A review by nigellicus
Excession by Iain M. Banks

adventurous funny mysterious tense

5.0

A Big Dumb Object pops into existence in a far off corner of space, and the Culture is interested because it's the sort of weird anomaly that can come along and transform civilisations in all sorts of ways, including into not existing any more. Also interested are the Elench, a Culture offshoot, and the Affront, a pain in the Culture's neck, and a secret conspiracy with a hidden agenda involving ship's Minds being clever and manipulative and ruthless. Characters, ships, fleets and aliens all beging toconverge on the Excession, even though nobody knows what it actually is.