Old Scratch
06-20-2008, 01:20 AM
Bah! Losing out on this month's book club to Dick's Valis frustrated me, as Banks's Matter was the top book on my list to read this summer. So I'll just go ahead and read it.
So far this is one of the better Culture novels. It ranks up there with Player of Games and I consider it better than Look to Windward which was a little disappointing at times.
As for Iain Banks, I always suspected that the was a frustrated fantasy author and this book has confirmed it: a chunk of this book takes place in a wierd medieval age world of interest to the more advanced cultures out there. In a sense, it's a wierd hybrid fusion medieval culture like that featured in A Feersum Endjinn.
And for a socialist who writes about post-scarcity societies, Mr. Banks has a fixation with the nobility and the aristocracy.
Setting aside those observations, this book takes off very quickly and immerses you in the action, from someone seeing something they aren't supposed to, then on to palace intrigue, wars, assassination attempts, and while all these events are going on, there is a mystery brewing in the background which begins to drag the more advanced cultures into the world.
There's one slightly annoying character with a very English sort of Butler type of companion, the skilled and accomplished sidekick who pulls the toff's ass out of the fire on numerous occasions.
Now, I haven't finished it, but so far, it's got a little bit of everything that you would expect from Banks at his best: civilizations plotting, something ancient stirring, wars, intrigue, and a narrative that races along.
So far this is one of the better Culture novels. It ranks up there with Player of Games and I consider it better than Look to Windward which was a little disappointing at times.
As for Iain Banks, I always suspected that the was a frustrated fantasy author and this book has confirmed it: a chunk of this book takes place in a wierd medieval age world of interest to the more advanced cultures out there. In a sense, it's a wierd hybrid fusion medieval culture like that featured in A Feersum Endjinn.
And for a socialist who writes about post-scarcity societies, Mr. Banks has a fixation with the nobility and the aristocracy.
Setting aside those observations, this book takes off very quickly and immerses you in the action, from someone seeing something they aren't supposed to, then on to palace intrigue, wars, assassination attempts, and while all these events are going on, there is a mystery brewing in the background which begins to drag the more advanced cultures into the world.
There's one slightly annoying character with a very English sort of Butler type of companion, the skilled and accomplished sidekick who pulls the toff's ass out of the fire on numerous occasions.
Now, I haven't finished it, but so far, it's got a little bit of everything that you would expect from Banks at his best: civilizations plotting, something ancient stirring, wars, intrigue, and a narrative that races along.