A review by elusivity
Excession by Iain M. Banks
4.0
The more I read of the Culture series, the more I am puzzled as to its stature in the SF genre. True, Banks' prose is really rather good. The personalities he craft are often vivid and interesting -- though I've noticed this holds true more of the artificial intelligences than the human ones. But each novel so far seem so very much ado about little.
I have several issues with this one:
Too many characters. Minds with their impossible-to-remember names, humans with their impossible-to-remember names, aliens with their impossible-to-remember names. I lost track of who said what, who plotted with whom, and didn't care enough to return to re-read or take notes.
Plot points illustrated through tiny snippet vignettes of random minor characters who may or may not appeared again. This contributed much to my inability to keep the various story-threads alive in my head.
Remind me, what is the point of all these twists and turns again?! This novel seemed littered with mountains made of ant hills.
Ultimately, what can be written about the inhabitants of a society who no longer need to worry about death or illness or any kind of material lack? Not much of deep significance, it seems. Only with the appearance of an outside context entity, posing overwhelming potential for destruction, does deep thoughts /philosophy come into being (as clearly illustrated by the various instances of Minds & humans finally coming into clarity after having faced the prospect of imminent annihilation). In the meanwhile, entities squabble, plot, sulk, throw tantrums, indulge in all possible pleasures, and live out their self-acknowledged ultimately-meaningless lives...
---
2017:
Years later, I am forced to upgrade the original 2-STAR rating to 4-STARS. No matter what I thought about the details within this novel, it is one I remember most out of the entire series, and the first thing I think of whenever the idea "Outside Context Problem" pop into my head (which happens more often than you'd think). I must strive for a re-read soon.
I have several issues with this one:
Too many characters. Minds with their impossible-to-remember names, humans with their impossible-to-remember names, aliens with their impossible-to-remember names. I lost track of who said what, who plotted with whom, and didn't care enough to return to re-read or take notes.
Plot points illustrated through tiny snippet vignettes of random minor characters who may or may not appeared again. This contributed much to my inability to keep the various story-threads alive in my head.
Remind me, what is the point of all these twists and turns again?! This novel seemed littered with mountains made of ant hills.
Ultimately, what can be written about the inhabitants of a society who no longer need to worry about death or illness or any kind of material lack? Not much of deep significance, it seems. Only with the appearance of an outside context entity, posing overwhelming potential for destruction, does deep thoughts /philosophy come into being (as clearly illustrated by the various instances of Minds & humans finally coming into clarity after having faced the prospect of imminent annihilation). In the meanwhile, entities squabble, plot, sulk, throw tantrums, indulge in all possible pleasures, and live out their self-acknowledged ultimately-meaningless lives...
---
2017:
Years later, I am forced to upgrade the original 2-STAR rating to 4-STARS. No matter what I thought about the details within this novel, it is one I remember most out of the entire series, and the first thing I think of whenever the idea "Outside Context Problem" pop into my head (which happens more often than you'd think). I must strive for a re-read soon.