Take a photo of a barcode or cover
sydsnot71 's review for:
Inversions
by Iain M. Banks
I think Iain M Banks might be might favourite science-fiction writer. No just because his writing is so good and that he creates memorable and interesting characters but because of the craftsmanship and subtlety of his plotting.
This story focuses on two different people in two different courts in two different countries. DeWar, the bodyguard to the Protector UrLeyn. DeWar is a suspicious and worried man. UrLeyn has many enemies. Then there is another story, that of Doctor Vosill, a female Doctor in the court of King Queiance. A foreigner and a woman her closeness to the King is frowned upon by some. She has enemies to.
However, as the book goes on we gradually come to suspect that there is more connections than we think. And stories within stories twine together and as the whole book comes to its end the magnificence of Bank's plotting is revealed. There are hints throughout of what is going on and what may happen. Not everything is spelled out at the end either. There is an ambiguity to endings and to events. But if you've read enough Banks you can read between the lines.
And you really come to care about the characters. Not just DeWar or Vosill but Oelph, Vosill's assistant (who tells their half of the story.) And Perrund, one of Urleyn's concubines. And others.
It's part SF story, part spy novel and part Game of Thrones.
Brilliant stuff.
This story focuses on two different people in two different courts in two different countries. DeWar, the bodyguard to the Protector UrLeyn. DeWar is a suspicious and worried man. UrLeyn has many enemies. Then there is another story, that of Doctor Vosill, a female Doctor in the court of King Queiance. A foreigner and a woman her closeness to the King is frowned upon by some. She has enemies to.
However, as the book goes on we gradually come to suspect that there is more connections than we think. And stories within stories twine together and as the whole book comes to its end the magnificence of Bank's plotting is revealed. There are hints throughout of what is going on and what may happen. Not everything is spelled out at the end either. There is an ambiguity to endings and to events. But if you've read enough Banks you can read between the lines.
And you really come to care about the characters. Not just DeWar or Vosill but Oelph, Vosill's assistant (who tells their half of the story.) And Perrund, one of Urleyn's concubines. And others.
It's part SF story, part spy novel and part Game of Thrones.
Brilliant stuff.