Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks
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Book Reviews of Consider Phlebas
Book Review: Shoddy book with a ending that does not match the rest of the book.
Summary: 2 Stars
The author of the book seemed to value the enviroment the story took place in more than exposing the motivations and beliefs of the charactors. He jammed most of the charactors introspection into cramped little bursts of exposition which made it feel like they where tacked on later to help the reader stay with the story more than anything else. The ending of the book at about the last one hundred pages felt like he was writing in a total different style than he had wrote the rest of the book in. It felt like the ending was changed last minute or rewrote to better suit the authors idea of how a story should end. Overall the book just seemed to be a series of events the charactors just happend to be a part of with a sadsack ending just for the sake of it.Book Review: Boring and uninteresting characters
Summary: 2 Stars
The book is boring and the characters are uninteresting. By the end of the book I just didn't care what happened to the characters, as the author doesn't give you many reasons to like or dislike them.
On top of that (spoilers coming) the book plods along. At one point there is train barreling down the track at the "heroes." This takes around 30 pages to happen. Unfortunately, there is no suspense, as the characters have no idea it is coming. Thus, they aren't trying to stop it. It was like those old cartoons where two vehicles are heading directly towards each other, and they purposefully go back and forth to make it ridiculously obvious they are trying to create tension. Boring!
Book Review: Flawed sience fiction
Summary: 2 Stars
I'm dissapointed...
I relied on the positive reviews here on amazon for my first SF novel, but instead of a thought provoking tale I got mundane social struggles in a Sci-Fi setting. This book is about war, the people that fight it and their motivations.
In the end the story was quite standard with romance and a lots of action (tiresomely so), few twists and even though the ending was unconventional, it was expected long before getting there.
Overall I'm unimpressed and I'm hoping "Player of games" (which I got with this one) is a lot better.
- Update: "Player of Games" delivers!
Book Review: Poor in comparison to his other work
Summary: 2 Stars
Iain Banks, with or without the M, is one of my favorite authors, but this is certainly not one of his best works. Much of it is slow moving and aimless. It is a big book, about five times the size of the Wasp Factory, but contains fewer ideas and could have been drastically edited without losing much.Book Review: disappointing
Summary: 2 Stars
seems like it had elements of being good but just could not manage it. was disappointed by the end.