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A review by hirvox
Matter by Iain M. Banks
4.0
"The stage is small but the audience is great." sums up life in the Culture series. Someone is always watching and opining, even though it would be improper for them to intervene in the play. So what happens when one of the unwitting actors in a pre-industrialization Macbethian regicide drama decides to appeal to the audience?
While I always enjoy Banks' worldbuilding and how he explores how his premises can go horribly wrong or horribly right, there is just something off with Matter's pacing. Unlike in Excession, the pieces in this particular play move so slowly and so separately that the overall plot doesn't coalesce together until the very end. The level of danger escalates quickly by several orders of magnitude, so it looks like the book is heading to a cliffhanger.. and then it just ends. While there is an epilogue, I would have preferred it to be about the political aftermath of the whole mess.
While I always enjoy Banks' worldbuilding and how he explores how his premises can go horribly wrong or horribly right, there is just something off with Matter's pacing. Unlike in Excession, the pieces in this particular play move so slowly and so separately that the overall plot doesn't coalesce together until the very end. The level of danger escalates quickly by several orders of magnitude, so it looks like the book is heading to a cliffhanger.. and then it just ends. While there is an epilogue, I would have preferred it to be about the political aftermath of the whole mess.