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zeef's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Read all Culture novels.
satri's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
rickwren's review against another edition
3.0
Iain Banks Culture Series is like a philosophical exercise in post-scarcity. He asks interesting questions about what such a far-future civilization will be like and what will be the concerns of its citizens and its non-human inhabitants, ie AI or alien. If all your basic needs are met and all your luxury needs are met, what do you care about? Where are your passions?
In Look to Windward, the Culture has annexed the Idirans in a war devastating enough to have nova'd two stars and killed billions of people. 800 years later - revenge?
The book starts out with Major Quilan, a shell of a man after the unexpected and permanent death of his wife, on a mission to Masaq' Orbital, a Culture construct and home to 50 Billion people. He's accompanied by an admiral with the navy who has been dead for many years, yet revived as a consciousness within his own brain. If that's not enough, the Major has an assignment but he doesn't know what it is. He has to search for the mission among the clues left in a false effort to convince noted composer, Ziller, to come home.
The book is mostly good, but the introspection takes so many pages and I understand that its a moral exercise and an attempt to philosophize right and wrong in a society for which those terms have transitioned beyond mere survival, but it is boring at times.
In Look to Windward, the Culture has annexed the Idirans in a war devastating enough to have nova'd two stars and killed billions of people. 800 years later - revenge?
The book starts out with Major Quilan, a shell of a man after the unexpected and permanent death of his wife, on a mission to Masaq' Orbital, a Culture construct and home to 50 Billion people. He's accompanied by an admiral with the navy who has been dead for many years, yet revived as a consciousness within his own brain. If that's not enough, the Major has an assignment but he doesn't know what it is. He has to search for the mission among the clues left in a false effort to convince noted composer, Ziller, to come home.
The book is mostly good, but the introspection takes so many pages and I understand that its a moral exercise and an attempt to philosophize right and wrong in a society for which those terms have transitioned beyond mere survival, but it is boring at times.
tarnop's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This was the final re-read of my full read-through of The Culture. All new territory from here on!
I remembered loving this first time around and it didn't disappoint on a re-read. I really can't get enough of the core idea behind this series: to create a dazzling spacefaring utopia and then ruthlessly interrogate everything it claims to stand for. That it does this while being funny, poetic and wonderfully empathetic is to its eternal credit.
Look to Windward is a story of intervention gone wrong. If Contacting a civilisation goes well 99% of the time, what does the 1% look like? This core conceit is mixed in with more of Banks' lovingly drawn characters, each with consistent and unique voices, philosophies, ideals and complex pasts. In particular, the way the Mind at the centre of it all is written is just mind-blowing, beautifully evoking the internal struggle of a former soldier who can never forget what it has done and can relive the worst parts of its life a million times over in a fraction of a second
I remembered loving this first time around and it didn't disappoint on a re-read. I really can't get enough of the core idea behind this series: to create a dazzling spacefaring utopia and then ruthlessly interrogate everything it claims to stand for. That it does this while being funny, poetic and wonderfully empathetic is to its eternal credit.
Look to Windward is a story of intervention gone wrong. If Contacting a civilisation goes well 99% of the time, what does the 1% look like? This core conceit is mixed in with more of Banks' lovingly drawn characters, each with consistent and unique voices, philosophies, ideals and complex pasts. In particular, the way the Mind at the centre of it all is written is just mind-blowing, beautifully evoking the internal struggle of a former soldier who can never forget what it has done and can relive the worst parts of its life a million times over in a fraction of a second
thinkspink's review against another edition
4.0
Some great ideas and worlds but some strange plotting. 2nd time reading it after a long gap and it does stand up
pan23's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
By far the best culture novel I’ve read so far. Funny, mysterious, remarkably interesting. World-building that didn’t leave me bored even once.
dracola112's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
taylort1997's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
sydsnot71's review against another edition
4.0
Each Iain M Banks book I read further convinces me that he is my favourite SF writer. I'd put him high on a list of not quite objective SF writers full stop.
His world building is astonishingly good. But that doesn't mean that his characters aren't vivid and three-dimensional. Then there's the plotting. The way Banks draws threads together...actually perhaps, in honour of one part of this book, a better analogy would be music. He pulls themes together that seem to be tunes of their own but which gradually come together as a mighty symphony. Banks' balance of the art and craft of writing is up there with the best writers in any genre.
And he manages to tell stories on a grand and personal scale whilst making them the same story.
It's majestic.
His world building is astonishingly good. But that doesn't mean that his characters aren't vivid and three-dimensional. Then there's the plotting. The way Banks draws threads together...actually perhaps, in honour of one part of this book, a better analogy would be music. He pulls themes together that seem to be tunes of their own but which gradually come together as a mighty symphony. Banks' balance of the art and craft of writing is up there with the best writers in any genre.
And he manages to tell stories on a grand and personal scale whilst making them the same story.
It's majestic.