ho-hum.

It's quite reminiscent of Hyperion (enough so that it would not be difficult to trace out how similar the plot lines are) - a collection of various individuals are forced to go to a world that is 'officially' off-limits in order to find/chase/defeat something else. There are lots of obstacles en route and the stalwart main character is constantly fighting, narrowly escaping death, and thinking about the greater meaning behind everything.

Unfortunately, we don't care. The characters are bland -they all behave in similar ways - and the reader isn't encouraged to particularly like any of them.

The science/environment/story is interesting though - the concepts are great (and there are a LOT of them tossed into this book). Unfortunately the story isn't engaging enough to make me want to read more about them. ( )

The books starts interesting but I soon lost interest. There are only hints at the Culture background, it hasn't been filled with substance and life though. What remains is an action packed adventure with an unusal hero and some interesting characters. I am not a huge fan of such stories and rather waited for some mind blowing SF ideas - they didn't come so the book left me unimpressed.I recommend to skip this book and to read [b:The Player of Games|18630|The Player of Games|Iain M. Banks|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166984450s/18630.jpg|1494157] or [b:Use of Weapons|12007|Use of Weapons|Iain M. Banks|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166490846s/12007.jpg|1494156] instead. ( )

The books starts interesting but I soon lost interest. There are only hints at the Culture background, it hasn't been filled with substance and life though. What remains is an action packed adventure with an unusal hero and some interesting characters. I am not a huge fan of such stories and rather waited for some mind blowing SF ideas - they didn't come so the book left me unimpressed.I recommend to skip this book and to read [b:The Player of Games|18630|The Player of Games|Iain M. Banks|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166984450s/18630.jpg|1494157] or [b:Use of Weapons|12007|Use of Weapons|Iain M. Banks|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166490846s/12007.jpg|1494156] instead. ( )

While this book was full of lots of interesting ideas and some fun action sequences, I found the main character unlikeable and that brought the level of enjoyment down quite a bit for me. Horza--and those around him--go through one hellish scenario after another. Since I wasn't rooting for Horza (or even his side in the Idiran-Culture War), I found it a difficult slog to get to the end of this one. Bottom line: some interesting concepts, but overall depressing. Underneath the bottom line: It is a book about the pointlessness of war, so the reader is probably not supposed to like either side in the war or feel good about the events in the book. Maybe if I had known this going in, I would have been able to appreciate the book more for what it is. ( )

“Consider Phlebas” is story of one man (well, let us say humanoid :)) against what he thinks is unnatural order of things – famous Banks’s Culture and everything Culture represents.
Culture is at war with alien civilization from planet Idir – ruthless warriors bend on destroying all “lesser” beings and civilizations. War has escalated quickly from small border skirmishes into full scale conflict engulfing entire star systems. Horza is a Changer, shape shifter, covert agent working for Idirans on task to retrieve one of the Culture’s famous Minds on an isolated sacred planet protected by mysterious alien race that nobody wants for the enemy. Soon he will face what seem to be insurmountable odds.

Great story (although sad one) with great characters.

Recommended. ( )