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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The book starts slow, but by the end I was entirely engrossed.
The story of this book once again follows an agent of contact doing the culture's dirty work. The conflict, however, is secondary to the main character, who has his own internal to which he will either either overcome or succumb. This personal conflict is explained artfully in great detail, as you see his present and past both play out.
The story of this book once again follows an agent of contact doing the culture's dirty work. The conflict, however, is secondary to the main character, who has his own internal to which he will either either overcome or succumb. This personal conflict is explained artfully in great detail, as you see his present and past both play out.
Really good, I just fell out of my science fiction phase. Would love to pick it back up at some point.
Many people think that this is one of the best of Banks' Culture novels, but I beg to differ. I have now read Consider Pheobus and Player of Games and I liked both of those better. This book is the best written in terms of prose style, and the characters are the most developed, but as science fiction it is a bit mundane. Player of Games is still my favorite. And Consider Pheobus captures more of the grandeur of a post scarcity, super science utopia.
the culture series can be credited with getting me into sci-fi, so they are important to me
also, i love the ships, and the drones, and some of the people
also, i love the ships, and the drones, and some of the people
This is an okay book. The end, I thought, was really good, but it's one of those books where the payoff is the only superb thing, and you have to go through a couple of hundred of pages of stuff that I found only so-so to get there.
I found this book very difficult to approach because so much narration was outside the character and because of frequent discontinuities in the story. Glad I slugged through it to the end!
I don't get the high rating for this book. I really don't. The story is so boring and meandering - so much of it has little to do with the plot, and the plot itself is pretty shallow. It seems the the book's only purpose is to somehow set up the "reveal" at the end, which to be honest I had suspicions of pretty early on anyway.
It's been a long time since I've struggled so hard to finish a book. I hated picking this one up every time, and it made strongly consider changing my "always finish a book" mantra. The only way I got through it was to get it on audiobook and plow through it while doing house projects.
Anyway, thank eff I finished it and can move on!
It's been a long time since I've struggled so hard to finish a book. I hated picking this one up every time, and it made strongly consider changing my "always finish a book" mantra. The only way I got through it was to get it on audiobook and plow through it while doing house projects.
Anyway, thank eff I finished it and can move on!
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes