A review by sblackone
Matter by Iain M. Banks

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.