franklywrites's review
adventurous
funny
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
My first experience of the Culture series was Consider Phlebas, because it was the first one, I didn't realise they could be read in any order, and I always start at the beginning. I was not a fan. I didn't finish it. It was with great reluctance and after a good deal of time had passed that I could stomach approaching another in the series.
So of course I came to the last one next. I'm very glad I did pick it up, as it was much more coherent and I actually liked the characters. Getting to see the ship minds up close and personal was also quite fun. I'm not entirely sure of the pacing, but it's a long book and I was listening on audio, so my attention didn't keep hold of details quite the way it usually does. In any case, I enjoyed the ride, my husband got to laugh when he heard out of context, and I consider myself more likely to go back and grab another book in the series at some point.
So of course I came to the last one next. I'm very glad I did pick it up, as it was much more coherent and I actually liked the characters. Getting to see the ship minds up close and personal was also quite fun. I'm not entirely sure of the pacing, but it's a long book and I was listening on audio, so my attention didn't keep hold of details quite the way it usually does. In any case, I enjoyed the ride, my husband got to laugh when he heard
Spoiler
the man with a hundred penisesmschlat's review
4.0
There's some sadness here... A while back I decided to read all the Culture novels in publication order, and this is the last one, which I means I don't get any more Banks's wonderful takes on sociological science fiction.
Putting this aside, this is a good, but not great, installment. Plotwise, it reminds me of its predecessor [b:Surface Detail|7937744|Surface Detail (Culture, #9)|Iain M. Banks|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1287893375l/7937744._SY75_.jpg|11345814], in that we follow a young non-Culture woman around inside a particularly powerful Culture ship, as her agenda and Culture agendas collide. But, this final book focuses on some of the Culture mythos we have only seen allusion to --- in particular, the idea of Subliming. The backdrop of the whole novel is the elevation of the Gzilt civilization to higher dimensions as they abandon the "Real", and what's fascinating is how Banks details how you still have very "earthly" behavior (treachery, warfare, debauchery) even as your society prepares to transcend all that. (And speaking of debauchery --- a theme Banks returns to again and again ---we have a five-year long party/orgy/feast as a major setting with the host having far too many of one particular body part.)
As usual, the tension near the end is fantastic as Banks puts all the pieces on the table. But, I felt like the Culture versus non-Culture questions that drove previous books were slightly muted in this one. So, great action, but lesser philosophical musings.
Putting this aside, this is a good, but not great, installment. Plotwise, it reminds me of its predecessor [b:Surface Detail|7937744|Surface Detail (Culture, #9)|Iain M. Banks|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1287893375l/7937744._SY75_.jpg|11345814], in that we follow a young non-Culture woman around inside a particularly powerful Culture ship, as her agenda and Culture agendas collide. But, this final book focuses on some of the Culture mythos we have only seen allusion to --- in particular, the idea of Subliming. The backdrop of the whole novel is the elevation of the Gzilt civilization to higher dimensions as they abandon the "Real", and what's fascinating is how Banks details how you still have very "earthly" behavior (treachery, warfare, debauchery) even as your society prepares to transcend all that. (And speaking of debauchery --- a theme Banks returns to again and again ---we have a five-year long party/orgy/feast as a major setting with the host having far too many of one particular body part.)
As usual, the tension near the end is fantastic as Banks puts all the pieces on the table. But, I felt like the Culture versus non-Culture questions that drove previous books were slightly muted in this one. So, great action, but lesser philosophical musings.
mothmans_mum's review
5.0
A very weird book in that seemingly nothing that happened actually mattered. It was almost like a meditation. I love Banks’ writing style. He makes reading lots of sci-fi jargon feel effortless.
gullevek's review
4.0
Overall very satisfying, although on some points very philosophical novel, but at the end a very good one. Sort of a wonderful "end" to the Culture series. Another view of the whole universe, more interesting background. Just sad that there are no more and never will be any more. By far the best Sci-Fi series out there, especially in variety of the content.
Highly recommended. All of them. Even the less "good" ones.
Highly recommended. All of them. Even the less "good" ones.
kajh23's review
3.0
Great to revisit the Culture but this one was so loose and long winded it took me forever to finish it. Not quite the climactic bang I was hoping for either. Still it's Banks and the Culture and those damn Minds so of course enjoyable.
sashkello's review
4.0
A very worthy final to the series. It combines all the best things from the previous books and makes it into a very well balanced novel, high-paced yet with enough intrigue and depth. Yet again, you'll see ships getting into all sorts of witty shenanigans, eccentric drones, people with body augmentations, space battles, political intrigue, everything of course with morally ambiguous undertone.
It is more action packed than most other novels in the series (probably only barring Consider Phlebas), yet manages to maintain a very intriguing plot with lots of twists. Relatable characters faced with tough decisions are well crafted and each navigate through their own well developed arch, while exhibiting deep internal changes.
I highly recommend this novel as one of the best in the series. It is hard to rate them in any reasonable way as most of them are so damn good, but I'll give it a shot:
1. Use Of Weapons
2. Consider Phlebas
3. The Player Of Games
4. Hydrogen Sonata
5. Surface Detail
6. Matter
7. Look To Windward
8. Inversions
9. Excession
10. The State of the Art
But you know what, this is the first series of these proportions I've ever finished, and I'd say it is well worth going through all of it. Top 5 places in this list are all equally good and my ranking is absolutely not set in stone. 6-7 are very close by and would certainly stand out in any other series. 8-9 are still quite good books, don't get me wrong. 10 is the collection of short stories most of which sound like unfinished ideas, so you might just as well skip it... But overall this series is absolutely brilliant and I feel like there is no other author who managed to keep it interesting over such a long period of time and so many books. I will certainly keep going through Banks' bibliography and would be very interested to see what he was able to do outside of Culture world and in non-sci-fi setting as well.
It is more action packed than most other novels in the series (probably only barring Consider Phlebas), yet manages to maintain a very intriguing plot with lots of twists. Relatable characters faced with tough decisions are well crafted and each navigate through their own well developed arch, while exhibiting deep internal changes.
I highly recommend this novel as one of the best in the series. It is hard to rate them in any reasonable way as most of them are so damn good, but I'll give it a shot:
1. Use Of Weapons
2. Consider Phlebas
3. The Player Of Games
4. Hydrogen Sonata
5. Surface Detail
6. Matter
7. Look To Windward
8. Inversions
9. Excession
10. The State of the Art
But you know what, this is the first series of these proportions I've ever finished, and I'd say it is well worth going through all of it. Top 5 places in this list are all equally good and my ranking is absolutely not set in stone. 6-7 are very close by and would certainly stand out in any other series. 8-9 are still quite good books, don't get me wrong. 10 is the collection of short stories most of which sound like unfinished ideas, so you might just as well skip it... But overall this series is absolutely brilliant and I feel like there is no other author who managed to keep it interesting over such a long period of time and so many books. I will certainly keep going through Banks' bibliography and would be very interested to see what he was able to do outside of Culture world and in non-sci-fi setting as well.
ldasoqi's review
3.0
“So basically you're sticking around to watch us all fuck up ?"
"Yes. It's one of life's few guaranteed constants.”
I feel like I've summited Everest, one of my reading goals for the year was to finish the Culture series and it feels bittersweet. The Hydrogen Sonata is the last book in the series and it's quite fitting despite not being the planned conclusion for the series. Reading through this book I got the sense that this was something Banks wrote on or near his death bed, but that is not the case. It was after the publication of this book in 2012 that Iain Banks was diagnosed with gall bladder cancer, his condition rapidly deteriorated and he died in June 2013. It's fitting then (almost serendipitous) that this book is about the end of a civilization.
The story is centered around the Gzilt, one of the oldest civilizations in the galaxy, who are on the verge of performing the Sublimation, a mysterious process that would elevate them to a higher level of existence beyond the physical world. However, just before they can undergo the Sublimation, a question arises about the authenticity of their sacred text, the "Book of Truth," and a Gzilt citizen, Vyr Cossant, is forced by circumstance to set out to uncover the truth. The "truth" just so happens to rest in the hands of the Culture's oldest citizen, the man who lives forever, Ngaroe QiRia.
Banks is revisiting and expanding on Sublimation, the transference of an entire civilization from the physical realm to a high-energy quantum state bordering on non-existence. Other authors may have struggled to describe just what exactly is going on but as usual Banks' writing style is engaging and immersive, and his world-building is unparalleled.
This story was a little different to read given the real life context around the book, I was reading this as the end of the series as opposed to contemporary readers treating it as just another entry. The themes on offer, the nature of existence, the value of tradition, and the limits of knowledge served to enhance the fatalist tone of the book for me. It was a real shock to learn that this was not in fact written on his death bed, I though for sure that the time-to (The Gzilt timekeeping devices that have replaced conventional watches, they instead tell the time-to sublimation day) concept was meant to parallel a cancer diagnosis-three months left to live.
I am happy to be at the end of the series, but I am sad that there will never be more. This was not my favorite culture novel but The Hydrogen Sonata is a must-read for fans of science fiction and the Culture series. It is a thoughtful and entertaining novel that showcases Banks' skill as a writer and his ability to create a rich and fascinating universe. That it serves as an appropriate capstone to the series is just one of life's small but appropriate coincidences.
"Yes. It's one of life's few guaranteed constants.”
I feel like I've summited Everest, one of my reading goals for the year was to finish the Culture series and it feels bittersweet. The Hydrogen Sonata is the last book in the series and it's quite fitting despite not being the planned conclusion for the series. Reading through this book I got the sense that this was something Banks wrote on or near his death bed, but that is not the case. It was after the publication of this book in 2012 that Iain Banks was diagnosed with gall bladder cancer, his condition rapidly deteriorated and he died in June 2013. It's fitting then (almost serendipitous) that this book is about the end of a civilization.
The story is centered around the Gzilt, one of the oldest civilizations in the galaxy, who are on the verge of performing the Sublimation, a mysterious process that would elevate them to a higher level of existence beyond the physical world. However, just before they can undergo the Sublimation, a question arises about the authenticity of their sacred text, the "Book of Truth," and a Gzilt citizen, Vyr Cossant, is forced by circumstance to set out to uncover the truth. The "truth" just so happens to rest in the hands of the Culture's oldest citizen, the man who lives forever, Ngaroe QiRia.
Banks is revisiting and expanding on Sublimation, the transference of an entire civilization from the physical realm to a high-energy quantum state bordering on non-existence. Other authors may have struggled to describe just what exactly is going on but as usual Banks' writing style is engaging and immersive, and his world-building is unparalleled.
This story was a little different to read given the real life context around the book, I was reading this as the end of the series as opposed to contemporary readers treating it as just another entry. The themes on offer, the nature of existence, the value of tradition, and the limits of knowledge served to enhance the fatalist tone of the book for me. It was a real shock to learn that this was not in fact written on his death bed, I though for sure that the time-to (The Gzilt timekeeping devices that have replaced conventional watches, they instead tell the time-to sublimation day) concept was meant to parallel a cancer diagnosis-three months left to live.
I am happy to be at the end of the series, but I am sad that there will never be more. This was not my favorite culture novel but The Hydrogen Sonata is a must-read for fans of science fiction and the Culture series. It is a thoughtful and entertaining novel that showcases Banks' skill as a writer and his ability to create a rich and fascinating universe. That it serves as an appropriate capstone to the series is just one of life's small but appropriate coincidences.
amandasupak's review
4.0
4.5 stars
You know reading a Iain Banks book that you are going to get some top notch sci fi world building. He never disappoints in writing a world that really does seem very alien but also so very human.
You know reading a Iain Banks book that you are going to get some top notch sci fi world building. He never disappoints in writing a world that really does seem very alien but also so very human.
tombomp's review
5.0
I've read through the whole series of Culture novels over the past 6 months, starting the next one after I've finished the last. It's sad coming to the end of the series which I've enjoyed a lot (even when I've criticised it), especially knowing that it's the end because the brilliant author has died. But in many ways this book feels like a fitting end to the series because it's so focused on endings and death in general.
The basis of the plot is around a whole civilisation about to Sublime - go off into the higher dimensions with an experience totally incomprehensible from here in the Real and basically disappear from galactic life almost totally. One of the ships refers to it as, paraphrasing, disappearing up your own arse. To the people back at home, it must seem very similar to death, even though it's like an afterlife that everyone knows for sure exists. Everyone has the same concerns with memorialising themselves, somehow proving they existed in the Real. One of the major characters concerns himself with having a star named after him. One of the major planets is covered in a giant city where the main character comes from that was originally built by a previously sublimed civilisation and now stands as a living monument to them, even with new inhabitants. The action is started by a ship from what's left behind of a previously sublimed civilization, existing only to tie up the loose ends they left when they went away. We hear what the music piece the book is named after is thought of by its long dead composer -. What it means to be remembered, what you leave behind, if it really matters - it's something that comes up again and again throughout the book.
Along the way you meet what's presumably the oldest human in the Culture, who was there when it was first founded. He gives his opinion on living and the meaning of it:
In a way, the themes of this book are a reaction to the bleakness of the first book of the series, Consider Phlebas. (massive spoilers for both that book and this) Maybe I haven't made my case well, but there's a sense of stoicism about this book. People die, bad things happen, but things go on. There's always something more, even with the horrible bits.
Along the way there's a variety of stuff that's seen throughout the series that's fun - lots of inter-Mind and internal Mind conversations and rivalries and multiple amazing landscapes and cultures and aliens described in loving detail.
I'm bad at articulating this stuff, but the message of the book to me was a sort of "there is meaning in every moment of life and just existing, ultimately we go and really our legacy doesn't matter that much because it will be picked over and taken and interpreted in ways we don't agree with but it's important that we try to do the right thing anyway and do what we can to make the future better and hopefully we'll leave our mark". Which sounds kind of wishy washy maybe. I don't know. The thing that kept me reading the series I think is the Culture itself. A lot of thought gets put into philosophical and aesthetic debates which suggest that somehow utopia is "boring" or looks with horror at the possibility of a future free from want and major conflict. Which is shit. I like the Culture on a lot of levels, but primarily I like that it is in many ways utopian, and the focus of the books isn't on "well it's not utopian" but on the moral dimension of what you should do from there and also the sheer amazingness and joy of being a post-scarcity society with the power to keep trillions of people happy and living and thriving. It's a beautiful thing to read about. Everything I've read about Iain Banks is that he cared about caring for others and making life better for everyone. In this sense the Culture is a worthy testament to him as a person both because of the great writing and concepts and as a political work. Maybe that's reaching too far. But the series as a whole is brilliant and this is a fitting send off to a great setting and world by a great author.
The basis of the plot is around a whole civilisation about to Sublime - go off into the higher dimensions with an experience totally incomprehensible from here in the Real and basically disappear from galactic life almost totally. One of the ships refers to it as, paraphrasing, disappearing up your own arse. To the people back at home, it must seem very similar to death, even though it's like an afterlife that everyone knows for sure exists. Everyone has the same concerns with memorialising themselves, somehow proving they existed in the Real. One of the major characters concerns himself with having a star named after him. One of the major planets is covered in a giant city where the main character comes from that was originally built by a previously sublimed civilisation and now stands as a living monument to them, even with new inhabitants. The action is started by a ship from what's left behind of a previously sublimed civilization, existing only to tie up the loose ends they left when they went away. We hear what the music piece the book is named after is thought of by its long dead composer -
Spoiler
he thought it was awful and it was made as a joke, even though it's now revered and is his legacyAlong the way you meet what's presumably the oldest human in the Culture, who was there when it was first founded. He gives his opinion on living and the meaning of it:
Living either never has any point, or is always its own point; being a naturally cheery soul, I lean towards the latter. However, just having done more of it than another person doesn’t really make much difference... Meaning is everywhere. There is always meaning. Or at least all things show a disturbing tendency to have meaning ascribed to them when intelligent creatures are present. It’s just that there’s no final Meaning, with a capital M.
In a way, the themes of this book are a reaction to the bleakness of the first book of the series, Consider Phlebas. (massive spoilers for both that book and this)
Spoiler
Phlebas ends on a sort of depressing note, very "shoot the shaggy dog" to use TVTropes terms. This book is similar, although far less depressing - mostly what happened didn't matter at all, yet people died for this thing that didn't matter. Nobody who was bad gets justice. Yet it to me is far more optimistic - there was some value in trying to do the right thing but it was better to leave the Gzilt legacy intact than try and tell the truth about their religious book when it'd cause confusion and panic even though the book barely matters to them any more. One of the character's talks about seeing the "ghost" of someone he killed - in a way they'll carry over to the Sublime, even in a very indirect way.Along the way there's a variety of stuff that's seen throughout the series that's fun - lots of inter-Mind and internal Mind conversations and rivalries and multiple amazing landscapes and cultures and aliens described in loving detail.
I'm bad at articulating this stuff, but the message of the book to me was a sort of "there is meaning in every moment of life and just existing, ultimately we go and really our legacy doesn't matter that much because it will be picked over and taken and interpreted in ways we don't agree with but it's important that we try to do the right thing anyway and do what we can to make the future better and hopefully we'll leave our mark". Which sounds kind of wishy washy maybe. I don't know. The thing that kept me reading the series I think is the Culture itself. A lot of thought gets put into philosophical and aesthetic debates which suggest that somehow utopia is "boring" or looks with horror at the possibility of a future free from want and major conflict. Which is shit. I like the Culture on a lot of levels, but primarily I like that it is in many ways utopian, and the focus of the books isn't on "well it's not utopian" but on the moral dimension of what you should do from there and also the sheer amazingness and joy of being a post-scarcity society with the power to keep trillions of people happy and living and thriving. It's a beautiful thing to read about. Everything I've read about Iain Banks is that he cared about caring for others and making life better for everyone. In this sense the Culture is a worthy testament to him as a person both because of the great writing and concepts and as a political work. Maybe that's reaching too far. But the series as a whole is brilliant and this is a fitting send off to a great setting and world by a great author.