Reviews

Excession by Iain M. Banks

julesdc's review against another edition

3.0

Excession is a difficult, and at times complicated read. It's narrative structure, vast array of characters and ideas make it almost overwhelming.
Over the course of the month it took to read and digest this novel my level of enjoyment hovered around 2, 3 and 4 stars. There were just too many side plots and distractions for my interest to remain constant. However, come the end Banks vast imagination and wealth of ideas won me over.
I adore The Culture series, as cold and challenging as they can sometimes be. And while this certainly isn't up there with the preceding three novels, it nevertheless impressed.

koranmc's review

adventurous slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

humanignorance's review against another edition

2.0

2 stars. For much of the book, it felt like a bunch of short, disjointed narratives that were usually mildly interesting on their own, but were not long enough or did not connect strongly enough to the rest of the plot to be truly enjoyable. The ship conversations were hard to follow and felt like filler. It didn’t help that some of the ships did not have distinct enough personalities to keep straight. The conclusion was disappointing.

therealdecoy's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

andrejt's review against another edition

3.0

Filled with many interesting ideas about how a post-scarcity society could look like. Unfortunately, ideas didn't fully offset insufficient character building and a somewhat boring and slowly moving story. Superhuman intelligences, who are the true main characters of this novel, are improbably anthropomorphized.

iskanderjonesiv's review against another edition

4.0

Two and a half millennia ago, the artifact appeared in a remote corner of space, beside a trillion-year-old dying sun from a different universe. It was a perfect black-body sphere, and it did nothing. Then it disappeared.

Now it is back.

'Banks is a phenomenon ... wildly successful, fearlessly creative' William Gibson

'Thrilling, affecting and comic ... probably the finest science fiction he has written to date' New Scientist

'Banks has rewritten the libretto for the whole space-opera genre' The Times

**

Amazon.com Review

It's not easy to disturb a mega-utopia as vast as the one Iain M. Banks has created in his popular Culture series, where life is devoted to fun and ultra-high-tech is de rigueur. But more than two millennia ago the appearance--and disappearance--of a star older than the universe caused quite a stir. Now the mystery is back, and the key to solving it lies in the mind of the person who witnessed the first disturbance 2,500 years ago. But she's dead, and getting her to cooperate may not be altogether easy.

From Kirkus Reviews

From versatile Scottish writer Banks, another sf yarn about the tolerant, diverse, far-future Culture (The Player of Games, 1989, etc.). The Culture is subtly controlled by prodigiously intelligent artificial Minds, who, Banks intimates, spend most of their spare time navel-gazing. Here, a huge, enigmatic object referred to as the Excession appears in space and interacts with the Culture's energy grid in ways previously considered impossible. Diplomat Byr Genar-Hofoen of the Department of Special Circumstances is sent to investigate--but, sidetracked by beautiful, talented, spoiled-brat operative Ulver Seich and by old flame Dajeil Gelian, it will be a long time before he draws near the object. Meanwhile, certain Minds occupying a vast array of self-controlled spaceships suspect that still other Minds are involved in a conspiracy--but to what end? With the Culture thus distracted by the Excession, the cruel, dangerously expansionist alien Affront seize the opportunity to hijack a Culture battle fleet and start a war that they only gradually realize they've been suckered into and can't possibly win. Brilliantly inventive and amusing--whole sections read like strings of knowing jokes--but a mess: Chattering spaceships with splendid if confusing names (e.g., Not Invented Here and Shoot Them Later) don't compensate for the absence of real characters. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

fisherjam's review against another edition

slow-paced

3.5

This book so far has been the worst effect by the issues I have with the culture series as a whole. It is the kind of book that people think of when you say sci-fi it's dence with jargon and technical information it has long convosations written in the form of technical logs. However I do think it had interesting ideas and was worth the read if you can get through it. 

ward_ja's review against another edition

5.0

A strange but wonderful story that is more of a page turner than most Culture novels.

pipode1234's review against another edition

challenging mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

cattywampus's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Love the world that Banks created. Hard to keep the ships straight.