and endings a lot.
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# ? Dec 23, 2023 19:05 |
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celadon posted:Of Surface Detail, Hydrogen Sonata, and Matter, what would be the best one? This isn't spoilery except on a plot structure basis, but be prepared that the end of the book happens very suddenly. Because of that I only really started loving the book on my first reread.
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# ? Dec 23, 2023 19:08 |
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They're all pretty good and interesting in their own ways. I might like Matter most because it almost has a Vancian feel to its setting (the shellworld). Surface Detail has a really interesting treatment of virtual worlds and how they intersect with the real world, though.
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# ? Dec 23, 2023 19:09 |
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Matter is good for Banks doing Shakespeare, and also for the multiply inter nested ways the title describes what's going on in the book.
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# ? Dec 23, 2023 19:12 |
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Matter for sure, and seconding that Hydrogen Sonata should be read last
Gravitas Shortfall fucked around with this message at 19:39 on Dec 23, 2023 |
# ? Dec 23, 2023 19:23 |
sebmojo posted:Matter is good for Banks doing Shakespeare, and also for the multiply inter nested ways the title describes what's going on in the book. IMO Matter is actually Banks doing Don Quixote, but I agree Matter is my fave of them, and it makes to go Matter, Surface Detail, and Hydrogen Sonata should unequivocally be the last one
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# ? Dec 23, 2023 21:11 |
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Barry Foster posted:IMO Matter is actually Banks doing Don Quixote, but I agree Oh good call. it's [classic master/servant hijinks literature], there are a bunch.
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# ? Dec 23, 2023 21:42 |
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Oh wow, yeah, that's why the servant is there
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# ? Dec 24, 2023 01:47 |
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Woo Merry Christmas
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# ? Dec 25, 2023 10:23 |
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JOHN SKELETON posted:There's not going to be a consensus at all, but for me it's absolutely Matter. It's a beautiful story, and with I would say the best characters in the entire Culture series. The main characters are just so drat charming, whereas in other Banks books like Hydrogen Sonata the main characters are a bit like an action movie protagonist that's there as a vehicle for the story. I really like the vibe and themes of the book too. There's a tinge of sadness to all the grand things civilisation has created, but if you don't think about what it matters, then you can lose yourself in the pursuit of rising up the ladder. Woo that loving rocked and yeah the ending came on way faster than you expect and at least in my copy theres a big ol' appendix so you dont think its the end yet and it makes it really impactful
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# ? Dec 28, 2023 00:22 |
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celadon posted:Woo that loving rocked
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# ? Dec 28, 2023 08:52 |
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I was googling Culture stuff and I came across State of the Art fully voice acted: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRl9D_agLbU I got a kick out of it, hopefully someone else does too.
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# ? Jan 6, 2024 21:00 |
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JOHN SKELETON posted:I was googling Culture stuff and I came across State of the Art fully voice acted: Thanks! I quite enjoyed that.
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# ? Jan 6, 2024 22:27 |
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Lol. I just re-read Matter, and like the thread said, it acquits itself much better on a second read. I could appreciate its spiraling symmetry, and felt like I saw a great set of parallels between tyl Losep and the Iln object. Both are tyrants ever so sure they see the bigger picture and have the force and cruelty to master it. Tyl Losep monologues to the king as he cruelly murders him, the Iln remnant monologues to Djan... - just so much easier to appreciate it. There's also a lot of subtle consistencies in it. It really all adds up in the finale: Holse and Xlyde talk about the influence of the tiniest malfunctions and decisions on the entire outcome. Liveware Problem fudges its breakneck approach to Sursamen with at a speed with an engine failure chance of 1/250 vice 1/100, which winds up costing them precious moments later on. Everyone (but Holse and Ferbin) always knows just a bit more than they're letting on, even to the very end: The Iln are presented early on as a mysterious force that no one really understands. In the final sequence, LP and Djan clearly know exactly what the Iln object is going to try to do, and how it'll destroy the Shellworld. The Xinthian's role goes from being completely unknown to critical as she talks about how they need to attack before the Iln creates more antimatter than the Xinthian can defuse. Man, what a densely meaningful finale. Probably the best moment on the second pass was with Oramen towards the end: Even as naive as he is, and his entire species is, he's actually better equipped to handle this little Outside Context Problem than his Oct "mentors." Since they're just so sure of their place at the top of the universe, and all. It works perfectly with his memory of the king's philosophical musing to him about how the Sarl's strength is that they still have worlds to conquer. After this one, I can finally admit I love one of the more tired tropes in sci-fi/fantasy: I love the "Ancient Evil In A Can." Banks makes fun of it in a couple books, but I can't get enough Hegemonizing Swarm Objects that we found by digging just a little too deep.
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# ? Jan 11, 2024 16:52 |
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Yes! Love that book, particularly the way the title itself is a kind of Shell world, with its contrasting meanings of physical matter, what matters to us, do we matter.
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# ? Jan 11, 2024 22:12 |
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Yeah it's a great illustration of what makes Banks a standout author in the genre. He's not usually telling a groundbreaking type of story, but he's doing it with a lot more care, self awareness, and style than most.
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# ? Jan 12, 2024 00:11 |
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I do think that the latter books are a bit too big though.
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# ? Jan 12, 2024 00:16 |
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One thing I reacted to in Matter was all the royals ended up dead and only the butler made it through.
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# ? Jan 12, 2024 12:27 |
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His Divine Shadow posted:One thing I reacted to in Matter was all the royals ended up dead and only the butler made it through. Well, Djan Seriy Anaplian would've been restored from backup.
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# ? Jan 12, 2024 12:32 |
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Picked the series up a little over a year ago and so far I've read up through Inversions. Player of Games is definitely the stand out, but Use of Weapons was also quite good. The rest are still good imo but they didn't quite stand up to those two. Struggling to decide if I want to continue or switch to some fantasy now as Inversions was really scratching that itch... maybe I missed something elsewhere but is the two words in the epilogue of Inversions really the only link to the Culture?
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# ? Feb 17, 2024 20:47 |
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Suran37 posted:Picked the series up a little over a year ago and so far I've read up through Inversions. Player of Games is definitely the stand out, but Use of Weapons was also quite good. The rest are still good imo but they didn't quite stand up to those two. There’re a lot of hidden references in the stories the two agents tell, etc., but the biggest link is the doctor’s dagger, which is actually a knife missile. edit: And her speaking to it in what is presumably Marian.
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# ? Feb 17, 2024 21:21 |
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Yeah there was a rather vague story about her past she was telling him one evening. I think they were outside, under the stars during the story. A good clue in there, iirc
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# ? Feb 18, 2024 19:08 |
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Ahh right I did think the dagger was a knife missile. It took me a few months to get through Inversions as reading hasn't been a priority lately so I've probably forgotten a good chunk of the book TBH. Anyway I'm continuing on with the series, I'd like to finish it before I move on to something else. I have so many half finished series that I should just finish it or I'll never come back haha Suran37 fucked around with this message at 00:36 on Feb 19, 2024 |
# ? Feb 18, 2024 19:37 |
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I finished Inversions a couple days ago as the last one I had left to go and I really liked it, it’s a very cool alternate viewpoint into The Culture but also I think it works best if you read most of the other books beforehand. There’s a lot of somewhat subtle and interesting stuff you’d defo miss if it was your second after Phlebas, for example. That sort of thing that’s going on in the book could be happening all over the place all the time with basically noone knowing which is crazy to think about.
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# ? Feb 20, 2024 03:40 |
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"Iain M Banks, Inversions posted:‘I think it might be time for a story,’ Perrund said, and pulled the boy back to a sitting position. ‘DeWar?’
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# ? Feb 20, 2024 09:26 |
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# ? Jun 10, 2024 12:09 |
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Inversions is my favourite thing of his, I never tire of rereading it.
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# ? Mar 19, 2024 14:56 |