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AcidBlack posted:I reckon Excession was the best culture book by quite a long way. I mean Use of Weapons was good and all but the bits with Minds interacting in Excession were just loving awesome. Also the whole idea of something even more godlike than a Mind was very cool. I thought it was the weakest of them. The Minds were great and I liked the Affront, but the central idea was kinda cliche and it overall just didn't grab me that much. Didn't help that I read it right after UoW. I haven't read Consider Phlebas. Inversions, or the newest one... I rank the ones I've read so far like this: Use of Weapons Player of Games Look to Windward Excession I actually own Inversions but couldn't get into it. Maybe its worse than Excession, or not really even a Culture novel anyways. The Algebraist was good but not great: some cool concepts, but the over-the-top, mustache-twirling villain dragged it down, and it seemed like that whole plot thread could have been cut out entirely without really affecting the book that much, IIRC. The Wasp Factory I enjoyed, and would definitely pick up more non-M Banks if I came across it.
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Feb 7, 2009 16:46
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Turpitude posted:Do any of Banks' books have satisfying endings? So far I've read The Wasp Factory, Consider Phlebas, The Algebraist, and Excession, and none of them have had strong endings. The ride is awesome while it lasts but then he just kind of throws everything out the window and decides the story is finished. I can go into specifics on why I didn't like the endings of those books, but I get the impression others were similarly put off by the end of The Algebraist, for example. It's been a while since I've read it, but I remember thinking The Algebraist had a decent ending. Banks has said it was written as the first book of a possible trilogy. Excession's was kind of lame, but I thought The Wasp Factory was okay (again, it's been a while). Use of Weapons has one of the most  endings of a book I've read, genre or otherwise. Like Entropic said, Look to Windward wraps itself up pretty well. My main beef with Banks is that most books of his (that I've read so far) involve A DARK SECRET and it gets to be a little cliche, like watching an M. Night Shayamalan movie and waiting for the inevitable twist.
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Feb 28, 2009 20:31
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Maybe I'm a bit dense, but where does the title of Consider Phlebas come from? I just finished the book and aside from noting it was also the apparently out-of-nowhere title of the brief chapter where Horza died towards the end I'm a little puzzled. Got a bunch of new Banks (mostly non-M) in the mail, can't wait to dig into it.
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Jun 12, 2009 19:45
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Entropic posted:
Oops, thanks for that. I haven't read anything in a book before the story since Joseph Heller's loving foreword in Catch-22. Highlander posted:Started reading Excession and am enjoying it, but the GSVs sending each other messages reminds me a lot of the intergalactic Usenet in A Fire Upon The Deep that was published a few years before... Except that book sucks and the Minds are a lot more interesting to read.
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Jun 13, 2009 03:51
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Fallom posted:Horza was right. Band name found. Dan Dildo posted:Honestly I picked up the Algerbraist in an airport and struggled to read through the first chapter. When I finally managed to push through a couple more it was just incredibly boring, incredibly wierd and didn't really pull me in or engage me in anyway. A lot of the minor details and stuff in the dialogue was really jarring as well and nothing really seemed to mesh together. I read the whole thing and found it good but not great; it's definitely not as engaging as the Culture books are. The villain was way too over-the-top and hammy. I just finished Against a Dark Background and it was kinda underwhelming. I've got 3 non "M" books to read though, looking forward to those.
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Jul 17, 2009 04:17
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GrandpaPants posted:I was thinking about picking up The Bridge, but it seems to have mostly disappeared from Amazon. I got it used for like $2 on Half.com a month or two ago (same with Complicity and The Business)
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Jul 28, 2009 05:43
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FelchTragedy posted:I always remember Ethics Gradient. Is there an Ethics Gradient active on SA? I've been using the name for a lot of other stuff but when I tried putting it in on the name change form like a year ago here it said it was taken.
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Apr 27, 2010 23:07
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FelchTragedy posted:Me too. It has cool stuff but for accessability player of games is good. Use of Weapons tends to top people's favourites in charts of Banks' stuff. Yeah, it doesn't have a lot of cool stuff with the Minds, but it's a good, character-driven story told in a non-linear manner that works well.
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Apr 29, 2010 14:05
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Kire posted:Consider Phlebas was terrible, I mentioned that earlier in the thread. Player of games was much better and I'm glad I read it because I was about to give up the whole series based on how awful Consider Phlebas was. Excession is my least favorite Culture book. The intrigue amongst the Minds is great reading, but the overall plot is pretty uninteresting and doesn't really rise above the "oh look an unknown, highly advanced artifact everyone wants to get their hands on" cliche.
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Apr 29, 2010 17:42
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Kire posted:Excession has been my favorite so far just for the detailed hardware analysis of the drones and Minds. Edit: You know what I'm thinking? It would be really amazing to have a few other authors take a stab at setting a story in the Culture universe. But I can't think of anyone else who writes utopian sci-fi, as opposed to dystopian or steampunk/cyberpunk. Maybe Dan Simmons (the Hyperion/Endymion/Olympos author). Is The Culture a utopia? I think the fact that it's somewhat ambiguous is one of the more interesting facets of the books. I didn't get to Endymion yet, but giving Simmons as another example of utopian SF is interesting. Not to derail, but he seems similar to Banks in that his futuristic setting isn't entirely black or white.
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May 11, 2010 05:25
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withak posted:In The Algebraist, were the Dwellers technological badasses for the reasons stated (they had been around literally forever and just never talked about the badass parts of their technology) or more because of help they got from the refugee AIs? Reasons stated, I'm pretty sure. It was implied that they'd been around and been badasses since before the AI's/AI war.
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Jun 16, 2010 20:04
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Entropic posted:Yeah, I think the new one is just too much like every other SF cover out there these days. There's so much terrible design in SF publishing and I think it contributes to the ghettoization of the genre. Authors basically have no say over it though. I've seen Peter Watts and Charlie Stross both make interesting blog posts about how that whole process is basically out of their hands. I agree with you, but it's not like publishers are actively out to make their books lose money or something. They've found that genre readers are more likely to buy books with rocket ships and busty chicks on the cover, and non-genre readers don't like to pick up a book and find those things inside (rocket ships, at least). The Dark One posted:The Algebraist's cover was pretty rad, but then again it's an actual picture of Jupiter. I love the cover art for The Algebraist, it's one of my favorites of all time. If it was available as a poster/print, I'd probably buy it and put it on my wall. That said, I recently re-read it (actually listened to the audiobook, which was pretty well done) and I'm not sure it's as strong a book as I originally thought. It feels like two or three separate plots mashed together that don't really gel together that well, especially what's-her-name in the military coming back for the industrialist guy, but also Epiphany Five Disconnect invasion - I get that it's in there to ratchet up the tension on Fassin's delve, but Banks never really sells it, despite (or maybe because of) that mustache-twirling Luseferous dude. I mean, they inhabit the same book and are sort of tied to the same events, but it just feels kind of... disconnected. There are also lots of exposition sessions/info dumps just thrown in, but I mostly give Banks a pass on it where I'd normally roll my eyes, because it's generally pretty fascinating stuff. I could probably read a whole book of just straight Dweller Studies stuff  Overall, it felt like it had the makings of a great book, although the execution was a bit clumsy. I loved the big reveal(s) at the end; he really did a good job on selling how game-changing the Dweller List would be, as well as the AI's, and as usual, his prose was often humorous and always pretty well-written. For me, it's kind of a B- to B range book.
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Jun 25, 2010 00:10
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Just picked up perfect condition trade paperback copies of Consider Phlebas and Use of Weapons from my local library's book corner (donated books, not ex-library) for $1.50 each 
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Aug 9, 2010 21:36
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Nerdy but cool: Creating a Marain font
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Oct 12, 2010 15:29
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Just finished The Business. I liked the main character and the book had a really interesting premise, but overall Banks kind of squandered it. I mean seriously getting some super-rich dude to reveal his part in a huge conspiracy by locking him out of his new Ferrari and over-revving the engine?
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Dec 6, 2010 18:30
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The Supreme Court posted:I really liked The Algebraist, is general opinion that it sucks? The Dwellers seemed fantastically weird and quite amusing to read about, even if the ending was telegraphed pretty obviously. I also really enjoyed it... the pacing isn't perfect, but as another poster said, the universe seems so much more dangerous and unforgiving in it, which gives the plot a sense of urgency and immediacy that I don't always get with Culture books. I liked the ending, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't hoping he'd come back to that universe someday and explore the ramifications of the events of the first book. WeAreTheRomans posted:The Affront owns, everything about them is so weird and great. The central plot of Excession is pretty ho-hum, but it's wrapped in so many awesome things (the Affront, a detailed look at the inner workings of the Minds, etc) that I can't be be mad at it. gently caress, I wish all my Banks books weren't boxed up at my parents' house on the other side of the planet. 
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Jul 3, 2012 14:22
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Found a copy of Raw Spirit in the clearance bin at the bookstore yesterday. It's basically Iain Banks going around Scotland drinking/writing about scotch. To say I'm excited to read about so many of my favorite things at once would be an understatement!
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Feb 12, 2014 02:03
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I just finished Raw Spirit, which as I mentioned briefly before after scoring it on sale (in the English language section of a Japanese bookstore, so basically about as lucky as getting hit by a meteorite), is a non-fiction book wherein Banks's publisher calls him up and asks him if he'd like to be bankrolled to drive around Scotland with various chums visiting distilleries, tasting scotches, and writing about the experience. It mixes so many things I love: Iain Banks writing, some swell autobiographical detours and bits about his books, cars/driving/roads/motorcycles, a travelog about a part of the world I've long been interested in but know very little about, and not to mention a whole lot about whiskey, which I only started drinking a few years ago since moving to Japan (got really annoyed at the limited selection of beer) and quite enjoy, although certainly not with Banks's background in the stuff. Reading it so relatively soon after he passed it can be quite bittersweet at times... sometimes I'd have to put it down for a few moments when he talks about stuff he plans to get around to someday, going pleasantly senile in 25 years, etc. I think it's pretty natural to admire and like the writers whose books one's enjoyed, but especially after reading Raw Spirit, Banks stands out as the one I'd probably most like to have been friends with, which is all the sadder considering I never met him. I could see this book easily being a miss for many people; either you're not interested in Scotland/scotch, non-fiction, or driving and his constant need to describe every road he took everywhere (for me, I'm planning a re-skim to note down every route taken, distillery/restaurant/bar visited, and then integrating it into a Google Map to bookmark for a future travel plan), but for me, it hit all the right notes. I still have a ton of Banks's stuff both M and otherwise to get through, I reckon this would have made a great coda had I saved it for last.
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Apr 8, 2014 13:40
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