Such high hopes. Dropped it after chapter 3 / page 50. Characters and dialogue are beyond crap, I'm not even sure i really know what's going on or why i should care, and i actively dislike the protagonist. Reads like a cheaply made Saturday morning cartoon. People tell me the other books in the Cult...
When Banks died, I was in the process of starting one of my usual re-reads of the Culture novels. I decided it was not the time to start that re-read. I said to myself, “I’ll just wait another couple more years.” It’s now 2017, and I’m not sure I’ll re-read them now in one large gulp. I want to be a...
Adequate space adventure but Banks enjoys elaborating on the grossest parts, and I do not. I like the Culture, but there is just too much nauseating gore. So, I feel like I can safely scratch the rest off the List. Library copy
IV. Death By Water Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead, Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep seas swell And the profit and loss. A current under sea Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and fell He passed the stages of his age and youth Enterin...
I was a bit surprised by this book. I know that Banks is acclaimed for both SF and mainstream but challenging literature. I think that I expected more literary SF from this book, but what it is is pretty straight forward Space Opera. It's quite good and well written, but in no way special. It re...
For some reason I had the idea that Banks was serious hard sci-fi and rather literary, a "hard" read. I have no idea who told me that, but if I ever figure it out, I am going to beat them roundly with a stick. This is actually fairly soft sci-fi, and not at all a difficult read, in fact I knocked ...
As the author's ostensibly first try at science fiction, this book was ok. There are flashes of the awe-inducing imagery and conceptualization that appear in his later Culture books. But the story of Horza, the Changer (or what would be known as a shapeshifter in sff circles,) is much too meanderi...
Consider PlhebasMy review of the book "Considering Phlebas by Iain M. Banks.THE STRUCTURE:I see the "MIND" as a gadget, person or thing, like in many stories, that different groups or individuals are after and the "Path" is the actual story.The Yins and Yangs, extreme vs extreme. Let me list the way...
It's been a while since I've read a science fiction novel as entertaining as this. While it has some nice philosophical and theosophical overtones throughout its 500 pages, it is also good old fashioned Space Opera. Banks manages to create a believable universe with warring aliens and plenty of powe...
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