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My favourite action scene is properly the start of Excession, where that brave little droid keeps having to shunt its memory core into progressively more basic processors. From high-level quantum computers right through to the worst available - of course it's a squishy ball of grey matter  I don't think this is a spoiler, btw, as it happens in the first few pages. Anyway, like Excession, which ranks as my top M book, it's pure spaceship porn without any wanky ST-esque technobabble. Or, at least, the tech stuff is fabulously sexy.I'm surprised that there isn't more love for The State of the Art. The mains short story in the collection is, outside of the obvious like War & Peace etc. in my opinion, the most illuminating out of all the books I've read that deal with 'the human condition'. The scene at the end, when the character who 'went native' (I don't remember his name, it's been a while) is shown to be sallow-skinned, withdrawn and clearly self-dillusional, yet still insists on his happiness really does speak to me about what we're like. Yes, it's a bit clumsy and obvious when I read it now, and nostalgia is probably colouring its effect on me in somewhat (I first read it in 1996, so I was thirteen. It came free on the front of a PC games magazine. Best freebie ever!), but still... I can't think of many books, least of all sci-fi, that tackle this issue and against a (dark) background of ultra-high-tech machinery and god-like AI, for Banks to conclude the story with the tale of a very basic humanoid who is confused and lonely, to focus in on that rather than the world-destroying spaceship floating above, is a very gusty thing to do. At least I think so, anyway. And of course the GCU is just a riot. Best spaceship name? 'Ethics Gradient'. Best quote? 'It looks like a dildo,' she said. 'How appropriate,' the droid said 'fully armed, it can gently caress solar systems.' Or something like that. 
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Mar 25, 2009 14:10
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a kitten posted:It's really hard to beat Anticipation of a New Lover's Arrival, The for ship names. Word. It's the most exciting sequence of words in the English Language, perfectly marrying high-tech cool with base primal feelings!
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Mar 9, 2012 08:10
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I used to obsessively try and get my head around the scale of GSV bays by obsessively drawing sketches. I think people don't bother because the ships aren't aerodynamic.
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Mar 21, 2012 21:51
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paint dry posted:Just started Consider Phlebas (I can't start a book series in the middle, nor can I listen to a bit of an album or watch the last half hour of a film. I am a broken man.) and it seems alright to me so far. I'm having trouble picturing the Idirans and the Medjels, though, because my imagination has been dulled by 20 years of video games and non-scifi-or-fantasy novels. Do you guys see Idirans as giant humanoids with three awkward legs or more insect-like? It's not a series. You can read them in any order.
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Apr 11, 2012 17:18
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The Bridge, The Wasp Factory, Complicity and Walking on Glass are the only ones I've liked. I see a huge gulf between his sci-fi and normal stuff.
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Apr 13, 2012 15:07
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Krinkle posted:I bought it on kindle, kindle auto-opens it to chapter one page one. I didn't know there was an epigram! How was I to know to click backwards three times? Always click back with a Kindle.
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May 27, 2012 16:59
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MeLKoR posted:At least until everything goes to hell in a handbasket, but yeah I guess it's an happy ending in a way. What... State of the Art is the most artistically relevant story \banks has written.
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May 27, 2012 17:00
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I think you may be taking this particular work of fiction a little too seriously. Too much time in d&d? Just enjoy it. He doesn't write books like that any more.
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Jul 11, 2012 02:16
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I can't understand being disappointed by it. I think it's the perfect sci-fi novel.
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Jul 11, 2012 03:03
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Why? For once sci-fi explored fairly complex, interesting, morally ambiguous characters whose bad decisions parts of you could relate to and sympathise with. I would say that most of us are capable of being cold in the face of kindness and that most of us have made some horrifically bad decisions that we've never come to terms with. It's just that the culture framework amplifies the results of this to a much larger scale. I don't want sci-fi to hold my hand, and I definitely don't want it populated by bloodthirsty comic book bad guys either (like Veppers in Surface Detail). Excession is kind of subtle in that its characters are actually adults with a spotted history. In a genre dominated by childish writers spouting immature worldviews, it really hits the spot for me. I re-read it every year and I always find my interest in the humanity on display outstripping my intrigue and excitement over the technology more and more. Considering his other work (a lot of which I love, don't get me wrong), I think this was a happy accident on his part.
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Jul 11, 2012 05:47
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The grand reveal of that swarm of fighter craft didn't please you? The Very Fast Picket chase? The snowballing sense of urgency and panic? The confirmation at the end that the Excession led to something wonderful? Oh man. Don't worry about who said what. It's a conspiracy. Let it was over you and admire the picture from far away rather than trying to zoom in on detail.
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Jul 11, 2012 17:26
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BastardySkull posted:
The 2:1 club is the best club.
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Feb 7, 2013 09:28
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Fucks sake.
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Apr 3, 2013 16:36
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Those On My Left posted:Oh sorry, I didn't realise that the author's impending death meant you could ruin the books for anyone who came here to commiserate (I mean they've been out for a while, if you haven't read them then gently caress your ability to read them unspoiled). Get some perspective. Iain Banks has been a staple of my life from about 14 years old. He's influenced me politically, socially and creatively. Like my favourite music, he's been a constant through major life upheavals and joys. I bought a copy of Excession just to give away to somebody who was doubtful. I don't really know what to say. This news makes me so sad
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Apr 5, 2013 02:51
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No living sci fi author comes close because the rest of them are obsessed with writing nerdy po-faced series' that are more an exercise in tedious world-building rather than good, stand-alone stories with genuinely progressive ideas and characters that would work in any context. Banks is in a bracket all of his own. This is pretty much the death of non-embarrassing sci fi.
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Apr 8, 2013 07:00
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02-6611-0142-1 posted:I just finished Consider Phlebas, and I'm tearing through the Player of Games right now. I can see why many people don't recommend it as a first book: it felt like a really interesting premise in a really interesting universe, but the plot itself felt like a really forced adventure story that didn't really grab me. I enjoyed it enough to try the next few books, but I've got to ask, There isn't a third book as such - it's not a series. Don't treat it like one and you'll enjoy it far more.
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Apr 19, 2013 10:03
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WMain00 posted:
They weren't a series', which is part of the reason as to why they were such good books and why he was so far above all the other sci-fi writers. RIP!
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Jun 9, 2013 22:55
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He'd probably quite like an international chair day.
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Jun 10, 2013 03:40
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Nobody is. The only modern sci fi that even becomes to compare is Light by M. John Harrison. Everything else I've tried just seems childish.
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Jun 25, 2013 07:16
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Those On My Left posted:Sad to hear you didn't get into it. I found the writing super-evocative. You're absolutely right that the character was hardly innovative, but I honestly didn't mind that because I thought that story didn't need a ground-breaking protagonist, it had enough going for it otherwise. It's a lovely book but not really sci fi as its popularly seen. It's awkward and careful and never quite honest, which I see as positives but many find these frustrating. I recommend it.
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Jun 25, 2013 11:53
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Hedrigall posted:China Miéville himself would probably vomit all over you in disgust if you described his books as "steampunk" to his face. But they are...? Like Pratchett, I just never get what everyone sees in his stuff. It's so earnest.
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Jun 25, 2013 11:55
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