A review by riverwise
Iain M. Banks by Paul Kincaid

4.0

An overview of the late great Iain Banks' work, with a few biographical details along the way. It focuses on the science fiction in his oeuvre, as a careful reading of the title will hint, but also includes the M-less books where they are relevant to a discussion, or borderline SF (like Transition). Kincaid has an interesting idea about RD Laing's theory of the divided self being the underpinning of Banks' novels, and his argument is pretty convincing. This is a concise and readable book, written for an intelligent reader but not drowning in academic language. As a fan of both versions of Banks, I'd have liked a bit more on books like The Crow Road, but they are understandably out of the scope of this book. It made me want to go back and reread the whole Banks catalogue, so that must be a recommendation.