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ianbanks's reviews
955 reviews
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
A retelling of David Copperfield set in the Appalachian Mountains during the opioid crisis.
Grunts by Mary Gentle
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This one is a wild ride. Ms Gentle is a ridiculously competent storyteller and has written at least one of my all-time favourite books and this promised to be an absolute corker: a vast fantasy novel told from the perspective of the usually nameless orc infantry found in many a deathless trilogy.
The good first: there are a lot of digs at contemporary fantasy, but mostly some playful swipes at Professor Tolkien’s famous epic. There’s more than a few moments that you will recognise from other books or stories and a few cliches that get a good going-over as well. When it works, it’s wonderful fun, filled with vivid and superbly amoral or evil characters.
The bad is that it’s tremendously undisciplined. It reads like a collection of short stories, with developments added seemingly at a whim to expand the thin plot to something more substantial.
It’s also ridiculously, comically violent. It’s the sort of violence that, for me, works when more sparingly applied, but it still elicits an uneasy chuckle. It’s a lot of fun but it does require a lot of suspended disbelief on the part of the reader.
The good first: there are a lot of digs at contemporary fantasy, but mostly some playful swipes at Professor Tolkien’s famous epic. There’s more than a few moments that you will recognise from other books or stories and a few cliches that get a good going-over as well. When it works, it’s wonderful fun, filled with vivid and superbly amoral or evil characters.
The bad is that it’s tremendously undisciplined. It reads like a collection of short stories, with developments added seemingly at a whim to expand the thin plot to something more substantial.
It’s also ridiculously, comically violent. It’s the sort of violence that, for me, works when more sparingly applied, but it still elicits an uneasy chuckle. It’s a lot of fun but it does require a lot of suspended disbelief on the part of the reader.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, War, Blood, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Rape, and Violence
Day of the Minotaur by Thomas Burnett Swann
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I read this in the original serialised version as published in Science Fantasy Magazine in the 60s.
It’s just superb. The narrator is a Minotaur (who describes himself as a poet) who has set up house in the forests of ancient Crete along with a heap of other mythical creatures. Then, one day, two half-human children seek shelter from Achaean invaders and he becomes their protector and friend.
This is just lovely. There is not a word out of place and it describes an idyllic land, hidden from human eyes, on the verge of war. I couldn’t bear the fact that it was such a short novel yet peopled with such wonderful characters and settings. I have to read the other books in this series.
It’s just superb. The narrator is a Minotaur (who describes himself as a poet) who has set up house in the forests of ancient Crete along with a heap of other mythical creatures. Then, one day, two half-human children seek shelter from Achaean invaders and he becomes their protector and friend.
This is just lovely. There is not a word out of place and it describes an idyllic land, hidden from human eyes, on the verge of war. I couldn’t bear the fact that it was such a short novel yet peopled with such wonderful characters and settings. I have to read the other books in this series.
Letters From Hollywood by Michael Moorcock
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
slow-paced
4.0
This book is a series of letters to J. G. Ballard, chronicling Moorcock’s time putting together a script for a director. This is a harrowing sequence of events not dissimilar to experiences I’ve read by other authors but Moorcock turns his often savage wit on the whole affair and tries to make some kind of sense of it. He’s also undergoing a lot of turmoil in his own life and this is creating a sense of bewilderment about the whole creative process that you can’t help but feel sorry for him.
As I’ve grown older, my relationship with Mr Moorcock has grown more complex. I respect the fact that he wrote an absolute shedload of books, many of which I love, but the more I’ve read about him and the more I come across his non-fiction, the less I like him as a person (I’ve heard he speaks highly of me, too). In this memoir of his time in California, he displays some arrogant, self-destructive traits that I’ve encountered in other very talented individuals (and disliked in them) but he also shows in his writing a core of decency towards the people he likes that I can’t help thinking I may be misjudging him.
This is, really, a terrific little book, only dropped down to four stars because I just didn’t buy some of the traveloguing: I’ve never been out of Australia but I’ve read some writing about places here that tried to come off as knowledgeable but were just wrong and I got a similar vibe from this. However, I loved the characters that Moorcock meets and describes, the movie and writing talk and the whole conversational feel of it. Good fun.
As I’ve grown older, my relationship with Mr Moorcock has grown more complex. I respect the fact that he wrote an absolute shedload of books, many of which I love, but the more I’ve read about him and the more I come across his non-fiction, the less I like him as a person (I’ve heard he speaks highly of me, too). In this memoir of his time in California, he displays some arrogant, self-destructive traits that I’ve encountered in other very talented individuals (and disliked in them) but he also shows in his writing a core of decency towards the people he likes that I can’t help thinking I may be misjudging him.
This is, really, a terrific little book, only dropped down to four stars because I just didn’t buy some of the traveloguing: I’ve never been out of Australia but I’ve read some writing about places here that tried to come off as knowledgeable but were just wrong and I got a similar vibe from this. However, I loved the characters that Moorcock meets and describes, the movie and writing talk and the whole conversational feel of it. Good fun.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Drug use, Classism, Death, and Terminal illness
Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Silent Prey by John Sandford
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Whit by Iain Banks
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Eyes Of Prey by John Sandford
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Feersum Endjinn by Iain M. Banks
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Love this book for all the questions it raises about the setting and for the sheer brilliance of the setting and for the way a quarter of the book makes you think about how you really understand what is going on and how you can make sense of the world around you. Also, the last paragraph is magnificent as it takes the seemingly petty stakes of the first 80% of the book and raises them to unimaginable heights.
2021 reread: this is still a criminally misunderstood novel and one of the most fun books that Banksy ever wrote. And that last para is still wonderful.
2021 reread: this is still a criminally misunderstood novel and one of the most fun books that Banksy ever wrote. And that last para is still wonderful.