Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks
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Book Reviews of Consider Phlebas
Book Review: Seminal work of "new" space opera- but not to everyone's taste.
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm right in the demographic that is completely nuts about star wars, but I'm not. I saw the film in 1979 on the big screen. I was eight years old. Yes, it completely blew me away, and I was obsessed with it as a kid. I still have a soft spot for the three original movies, probably because they were seen through the eyes of a young boy without much access to TV or movies in general, and a bent toward nerdy scifi/fantasy stuff.
As I got older, I saw star wars for what I think it really is. A really great space opera for its time, with great special effects, characters and costumes. But limited. The empire and the rebels are kind of cardboard. Yoda (and I realized this the first time I saw it) has the same voice as Grover. The Ewoks are just cutesy muppets. Not to diminish it, but from an adult perspective, it just doesn't scratch my itch anymore. I'm more jaded, more sophisticated, and don't want to watch a muppet with Grover's voice dispensing Jedi wisdom.
This is where the Iain Banks culture novels come in. They scratch pretty much the same itch, but in more of an adult way. First, they're hard R for violence, sex, peril, etc. Second, there are some realistic and sophisticated political machinations going on that the characters inevitable interact with. More realistic and sophisticated than rebels vs. empire- more interesting as well. Third, they have cooler races, cooler weaponry, and WAY cooler robots!
That said, there's a certain sci-fi reader that may not like this. Someone who's into, for example, Greg Bear or John Scalzi. A more sedate and "scientific" breed of reader who likes plodding, pedestrian development, characterization, and books where the good guys always win in a nicely tied up ending. Banks doesn't play that. He writes on a grandiose scale- baroque plots, nasty alien races, awesome artificial intelligences- surprises around every corner. This is the real deal.
Book Review: Consider Buying Consider Phlebas
Summary: 5 Stars
Consider Phlebas was an thoroughly enjoyable book. For me, it was on par with other scifi page turners like Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and 2001. The protagonist "Horza" sucks you into his life from the very beginning. Although he is human in form, his saliva and blood make him the equivalent of a venomous snake. This is the type of character is typically a villian. Horza is entangled in an inter-galactic conflict between a secular, AI-dominated society known as the Culture, and a militant, religious species known as the Idirans. Horza is an agent of the Idirans, what he regards as the lesser of two evils. I will not give away any more of the story, but will say that it was quite entertaining. I don't recall actually reading the term "Phlebas" anywhere, so I never figured out what the book is asking me to consider.Book Review: My favorite science fiction novel
Summary: 5 Stars
This was the first book by Iain M. Banks I ever read, and it prompted me to read every one of his other SciFi novels. I enjoyed them all but this one stands out as his best, in my opinion.
For me, this story (and especially the ending) has a certain kind of poetry about it that is difficult to put into words.
People who are interested in a simple story with good guys who are purely good and bad guys who are purely bad, with lots of battles and explosions, will be disappointed in this book (and this series). But, if you're looking for rich characters in a story that has a "point" outside of the story itself that you can apply to the here-and-now, this is the book (and series) for you.
Book Review: Best of Banks' Culture novels
Summary: 5 Stars
It's tough to beat Banks for wit, playful perversity, and intelligent if sometimes oblique social commentary. CONSIDER PHLEBAS is the first of his Culture novels, and the first that I read. EXCESSION may be more exciting and amusing, PLAYER OF GAMES more pointed, and LOOK TO WINDWARD more topical (and coherent), but CONSIDER PHLEBAS is the wildest, most inventive, and most touching of the bunch. Be warned: it is also very violent and fairly convoluted (but not so much that it should be difficult to follow), and, despite Banks' wit and occasional humor, it is definitely a serious novel.Book Review: Great Storytelling
Summary: 5 Stars
Right now, this is my favorite SF book. Great story in a novel setting. I have read a few of Bank's Culture novels since reading Consider Phlebas, but this is still my favorite.
Not a Space Opera, or Epic, but a great story and characters, which sometimes are lost in SF books. Great Byronic hero.
One of the chapters actually made me sick to my stomach.