Scan barcode
A review by julcoh
Excession by Iain M. Banks
5.0
WOW. I'm still reeling from how good this book was. This is the fourth Culture series novel I've read (skipping [b:The State of the Art|129131|The State of the Art (Culture, #4)|Iain M. Banks|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171981758s/129131.jpg|1280581]) by the late [a:Ian M. Banks|5658187|Ian M. Banks|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg], and it surpassed the others in terms of content, writing style, and sheer imagination on a grand scale.
Certain portions of this book are awe-inspiring-- you'll know what I'm talking about after reading. Banks describes technologies and ideologies in his imagined future with a lucidity that amazes. In particular, the first three pages of a chapter describing Metamathics, a computationally simulated conception of reality (if you'll excuse the comparatively terrible description), took my breath away. Easily some of the most beautiful prose I've ever read in science fiction, if not in any of my readings.
Large portions of the book are dialogues and forums between sentient, awesomely intelligent, and ancient artificial intelligences-- what are referred to as Minds (capital M) in the Culture series. The events of this novel take place on such a grand scale that the human affairs described seem almost humorously quaint and unimportant. Nonetheless, Banks is a master at character handling, and he weaves the tapestry of this novel with both the macrocosmically huge and the microcosmically human. I especially liked his description of The Affront, a race of beings evolved in a radically inhuman environment. They are beaked, six-tentacled, air-sacked, hugely powerful, zealously warmongering, and viciously mean beings. Great fun to read about.
This is a book to reread time and time again, and I can not recommend it highly enough. It is worth noting that you *could* start The Culture series with this novel (as they are set in the same universe but with different characters/stories), but I would recommend reading [b:Consider Phlebas|8935689|Consider Phlebas (Culture, #1)|Iain M. Banks|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327951890s/8935689.jpg|14366] as your first foray into the Culture.
Certain portions of this book are awe-inspiring-- you'll know what I'm talking about after reading. Banks describes technologies and ideologies in his imagined future with a lucidity that amazes. In particular, the first three pages of a chapter describing Metamathics, a computationally simulated conception of reality (if you'll excuse the comparatively terrible description), took my breath away. Easily some of the most beautiful prose I've ever read in science fiction, if not in any of my readings.
Large portions of the book are dialogues and forums between sentient, awesomely intelligent, and ancient artificial intelligences-- what are referred to as Minds (capital M) in the Culture series. The events of this novel take place on such a grand scale that the human affairs described seem almost humorously quaint and unimportant. Nonetheless, Banks is a master at character handling, and he weaves the tapestry of this novel with both the macrocosmically huge and the microcosmically human. I especially liked his description of The Affront, a race of beings evolved in a radically inhuman environment. They are beaked, six-tentacled, air-sacked, hugely powerful, zealously warmongering, and viciously mean beings. Great fun to read about.
This is a book to reread time and time again, and I can not recommend it highly enough. It is worth noting that you *could* start The Culture series with this novel (as they are set in the same universe but with different characters/stories), but I would recommend reading [b:Consider Phlebas|8935689|Consider Phlebas (Culture, #1)|Iain M. Banks|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327951890s/8935689.jpg|14366] as your first foray into the Culture.