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Consider Phlebas (1987)

by Iain M. Banks(Favorite Author)

3.83 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1857231384 (ISBN13: 9781857231380)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Orbit

series

Culture

review 1: The ending is very strong, and the world is well-realized. Other aspects are wanting. Support characters are pretty bland and do stupid things for no reason. The main character oscillates somewhat arbitrarily between empathizing and sociopathic (although to be fair, the oscillation isn't arbitrary in his relationship with his Culture counterpart or with his romantic interest, just with every other character). The novel has the courage of conviction backing it (hence why the ending is very strong), but for such an expansive world, it's only really occupied by three, maybe four characters. Cyberpunk tropes everywhere, but in space. I can't decide whether it merits a rating of 3 or a 4, and I think I rounded down not because of the craftsmanship of it but mostly because... more I found it distasteful in places. It's a good hook for the later novels though, so I'll give those a try and see if the series shapes up a bit.
review 2: I liked the narration a lot here, though it feels weird not to know how to spell any of the characters' names. He did a great job with voices for the various characters, using exaggerated accents to distinguish species.The story felt like it had some sections that were a bit too much about detailed descriptions of chase scenes or other such things, that to me felt like generating excitement at first but then just getting tedious. Other times the story got too preachy and tell-instead-of-show and I was wishing for a bit of that excitement.I really liked the way the philosophy was sometimes explicitly mentioned and often acted out by the behavior of the characters. There was a lot of interesting material about the Culture as the future of humanity in a post-scarcity society, and the clashes with different civilizations. There's a lot about knowing your enemy and perhaps knowing them too well and becoming them. There's a lot of question about which side you really want to cheer for. The protagonist Horza manages to be sympathetic and deeply flawed. And if you're thinking about stopping somewhere in the middle where it seems like the quest is dragging on too long and not really telling you much, the ending sure makes it worthwhile. There are surprises that feel like revelations of the true nature of some of the characters in very deep and moving ways.Maybe if I thought about it more I would see the necessity of more of that long middle part of the book in the character development or in the setup for that powerful ending, but right now the way I feel about it brings the rating down to four stars. Definitely a five-star last chapter or two, though. less

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