Reviews

Matter by Iain M. Banks

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hallucigenia's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

andyml's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging medium-paced

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

3.5

sblackone's review against another edition

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2.75

Too much buildup for too little resolution. This is a long book, but the story is very simple. It tells a long meandering story where the author shows off many great megastructures. This is all very interesting and imaginative, but there is little meat to the story. There is the idea of taking someone from a primitive culture and turning them into an agent of the Culture, which is very intriguing. I'd have loved to read more about that, but very little is done with this.
The story all falls apart at the end when after hundreds of pages of buildup everything is rushed to an unsatisfying conclusion in a few pages.

gregtatum's review against another edition

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2.0

Rich worlds, but didn't care for any of the characters. The epic ending barely kept my attention because I didn't really care if they succeeded or not.

secretlyadoombot's review against another edition

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adventurous funny reflective medium-paced

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

2.0

amethyst_hearts_books's review against another edition

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2.0

I liked the novel until about halfway through. I really liked the idea of the shellworlds, and that whole backstory, but then they had that really long, boring segment with Ferbin and Holse traveling, and Djan traveling. And then suddenly, they found an Iln! And they chased it! and it was about to kill the whole world, and then... I'm not sure. Djan died, Holse lived, but it really didn't explain anything else. What happened to the Iln? Did it change it's mind? Was it taken out? What happened to Ferbin? What happened to tyl Loesp, or whatever that guy's name was? Did he live and get away? Also didn't really care for the epilogue.