⋙ Read Surface Detail A Culture Novel Book 9 eBook Iain M Banks

Surface Detail A Culture Novel Book 9 eBook Iain M Banks

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Surface Detail A Culture Novel Book 9 eBook Iain M Banks

A few years ago, this book was my entry point into Bank's "Culture" series of novels. I think I read nothing else until I had consumed the entire series. Bank's descriptions of the post-scarcity "Culture" society and overarching sensibility that "..of course; any intelligent species will eventually evolve and produce something like the Culture.." resonated particularly strongly with me. But Culture society is mostly just a backdrop for Bank's hugely imaginative stories-often two or three in play in any given book. Most stories involve characters on the fringes of the Culture and/or their interactions with less evolved civilizations. These interactions often suggest commentary on our own 'civ'.
Banks' writing is hugely imaginative, fun to read, full of fanciful images, gripping action and very cool concepts.
If you need your Sci Fi to be grounded in known theory or reasonable extensions thereof, some of Bank's flights of fancy will give you cause to look askance. But he puts such craft into his imaginings it is easy to forgive.
Surface Detail did not turn out to be my favorite book of the Culture series, but it got me hooked.


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Surface Detail A Culture Novel Book 9 eBook Iain M Banks Reviews

Surface Detail, the latest from Iain Banks in his Culture Series (although this series is not based on a single character who goes from book to book but rather based on the outer world massive civilization known as The Culture, its agents and their actions), this book is simply amazing. There are many concurrent threads going on which tie up at the end; from the perspectives of various characters, various environments, including HELL (many of them - literally), also you find the ubiquitous Culture overseeing what it can, with the cynical and darkly humorous naming conventions for its ships. Banks is one of a kind, I've been reading him since page 1 of the first printing of The Wasp Factory those many years ago (his first three books are classics and belong in any collection).

Surface Detail is not easy reading but it's fast paced, exciting, suspenseful, darkly funny in spots, vicious, torturous, and contains several surprises. Basically there is a war going on between those who think a moral obligation falls upon its citizens to create a Hell to punish evil doers, fighting against those who believe that the Hells created by people are cruel and immoral, and should be abolished. Banks doesn't hold back, he usually doesn't, so you get a free tour of HELL, but be forewarned, it ain't pretty.

I will read this again soon, right now I am re-reading the other Culture books I have around the house (remind me to order the ones I gave away 10-15 years ago, I want them back!). The word "Genius" possibly gets overused but Banks is a true genius for his complex plots, unique style of writing, depth of characters, creation of powerful alien technology, and for pleasant and unpleasant surprises. I haven't always liked his non-SF books (some are slow, easy going affairs - maybe it's Banks fault for writing to the other extreme so well), his non-Culture SF novels are fine though, more than fine, excellent (The Algebraist, Against a Dark Background are not to be missed). I enjoy The Culture novels best of all the types he writes, with their in-your-face Drones, Minds, Ships with names like Xenophobe and I Blame The Parents. I have pre-ordered The Hydrogen Sonata and can't wait!
This was my final unread Iain M. Banks "Culture" series novel. I liked Excession, Matter and Hydrogen Sonata better, but it is still a great story. I was disturbed by the graphic descriptions of the virtual Hell, short digressions into the horror genre, so I tended to skim those chapters very lightly. I don't feel as though I missed any critical plot lines in doing so. In case you are thinking "this guy is a wuss," before I knew about Banks' science fiction, I read his debut novel, The Wasp Factory. That story has ruing many readers' appetites and made them fear for the state of the human condition, but I thought it was hilarious and brilliant. Takes all kinds to fill up the freeway, right?
A few years ago, this book was my entry point into Bank's "Culture" series of novels. I think I read nothing else until I had consumed the entire series. Bank's descriptions of the post-scarcity "Culture" society and overarching sensibility that "..of course; any intelligent species will eventually evolve and produce something like the Culture.." resonated particularly strongly with me. But Culture society is mostly just a backdrop for Bank's hugely imaginative stories-often two or three in play in any given book. Most stories involve characters on the fringes of the Culture and/or their interactions with less evolved civilizations. These interactions often suggest commentary on our own 'civ'.
Banks' writing is hugely imaginative, fun to read, full of fanciful images, gripping action and very cool concepts.
If you need your Sci Fi to be grounded in known theory or reasonable extensions thereof, some of Bank's flights of fancy will give you cause to look askance. But he puts such craft into his imaginings it is easy to forgive.
Surface Detail did not turn out to be my favorite book of the Culture series, but it got me hooked.