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The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > No Gravitas Allowed -- The Iain [M.] Banks thread
 
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Danhenge
Dec 16, 2005
 Look to Windward is probably my favorite book, with the part where the Hub describes how he has experienced death in all its myriad forms and how that makes it particularly suited for watching over the people living on the hub. How it will do whatever is necessary for the rest of its existence in order to atone for what it has done.

* # ¿ Feb 8, 2009 10:56
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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 04:45
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Danhenge
Dec 16, 2005

Payndz posted:

It all comes together at the end, and for me it was... let's just say :aaa: . So yes, it's worth sticking with.

The other Culture novels are for the most part more conventionally structured. I'm sure that Banks once said somewhere that he originally wrote Use Of Weapons in chronological order and thought it was lacking, so rewrote it with the forwards/backwards structure to put the key moment at the end.

I figured it out pretty early in the book but it was still pretty good

* # ¿ Mar 8, 2009 08:13
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Danhenge
Dec 16, 2005

Hello Pity posted:

Out of interest did you know there was some kind of twist at the end? I think it's one of those books that get spoiled a lot because it gets recommended with "there's a really big twist that'll freak you our" or whatever... and once you know that there's not much it could be.

no I just figured it out, I do that a lot

* # ¿ Mar 11, 2009 07:55
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Danhenge
Dec 16, 2005

Hello Pity posted:

He can get some mixed reviews because of this, what some percieve as over-the-top nastiness/grittiness, I've always felt was actually intended as tongue-in-cheek, hyperbolic nastiness. To me it's all whacky and zany. If you're expecting anything else I suspect you may be disapointed.

It might be in a minority with this but as far as I'm concerned all of Banks' books are comedies. Not as overtly so as something like the Diskworld novels or the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy, but still at heart comedic in nature. I don't think they tend to get marketed as such though, especially the science fiction books.

Would you place Look to Windward in this category? There are obviously some wacky points but overall I think the tone is a little more serious than some of his other books.

* # ¿ Mar 22, 2009 02:46
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The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > No Gravitas Allowed -- The Iain [M.] Banks thread