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nnia's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
You do not have to start the Culture series with this book. Nothing will be lost starting elsewhere. The author started here or with what is now considered the 4th book, The State of Art, shorter drafts of the first three books.
This is Space Opera. This is violent. This is a long rambling science fiction novel. This was very new territory when it was written. If you are impatient with an interrogative bent this is probably not the book to start with and maybe not the series for you.
Banks is giving Space Opera, Banks is giving atmosphere, Banks is giving adventure, Banks is giving nuance. In spades.
Also plowing new ground. This is a new genre/sub genre, AI. AI/humanoid symbiosis.
This is the first book written in the culture series and is written from an outsider’s perspective, that of Horza, a spy from a race of shapeshifters, don’t consider this a spoiler as it’s in the first chapter where you meet the main character, hired by the Iridians to move against the Culture.
I feel as though the author Ian M. Banks is sneaking up on the main subject matter of the series, that of a prodigiously long lived, very successful (certainly by 21st century humans POV) integrated AI/humanoid society/symbiosis of, the Culture. Horza is an interesting, resourceful, intelligent and sensitive person, as sensitive as he can be as a hired gun, aware of and encountering many instances of flaws in different societiesand yet still is prejudiced and bigoted towards the computer intelligences of the Culture. I feel that this attitude is one that is too much permitted, held and holding back our current society. There is a precedent within the structure of the books among the small core team of players that is begun here and repeated in other Culture books demonstrating the symbiotic relationship between the AI and biological lifeforms, humanoids particularly, and no, AI do not render humans obsolete. Read between the lines humans for some keen observations on what is cool and unique about talking, human, monkey creatures.
As someone who works in the AI field I enjoy these books enormously.
As I said before this is the first book written and readers will learn more about the Culture in subsequent novels.
This is Space Opera. This is violent. This is a long rambling science fiction novel. This was very new territory when it was written. If you are impatient with an interrogative bent this is probably not the book to start with and maybe not the series for you.
Banks is giving Space Opera, Banks is giving atmosphere, Banks is giving adventure, Banks is giving nuance. In spades.
Also plowing new ground. This is a new genre/sub genre, AI. AI/humanoid symbiosis.
This is the first book written in the culture series and is written from an outsider’s perspective, that of Horza, a spy from a race of shapeshifters, don’t consider this a spoiler as it’s in the first chapter where you meet the main character, hired by the Iridians to move against the Culture.
I feel as though the author Ian M. Banks is sneaking up on the main subject matter of the series, that of a prodigiously long lived, very successful (certainly by 21st century humans POV) integrated AI/humanoid society/symbiosis of, the Culture. Horza is an interesting, resourceful, intelligent and sensitive person, as sensitive as he can be as a hired gun, aware of and encountering many instances of flaws in different societies
As someone who works in the AI field I enjoy these books enormously.
As I said before this is the first book written and readers will learn more about the Culture in subsequent novels.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Car accident, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Kidnapping, Torture, Violence, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Murder, War, Confinement, Gun violence, and Racism
Minor: Sexual content and Gore
jjjreads's review against another edition
One of the most boring books I've ever read. A solid 90% of the portion I read did not need to be in the book. It was totally irrelevant. Whole chapters should have been a single sentence, if that. The worldbuilding is pretty cool, but the few interesting facts are so buried in a morass of the useless, petty goings-on of the unlikeable main character you almost don't notice them, and even if you do the reeking misogyny negates them anyway.
Again: the main character was boring an unlikeable (by which I do not mean he was a bad person - I mean, he was, but that's not why he was unlikeable. It'd be more accurate to say it was impossible to think of him as a real person, and even if you managed it was impossible to care about him), the events occurring on any given page do not constitute a plot, there are precious few if any bits and pieces that almost could have made up for it, and the sheer overwhelming grossness of a few (again, totally irrelevant) scenes tipped the scale into making this totally unreadable.
I kept reading and reading, thinking that surely it'd get better eventually, surely after this scene something relevant or interesting or vaguely pertaining to the plot would happen, and I was continuously wrong. Oh, and to top it all off, the two characters who have no personality beyond not speaking the language (it's creepy how silenced they are) and being lesbians arekilled off for literally no reason. That is, one of them dies, so the other one goes and immediately gets herself killed on purpose.
Again: the main character was boring an unlikeable (by which I do not mean he was a bad person - I mean, he was, but that's not why he was unlikeable. It'd be more accurate to say it was impossible to think of him as a real person, and even if you managed it was impossible to care about him), the events occurring on any given page do not constitute a plot, there are precious few if any bits and pieces that almost could have made up for it, and the sheer overwhelming grossness of a few (again, totally irrelevant) scenes tipped the scale into making this totally unreadable.
I kept reading and reading, thinking that surely it'd get better eventually, surely after this scene something relevant or interesting or vaguely pertaining to the plot would happen, and I was continuously wrong. Oh, and to top it all off, the two characters who have no personality beyond not speaking the language (it's creepy how silenced they are) and being lesbians are
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, and Vomit
Moderate: Kidnapping
Minor: Drug use
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