A review by manuphoto
The State of the Art by Iain M. Banks

adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Like all short stories collection, it's uneven. But here the range is from good to excellent. I enjoyed all of them, except for the very last one (which is only a few pages long).

A couple of the stories were very funny, some quite dark. The main story, the novella "The State of the Art" was truly excellent. 

It's not as strong as the Culture novels but it's worth reading nonetheless.