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caitcoy's review
informative
slow-paced
3.0
I'll admit that as someone who has routinely avoided hard sci-fi and only picked this up because it was nominated as a Related Work for the 2024 Hugo Awards, I'm going to be coming to this review with a more uninformed viewpoint. I have heard of Banks' Culture series but honestly always assumed it wouldn't be my particular cup of tea and avoided it.
Having read through The Culture: The Drawings, I really can only recommend this for hard-core fans of the Culture series. This gathers together the drawings from Banks and separates them into different categories but intentionally does not provide context or information about what is depicted. In the introduction, it's mentioned that they want to let the work stand for itself and not interject their own thoughts but this severely limits the value to anyone except hard-core fans.
As someone who isn't a hard-core fan, it was an interesting to see the level of detail and thought that Banks put into them. And the quotes included at the beginning of each section actually made me curious to check out the Culture series. But I really wish there had been more information so I could place the context without having to read the entire series first.
I honestly wasn't sure if I should even rate this but ended up landing on 3 stars because I think that it was interesting and appreciate the project but it felt like a missed opportunity to create interest to me and I'll let my rating reflect that.
Having read through The Culture: The Drawings, I really can only recommend this for hard-core fans of the Culture series. This gathers together the drawings from Banks and separates them into different categories but intentionally does not provide context or information about what is depicted. In the introduction, it's mentioned that they want to let the work stand for itself and not interject their own thoughts but this severely limits the value to anyone except hard-core fans.
As someone who isn't a hard-core fan, it was an interesting to see the level of detail and thought that Banks put into them. And the quotes included at the beginning of each section actually made me curious to check out the Culture series. But I really wish there had been more information so I could place the context without having to read the entire series first.
I honestly wasn't sure if I should even rate this but ended up landing on 3 stars because I think that it was interesting and appreciate the project but it felt like a missed opportunity to create interest to me and I'll let my rating reflect that.
elaineg's review
1.5
This book is a collection of ephemera, really of interest only to Banks completists and scholars. Except for some of the maps, the art is ruler-drawn sketches to accompany worldbuilding notes. The accompanying editorial is overblown and deceptive.
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