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A review by andrew_j_r
Stonemouth by Iain Banks
4.0
This book was the first Ian (M) Banks book that I had read - I had been meaning to for ages, but only got around to it after a trip to Scotland and a look in a local bookshop in the Scots Fiction section.
Very early into the book I knew I was going to enjoy it. Even if the story didn't grab me (which, initially, it didn't) the style of storytelling and language made the book very engaging. Seriously, this guy could make a chapter about a wet paper bag drying seem interesting.
As the politics of the situation started to build, enhanced by fitting flashbacks that we're illustrative and not at all intrusive, it became fascinating, and as I for further in I was fascinated and also had no idea how it was going to end. Messily was obvious, just not in which way!
It I have one complaint, the ending (or rather, the epilogue) was too nice, almost too Hollywood. The main conclusion was bittersweet, and somehow this was undermined a tiny bit by the last few pages, I think a more ambiguous conclusion to the "will they/won't they" aspect of the book would have been somehow more realistic, but it's a minor quibble: the first thing I did when nearing the end of the book was go out and buy more by Mr. Banks, which I am looking forward to reading.
Very early into the book I knew I was going to enjoy it. Even if the story didn't grab me (which, initially, it didn't) the style of storytelling and language made the book very engaging. Seriously, this guy could make a chapter about a wet paper bag drying seem interesting.
As the politics of the situation started to build, enhanced by fitting flashbacks that we're illustrative and not at all intrusive, it became fascinating, and as I for further in I was fascinated and also had no idea how it was going to end. Messily was obvious, just not in which way!
It I have one complaint, the ending (or rather, the epilogue) was too nice, almost too Hollywood. The main conclusion was bittersweet, and somehow this was undermined a tiny bit by the last few pages, I think a more ambiguous conclusion to the "will they/won't they" aspect of the book would have been somehow more realistic, but it's a minor quibble: the first thing I did when nearing the end of the book was go out and buy more by Mr. Banks, which I am looking forward to reading.