A good, but flawed, non-Culture novel from Ian M. Banks. His imagination and creativity are working as well as always here, and his throwaway asides are often more inventive than some other authors' whole books.

One problem is the characters. I found Fassin to be a largely uninteresting character who's difficult to really care about; in some ways, similar to Banks characters like Bora in "Consider Phlebas". A lot of the time, he seems like simply a vehicle in which to tour Banks' settings and happenings.

Another is the pace, which at first is tediously slow. The first time I read this, I got bogged down at about a third in and left the book aside for six months before picking it up again. Things get better, but I have to agree with the reviewer who said that he really needed a tougher editor on this one.

If you're a Banks reader, there's plenty here to delight, but I can see many not being able to get past the flaws. ( )

After Excession it was nice to read an Iain M Banks which was a bit more comprehensible. This one kept making me laugh, as it twisted and turned, despite the background of war. I liked the sub-threads tied through it: tales from Fassin's past, and political intrigue. But most of all I think I loved the inventiveness of some of the different aliens. ( )

An extremely well-written and literate book that, while engrossing, failed to really engage me. ( )

Another to enjoy, with a society very different from the Culture. The underlying ideas and the sense of scale are both excellent. The final plot twist became apparent to me long before it was apparent to the characters, but it is unclear how intentional this is (at least to me.) It didn't prevent this being an enjoyable read, with plenty of good ideas (as Banks' SF always does) and some truly alien aliens. ( )

Very intriguing concepts of alien forms and civilizations. ( )