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A review by andrew_j_r
The State of the Art by Iain M. Banks
3.0
Having decided to work my way through the Iain M. Banks books I have reached the fourth book, which is a collection of shorter stories (although one does fill half the book).
There are a couple of things worth mentioning. The first is that three of the eight stories are Culture tales, and these are easily the most interesting.
Secondly, the longest story (which shares the title of the book) answers a question that had been at the back of my mind since I started reading the books: how does good old planet Earth fit into the Culture series? This answers it, although I suspect that it is only part of the answer as I have no idea what period of time the Culture series covers, are the stories pretty much contemporary with each other or could they be set thousands of years apart? I guess more may be expanded upon on future stories.
Also we have the first reoccurring character in Diziet Sma. I wonder if there will be any more.
So, the good stuff was good. The final tale, thankfully less then ten pages long, was frankly baffling.
So not the best read, but worth it for the questions it answers.
There are a couple of things worth mentioning. The first is that three of the eight stories are Culture tales, and these are easily the most interesting.
Secondly, the longest story (which shares the title of the book) answers a question that had been at the back of my mind since I started reading the books: how does good old planet Earth fit into the Culture series? This answers it, although I suspect that it is only part of the answer as I have no idea what period of time the Culture series covers, are the stories pretty much contemporary with each other or could they be set thousands of years apart? I guess more may be expanded upon on future stories.
Also we have the first reoccurring character in Diziet Sma. I wonder if there will be any more.
So, the good stuff was good. The final tale, thankfully less then ten pages long, was frankly baffling.
So not the best read, but worth it for the questions it answers.