Culture Series, Book 1
Author: Iain M. Banks
Genre: Sci-fi, space opera
Verdict: Good one, but a shorter one would have been better
So I finally got round to reading one of the Culture books by Iain Banks. Popular wisdom on reddit advised me to start with the second book in the series (The Player of Games) rather than this one, as this is rather a difficult read. I can confirm I agree.
The Plot of Consider Phlebas:
The whole story is set in in the backdrop of battle between the Culture and the Idirans. The lead character is Horza, a person who could physically change his appearance at will, and works as a spy for the Idirans.
The culture is ruled by giant, advanced Artificial Intelligences called Minds. Horza supports the Idirans, and the Culture’s technological obsession is against Horza’s idea of life. His involvement in the conflict sends him in an interesting adventure across the galaxy.
What I liked:
- Gotta admit, I liked the way the book started. Horza is caught spying and is literally drowning in a prison room full of shit.
- The action sequences are spectacular.There’s a daring mission to steal stuff from an ancient temple, which I particularly liked.
- Iain Banks certainly knows how to write. It was a refreshing change from the previous book I read, Ringworld
- The Orbitals.
- Oh my dear God, the Orbitals.
- They were fantastic. Even though they were much smaller in size than Niven’s Ringworld, the scale of the whole thing was quite superb. (The whole Orbital revolves around a star, instead of enclosing one like in Ringworld.)
- For instance, there are ships the size of large cities. They move across the oceans of the Vavatch Orbital, in which a good part of the story takes place.
- The action sequences set in Vavatch are also amazing
- (select to reveal spoiler) Too bad the Culture destroyed the whole Orbital eventually (end spoiler)
- The Culture themselves are interesting. I read in an interview that Iain Banks was tired that all sci-fi empires were basically Nazi-like and right leaning. The Culture, on the other hand is a liberal, hedonistic society that allows the people in it to do what they want.
- Given that they seem to be peaceful, their motivations for declaring war on the Idirans are themselves interesting - basically “for the greater good.’
- The Idirans are motivated by a religious thinking that makes them to conquer any and every civilization they meet so that they aren’t conquered themselves. For this reason alone, I actually kind of buy the Culture’s argument that Idirans represent a great threat to the galaxy.
- BUT we learn why the Idirans themselves evolved this way of thinking near the end of the book, and that makes sense as well.
- All in all, Banks deserves credit for creating a story where neither side is overtly evil
- The characters and the dialogues were believable, or at least not the cardboard cutouts you usually see in a Clarke or Asimov novel.
- Did I mention I liked the Orbitals?
- The ending climax starts out slow at first, but builds up to a satisfying finale. Banks seems to have a thing for explosions and collisions, and his writing is particularly dramatic when he describes them.
What could have been better:
- The pacing is really slow. There are intense action sequences, but in between them I really had to force myself to read them.
- I mean, really, really, had to force myself to read it. What Asimov and Clarke lacked in characterization and plot, they made up for in being concise and clear.
- There was this part when Horza is facing mortal peril in the hands of cannibals. Banks decides that this is a good time to talk about the comparative religious beliefs of the Culture and the Idirans. Wut?
- Banks could easily have done away with a third or even half the book with the plot and characters perfectly preserved.
- The most interesting aspects of the books was the clash of cultures between, well, the Culture and the Idirans. This part seems more like a backdrop to the story rather than the main plot. It certainly would have been more interesting if the protagonists had been a lot more involved in the actual battle.
I’m willing to forgive Banks as this was his first foray into sci-fi. This has definitely got me interested in reading the other books.
