Scan barcode
akaptur's review against another edition
4.0
Banks has built a really interesting & complex world. The characters & plot are not quite as strong.
buecolin's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting mix of fantasy and high sci-fi, good characters and more interesting fluff on the Culture. A good holiday read (which I used it for!).
stevo1977's review against another edition
3.0
A fascinating premise (shellworlds! mixing sci-fi and medieval fantasy fairly seamlessly) and some great characters (Djan Seriy might be my favorite SC agent yet; Ferbin has a wonderful journey from cowardice and licentiousness), but ultimately the plot kept me from really liking this book. It really drags for the middle 200 pages, and the climactic fight has almost nothing to do with the first 5/6 of the book. Lots to love, but ultimately I was disappointed.
shedsley's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
cosmicllama's review against another edition
5.0
Beautiful even if it is overly heavy in world building in comparison to the rest of his books in the culture series. So many layers.
nekokat's review against another edition
3.0
I'm having a hard time mustering many words to say about this one. Sure was a Culture novel. Slow to get going, felt a bit long, pleasant use of fantasy tropes, ending was vaguely dissatisfying. Having a woman as more of a main character was a pleasant change. This has got to be the Culture book it's taken me the longest to actually finish.
dlwchico's review against another edition
3.0
I’m surprised Iain M. Banks isn’t better known in America. I think his novels set in the universe of The Culture are pretty great space opera type fiction. I don’t think he’s won any of the major SF awards though, which is a shame, cause I think he deserves some.
Matter is his latest book in The Culture universe. I liked it but I think it was a bit weaker than some of the earlier ones, mainly because of the abrupt ending. Despite that, it’s still damn fine reading. If you haven’t read any of his books and want to check him out, I’d say start with one of his others, Consider Phlebas, The Player of Games or The Use of Weapons. All three of those are fantastic.
Matter is his latest book in The Culture universe. I liked it but I think it was a bit weaker than some of the earlier ones, mainly because of the abrupt ending. Despite that, it’s still damn fine reading. If you haven’t read any of his books and want to check him out, I’d say start with one of his others, Consider Phlebas, The Player of Games or The Use of Weapons. All three of those are fantastic.
izzi's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
andreaschari's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-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
lizardskin's review against another edition
3.0
I have no idea why I picked this as the first Banks/Culture novel to read--somebody must have mentioned it online somewhere, but I have no idea why I didn't just start at the beginning. I was vaguely under the impression that some of his earlier books were still a little rough, whereas he had started to hit his stride by this one?
Pros/Cons: The world building is pretty great--it's obvious that Banks cares a lot about the underpinnings of the galaxy and it's myriad inhabitants. Unfortunately he goes a little too far sometimes. There are pages of endless description of background info, often shoved in in the middle of scenes where a character just sort of . . . drifts off and contemplates the origins of Shellworlds. And then I'm two pages in and wondering what happened to that guy, is he still standing in that audience hall--oh yes he is, just zoning out. At the beginning the digressions are pretty interesting, even if they break up the flow, so I decided to just go with it. By the middle I was skimming stuff, and by the end the action picks up so it's less of a problem.
I didn't especially enjoy the high fantasy elements, partially because I'm on a sci-fi kick at the moment, and partially because they are pretty much just fantasy tropes without any nuance whatsoever. I would also like to take this moment to register my complete and utter hatred of Oramen.
Which brings me to my next point: the characters could use work. Like, a lot of work. There are a lot of characters, but you don't really get to know any of them very well, and as a result they are all pretty superficial, with basic, uncomplicated motivations.
The aliens are pretty cool though.
The plot in general is pretty lacking. It's slow-going, starts with one cliche and then, in the 11th hour, switches to another one.
Maybe there are better books to start with, but somehow I don't see Banks abandoning the obsessive worldbuilding details in favor of characters or plot, so I'm not likely to pick up any of his other books anytime soon.
Pros/Cons: The world building is pretty great--it's obvious that Banks cares a lot about the underpinnings of the galaxy and it's myriad inhabitants. Unfortunately he goes a little too far sometimes. There are pages of endless description of background info, often shoved in in the middle of scenes where a character just sort of . . . drifts off and contemplates the origins of Shellworlds. And then I'm two pages in and wondering what happened to that guy, is he still standing in that audience hall--oh yes he is, just zoning out. At the beginning the digressions are pretty interesting, even if they break up the flow, so I decided to just go with it. By the middle I was skimming stuff, and by the end the action picks up so it's less of a problem.
I didn't especially enjoy the high fantasy elements, partially because I'm on a sci-fi kick at the moment, and partially because they are pretty much just fantasy tropes without any nuance whatsoever. I would also like to take this moment to register my complete and utter hatred of Oramen.
Which brings me to my next point: the characters could use work. Like, a lot of work. There are a lot of characters, but you don't really get to know any of them very well, and as a result they are all pretty superficial, with basic, uncomplicated motivations.
The aliens are pretty cool though.
The plot in general is pretty lacking. It's slow-going, starts with one cliche and then, in the 11th hour, switches to another one.
Maybe there are better books to start with, but somehow I don't see Banks abandoning the obsessive worldbuilding details in favor of characters or plot, so I'm not likely to pick up any of his other books anytime soon.