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Diplomat Byr Genar-Hofoen is swept into a vast conspiracy that could lead the universe to the brink of annihilation when he is selected to investigate the disappearance of an ancient star. Diplomat Byr Genar-Hofoen has been selected by the Culture to undertake a delicate and dangerous mission. The Department of Special Circumstances--the Culture's espionage and dirty tricks section--has sent him off to investigate a 2,500-year-old mystery: the sudden disappearance of a star fifty times older show more than the universe itself. But in seeking the secret of the lost sun, Byr risks losing himself. There is only one way to break the silence of millennia: steal the soul of the long-dead starship captain who first encountered the star, and convince her to be reborn. And in accepting this mission, Byr will be swept into a vast conspiracy that could lead the universe into an age of peace ... or to the brink of annihilation. -- Publisher description. show lessTags
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elenchus Banks also introduces the "out of context" problem central to Anathem, but in a wildly different plot, and universe. Banks is less ontology and more space opera, but I found both books very entertaining, and both Stephenson and Banks sensitive to political questions raised by their respective plots.
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paradoxosalpha Odysseys of identity in post-scarcity societies
Member Reviews
This fifth book of the Culture series is the most Culture-y of all of them so far. Almost half of the text consists of scheming, arguments, and reflections among the Minds of various starships, which can be a little hard to follow. This reading challenge demonstrated for me just how crucially my own mind uses imagined human forms to organize ideas of agency and individuality. The significant starship characters in the novel probably outnumber the well-defined human characters, and of course you can't visualize the Mind of a General Systems Vehicle (i.e. a world-sized starship)! The Minds sometimes use humanoid avatars in communicating with humans, but not in conferring with each other. (Also: The bold courier typeface used for show more Mind-to-Mind communication was a reasonable convention, but not conducive to my lucid reading.)
There are two significant non-Culture interstellar civilizations introduced in the course of this novel: the comically violent Affronters and the post-Culture schismatics the Zetetic Elench. This story also includes a wealth of references to "elder civilizations" and the eventuality of "Subliming" among those races and consciousnesses that have achieved significant capabilities at the galactic level. The Culture itself is described as having declined or indefinitely postponed this opportunity collectively to transcend the limits of its native space-time, but it is available to individuals, and a religious cult has been quite understandably constructed around it.
The transsexual techniques and customs of the Culture have a key role in the course of this story, and thus receive a little more detail than they have been given in previous books. It was surprising to me that a tension between sexual fidelity and promiscuity should loom so large in the psychology of any Culture people, but it did here. The overall post-scarcity vibe of the Culture does of course favor promiscuity. And yet, as in other books of the series, key characters are given focus for their misfit attributes--anomalies in the Culture who bring its notably relaxed norms into relief through their irregularity. There is also attention to "Eccentric" Minds, who have fallen away in some respect or other from the mainstream of the Culture.
I enjoyed reading the various characters of the book, somewhat in direct proportion to their particular fallibilities. The hilarious introduction of the Affront put me in mind of Douglas Adams. On reflection, for spoilery reasons of several sorts which make me disinclined to elaborate, this novel reminded me strongly of Samuel Delany's Triton. show less
There are two significant non-Culture interstellar civilizations introduced in the course of this novel: the comically violent Affronters and the post-Culture schismatics the Zetetic Elench. This story also includes a wealth of references to "elder civilizations" and the eventuality of "Subliming" among those races and consciousnesses that have achieved significant capabilities at the galactic level. The Culture itself is described as having declined or indefinitely postponed this opportunity collectively to transcend the limits of its native space-time, but it is available to individuals, and a religious cult has been quite understandably constructed around it.
The transsexual techniques and customs of the Culture have a key role in the course of this story, and thus receive a little more detail than they have been given in previous books. It was surprising to me that a tension between sexual fidelity and promiscuity should loom so large in the psychology of any Culture people, but it did here. The overall post-scarcity vibe of the Culture does of course favor promiscuity. And yet, as in other books of the series, key characters are given focus for their misfit attributes--anomalies in the Culture who bring its notably relaxed norms into relief through their irregularity. There is also attention to "Eccentric" Minds, who have fallen away in some respect or other from the mainstream of the Culture.
I enjoyed reading the various characters of the book, somewhat in direct proportion to their particular fallibilities. The hilarious introduction of the Affront put me in mind of Douglas Adams. On reflection, for spoilery reasons of several sorts which make me disinclined to elaborate, this novel reminded me strongly of Samuel Delany's Triton. show less
I first read Excession when it was first published in 1996. Thinking back to that first read I remember thinking it was, “OK!” In the intervening years I have matured and my reread has revealed more meaning in the book than I originally observed. (No big surprise there.)
My original impression of Iain’s Science Fiction books as I read them when the came out was that they were primarily a good yarn, always had a sex scene, and somewhere along the way the reader would find a small bit of political commentary. I know Iain always wanted to write books with a political message but he said at one stage that he was never happy that he succeeded on this point. My rereading of Excession and Consider Phlebas with my more mature eye tells me show more that he was more successful than his comments would suggest and than I had initially discerned.
The plot in Excession is almost irrelevant. It is simply there as a structure on which to hang observations of human and political behaviour that are relevant for any age. It creates the scenarios that enable the author to point out certain political stances and actions. The first such commentary I noted was on page 294 in which Iain humorously presents the all too common position of, “Might is right!” albeit presented with all due politeness and civility. In the extract below the commander of a force taking over an orbital is laying down the law to the inhabitants who are now his prisoners. War had only been declared between the two factions a few hours before this episode. The commander and his invading force had arrived at the orbital the previous night as guests and had been treated to a reception party.
‘…”This is not an academic debate or some common room word-game. You are prisoners and hostages and all your lives are forfeit. The sooner you understand the realities of the situation, the better. I know as well as you that you are in no way in charge of the Orbital, but certain formalities have to be observed, regardless of their practical irrelevance. I consider that duty has now been discharged and frankly that’s all that matters, because I have the anti-matter warheads; and you don’t.” It drew quickly away, sucking a cool breeze behind it. It stopped just before the windows again. “Lastly,” it said, “I am sorry to have disturbed you. I thank you personally and on behalf of my crew for the reception party. It was most enjoyable.” ‘>/i>
The commander is basically saying, “Might is right. I have the big, dangerous weapons so you had better do what I say.”
Also, the comment, “…certain formalities have to be observed, regardless of their practical irrelevance. I consider that duty has now been discharged…” is a direct reference to the typically civil service approach of, “I did everything I was supposed to do…and that’s that…even if everything I did is obviously irrelevant and a total waste of time.”
The parting comments reminded me of George Orwell’s essay, The Lion and the Unicorn, which he wrote during WWII.
"As I write, highly civilized human beings are flying overhead, trying to kill me. They do not feel any enmity against me as an individual, nor I against them. They are ‘only doing their duty’, as the saying goes. Most of them, I have no doubt, are kind-hearted law-abiding men who would never dream of committing murder in private life."
--from "[The Lion and the Unicorn] (1941), Part I: England Your England"
It is the ultimate, “Do not take this personal. It is only business: nothing personal.”
On the very next page he goes on to state that when one admires the beauty and efficiency of a weapon that such admiration can only really be an admiration of the effect of such a device on others and is therefore a tragedy. Iain, of course, says this in a much more eloquent fashion but I do not intend typing out the entire book.
On page 309 the author speaks about special circumstances justifying setting aside civilian considerations. Do we not see that very often today?
Reflecting on the effect of one word on an individual, Iain prompts the reader to be mindful of how hurtful words can be, even if spoken, or possibly especially if spoken, unintentionally.
The final point I noted in Excession was a section in which a mind points out to an individual that all authorities, no matter how benevolent, are going to sacrifice individuals or use strong-arm tactics, when things get tough. I have seen this so often at company level, local government level, government level, and regional level.
Taking lessons from the plot, political machinations are happening all the time and their outward form never reveals their true nature or intent.
My reread of Excession gave me so much more than my original read I am more intent than ever to continue rereading Iain’s books.
[Excession] brought to mind two of my favourite quotes:
The best way to tell the truth is to write fiction.
Science Fiction is not about the future. It is about the present.
I have no idea who said the above quotes but whoever it was they were speaking the truth. show less
My original impression of Iain’s Science Fiction books as I read them when the came out was that they were primarily a good yarn, always had a sex scene, and somewhere along the way the reader would find a small bit of political commentary. I know Iain always wanted to write books with a political message but he said at one stage that he was never happy that he succeeded on this point. My rereading of Excession and Consider Phlebas with my more mature eye tells me show more that he was more successful than his comments would suggest and than I had initially discerned.
The plot in Excession is almost irrelevant. It is simply there as a structure on which to hang observations of human and political behaviour that are relevant for any age. It creates the scenarios that enable the author to point out certain political stances and actions. The first such commentary I noted was on page 294 in which Iain humorously presents the all too common position of, “Might is right!” albeit presented with all due politeness and civility. In the extract below the commander of a force taking over an orbital is laying down the law to the inhabitants who are now his prisoners. War had only been declared between the two factions a few hours before this episode. The commander and his invading force had arrived at the orbital the previous night as guests and had been treated to a reception party.
‘…”This is not an academic debate or some common room word-game. You are prisoners and hostages and all your lives are forfeit. The sooner you understand the realities of the situation, the better. I know as well as you that you are in no way in charge of the Orbital, but certain formalities have to be observed, regardless of their practical irrelevance. I consider that duty has now been discharged and frankly that’s all that matters, because I have the anti-matter warheads; and you don’t.” It drew quickly away, sucking a cool breeze behind it. It stopped just before the windows again. “Lastly,” it said, “I am sorry to have disturbed you. I thank you personally and on behalf of my crew for the reception party. It was most enjoyable.” ‘>/i>
The commander is basically saying, “Might is right. I have the big, dangerous weapons so you had better do what I say.”
Also, the comment, “…certain formalities have to be observed, regardless of their practical irrelevance. I consider that duty has now been discharged…” is a direct reference to the typically civil service approach of, “I did everything I was supposed to do…and that’s that…even if everything I did is obviously irrelevant and a total waste of time.”
The parting comments reminded me of George Orwell’s essay, The Lion and the Unicorn, which he wrote during WWII.
"As I write, highly civilized human beings are flying overhead, trying to kill me. They do not feel any enmity against me as an individual, nor I against them. They are ‘only doing their duty’, as the saying goes. Most of them, I have no doubt, are kind-hearted law-abiding men who would never dream of committing murder in private life."
--from "[The Lion and the Unicorn] (1941), Part I: England Your England"
It is the ultimate, “Do not take this personal. It is only business: nothing personal.”
On the very next page he goes on to state that when one admires the beauty and efficiency of a weapon that such admiration can only really be an admiration of the effect of such a device on others and is therefore a tragedy. Iain, of course, says this in a much more eloquent fashion but I do not intend typing out the entire book.
On page 309 the author speaks about special circumstances justifying setting aside civilian considerations. Do we not see that very often today?
Reflecting on the effect of one word on an individual, Iain prompts the reader to be mindful of how hurtful words can be, even if spoken, or possibly especially if spoken, unintentionally.
The final point I noted in Excession was a section in which a mind points out to an individual that all authorities, no matter how benevolent, are going to sacrifice individuals or use strong-arm tactics, when things get tough. I have seen this so often at company level, local government level, government level, and regional level.
Taking lessons from the plot, political machinations are happening all the time and their outward form never reveals their true nature or intent.
My reread of Excession gave me so much more than my original read I am more intent than ever to continue rereading Iain’s books.
[Excession] brought to mind two of my favourite quotes:
The best way to tell the truth is to write fiction.
Science Fiction is not about the future. It is about the present.
I have no idea who said the above quotes but whoever it was they were speaking the truth. show less
Another Culture novel, another chance to ask myself why I find these things so curiously readable. This one focuses less on the lucky, sybaritic humans that inhabit the Culture universe than the Minds of he ships that ferry them from place to place and occasionally get involved in thrilling space battles. The book's plot revolves around the sudden appearance of an impossibly ancient object that may -- or may not -- give whoever controls it unimaginable power. The hook here is that this is an "out-of-context problem", like the appearance of the Mule in Asimov's foundation series, a freak occurrence that even an impossibly advanced, supremely rational civilization like the Culture would have difficulty planning for. In practice, though, show more "Excession" plays out a lot like a Cold War spy novel, with lots of teletype communications between field agents who all seem to be unwaveringly British in both diction and outlook. These dialogues are oddly formatted and are occasionally tiresome to get through, though Banks's prose is, as usual, dense, intricate, and perfectly pitched everywhere else in the novel. The uh, interpersonal, communications between the ships that we're privy to reveals their odd attitudes toward the humans they care for, which run the gamut from genuine affection to mild disgust. Even though we see human creativity flourish in many of this novel's scenes, Banks's attempts to gently nudge humans out of the center of the frame, so to speak, is surprisingly successful.
A case could also be made, I think, that Banks might also be playing with extremes here. "Excession" introduces us to the Affront, a race whose entire culture seems to be built on cruelty and who might be the least pleasant bunch of aliens I've met since encountering the Vogons in the "Hitchhiker's Guide" books. The Affront -- boorish, mean, physically repulsive and apparently incorregible -- are so awful that I often found the parts of the book that they are in genuinely difficult to read. At the same time, he devotes more time in "Excession" describing the fun -- sexy and otherwise -- that the Culture's innumerable citizens get to have. It isn't that the Culture doesn't face the sort of moral dilemmas that people who consider themselves "civilized" often run into when they come face to face with something truly alien. The line between a belief in galactic progress and bloody expansionism is, as ever, dangerously thin. Even so, the stark differences between the two modes of being epitomized by the Culture and the Affront made me wonder if it wasn't abundance itself -- of materiel, of spirit, even of time -- that makes the Culture novels so much fun to read. Banks has conceived of a world where spaceships build other spaceships and design custom-made habitants for specific humans. Much of human life seems to have become a festival of light and color that often goes on for a cool couple of centuries. A lot of it sounds delightful, even if all is not yet perfect. Sometimes I think Banks is asking what shape the problems we now consider to be most central to our existence were to be -- if not eliminated -- worn away by centuries of geometrically increasing technological progress. In practice, that means that the Culture is often a fun place to spend your time. Heck, I'll probably read the next one. show less
A case could also be made, I think, that Banks might also be playing with extremes here. "Excession" introduces us to the Affront, a race whose entire culture seems to be built on cruelty and who might be the least pleasant bunch of aliens I've met since encountering the Vogons in the "Hitchhiker's Guide" books. The Affront -- boorish, mean, physically repulsive and apparently incorregible -- are so awful that I often found the parts of the book that they are in genuinely difficult to read. At the same time, he devotes more time in "Excession" describing the fun -- sexy and otherwise -- that the Culture's innumerable citizens get to have. It isn't that the Culture doesn't face the sort of moral dilemmas that people who consider themselves "civilized" often run into when they come face to face with something truly alien. The line between a belief in galactic progress and bloody expansionism is, as ever, dangerously thin. Even so, the stark differences between the two modes of being epitomized by the Culture and the Affront made me wonder if it wasn't abundance itself -- of materiel, of spirit, even of time -- that makes the Culture novels so much fun to read. Banks has conceived of a world where spaceships build other spaceships and design custom-made habitants for specific humans. Much of human life seems to have become a festival of light and color that often goes on for a cool couple of centuries. A lot of it sounds delightful, even if all is not yet perfect. Sometimes I think Banks is asking what shape the problems we now consider to be most central to our existence were to be -- if not eliminated -- worn away by centuries of geometrically increasing technological progress. In practice, that means that the Culture is often a fun place to spend your time. Heck, I'll probably read the next one. show less
Excession looks like a word that should mean something, especially when it appears on the dust jacket of this science fiction novel without a capital letter at the start of the word. It looks like it should be a derivation of excessive but that does not sound quite right. The only definition that I could find came from a website The Urban Dictionary which was:
"something so technologically superior that it appears magic to the viewer."
A word then invented by the author that is still finding it's way into everyday usage (all those other people who are not dedicated science fiction readers). No real clues then as to what the story is about from it's title but it eventually became clear that at the heart of it was an OCP (Outside Context show more Problem); there goes an initialism and how science fiction writers love their initialisms and acronyms and although not overused by Banks they do nothing to help the uninitiated reader. Fortunately I know my GCU's from my GSV's having read Bank's four previous novels set in his imaginary future universe of the Culture. it still took me some time to make headway into this story, but I have learnt that Banks would make things a little clearer as I went along and that by the end of the novel I would have a fairly good grasp of what had happened.
This is a story that will be appreciated by those readers already familiar with Bank's concept of the Culture and readers coming to the series for the first time might have to take quite a lot of the writing on trust, however the human story that is at the core of this novel should appeal to many readers. In accordance with Bank's universe the Culture is the dominant force/society that exists many years in the future when much of the universe has already been explored. Humans may or may not have given birth to the Culture which are, robots, machines, spaceships controlled by their own artificial intelligence. They would appear to be a force for good in the universe and certainly humans have adapted their lifestyles to fit into this quite different world. Bank's stories have a familiar 'modus operandi' the Culture calls on certain humans with the necessary skills to carry out certain diplomatic/operational/intelligence operations usually involving alien societies who have trouble in accepting the values/society of the Culture. The humans in many instances are pleased to accept these tasks, but occasionally have to be pried away from their otherwise hedonistic lifestyles. The stories then have a kind of cross pollination between humans and intelligent machines, but in Excession it is the machines in the form of spacecraft that drive this plot with the reader wondering where the human characters fit in. It is the novel perhaps that many of Bank's dedicated readers have been waiting for, that is waiting for him to share more of his vision of the Universe of artificially intelligent machines.
The OCP (outside context problem) takes the form of a mysterious object that appears in the universe and which seems to have powers that go far and away beyond anything that the Culture possesses. Meanwhile a rising species of aliens The Affront who have less than human characteristics seem intent on using the distraction of the Excession to overthrow the Culture who in its turn are calling on a couple of humans to carry out a secret mission.
The two humans Djeil and Genar-Hofoen have had an intense relationship some years before and are now living estranged lives after a near murderous end to their affair. Djeil seems to have been living in an artificial world created by the Culture for hers and their benefit and much of the early part of the novel explores this solitary world. Banks is at his strongest as an imaginative writer in creating these different worlds and he does a similar thing with Genar-Hofoen in his role as a diplomat on the alien home planet of the Affront. Then there is the asteroid called Pittance where a human recluse has chosen to live, which also houses mothballed war machines left over from the last war the Culture had to fight. As a reader we know that these different milieu will form part of the story but Banks persuades us to linger there with him while he creates an ambience that contrasts with other events that will overtake his characters. After all this is the novel where the artificially intelligent spacecraft (minds) confront the Excession. It is these minds that show all to noticeable human characteristics that results in both their weaknesses and their strengths and of course make Bank's story more interesting. Banks at times skates perilously close to banality with some of this, but he just about keep on the right side.
This is an excellent novel for Culture enthusiasts and probably one for science fiction readers who are prepared to enjoy a human story that can be more perceptive than the super-intelligent minds of the Culture machines. I think Banks has achieved a very good balance in his story telling. If the ending appears a little too engineered for some tastes then that does not take away from the high spots that precede it. This is my favourite book in the Culture series, running just ahead of [The Player of Games] and so 4.5 stars. show less
"something so technologically superior that it appears magic to the viewer."
A word then invented by the author that is still finding it's way into everyday usage (all those other people who are not dedicated science fiction readers). No real clues then as to what the story is about from it's title but it eventually became clear that at the heart of it was an OCP (Outside Context show more Problem); there goes an initialism and how science fiction writers love their initialisms and acronyms and although not overused by Banks they do nothing to help the uninitiated reader. Fortunately I know my GCU's from my GSV's having read Bank's four previous novels set in his imaginary future universe of the Culture. it still took me some time to make headway into this story, but I have learnt that Banks would make things a little clearer as I went along and that by the end of the novel I would have a fairly good grasp of what had happened.
This is a story that will be appreciated by those readers already familiar with Bank's concept of the Culture and readers coming to the series for the first time might have to take quite a lot of the writing on trust, however the human story that is at the core of this novel should appeal to many readers. In accordance with Bank's universe the Culture is the dominant force/society that exists many years in the future when much of the universe has already been explored. Humans may or may not have given birth to the Culture which are, robots, machines, spaceships controlled by their own artificial intelligence. They would appear to be a force for good in the universe and certainly humans have adapted their lifestyles to fit into this quite different world. Bank's stories have a familiar 'modus operandi' the Culture calls on certain humans with the necessary skills to carry out certain diplomatic/operational/intelligence operations usually involving alien societies who have trouble in accepting the values/society of the Culture. The humans in many instances are pleased to accept these tasks, but occasionally have to be pried away from their otherwise hedonistic lifestyles. The stories then have a kind of cross pollination between humans and intelligent machines, but in Excession it is the machines in the form of spacecraft that drive this plot with the reader wondering where the human characters fit in. It is the novel perhaps that many of Bank's dedicated readers have been waiting for, that is waiting for him to share more of his vision of the Universe of artificially intelligent machines.
The OCP (outside context problem) takes the form of a mysterious object that appears in the universe and which seems to have powers that go far and away beyond anything that the Culture possesses. Meanwhile a rising species of aliens The Affront who have less than human characteristics seem intent on using the distraction of the Excession to overthrow the Culture who in its turn are calling on a couple of humans to carry out a secret mission.
The two humans Djeil and Genar-Hofoen have had an intense relationship some years before and are now living estranged lives after a near murderous end to their affair. Djeil seems to have been living in an artificial world created by the Culture for hers and their benefit and much of the early part of the novel explores this solitary world. Banks is at his strongest as an imaginative writer in creating these different worlds and he does a similar thing with Genar-Hofoen in his role as a diplomat on the alien home planet of the Affront. Then there is the asteroid called Pittance where a human recluse has chosen to live, which also houses mothballed war machines left over from the last war the Culture had to fight. As a reader we know that these different milieu will form part of the story but Banks persuades us to linger there with him while he creates an ambience that contrasts with other events that will overtake his characters. After all this is the novel where the artificially intelligent spacecraft (minds) confront the Excession. It is these minds that show all to noticeable human characteristics that results in both their weaknesses and their strengths and of course make Bank's story more interesting. Banks at times skates perilously close to banality with some of this, but he just about keep on the right side.
This is an excellent novel for Culture enthusiasts and probably one for science fiction readers who are prepared to enjoy a human story that can be more perceptive than the super-intelligent minds of the Culture machines. I think Banks has achieved a very good balance in his story telling. If the ending appears a little too engineered for some tastes then that does not take away from the high spots that precede it. This is my favourite book in the Culture series, running just ahead of [The Player of Games] and so 4.5 stars. show less
To this point the Culture has largely been portrayed as all powerful, so it's an interesting expansion of this fictional universe to get a taste of what greater powers it is aware of. We're introduced to the concepts of elder races and of subliming: the act of a species passing beyond our three-dimensional mortal coils. There's a sense conveyed that the Culture might have engaged in doing so already had it not (thus far) deliberately chosen otherwise. With the author's passing following the tenth volume, we're free to imagine the Culture makes that decision later.
The Culture novels to this point have almost never been straightforward tellings, "The Player of Games" being the one exception. It was also the best in the series, in my show more opinion. This fifth entry goes beyond the pale for most complex telling thus far; I was a good two thirds into it before I was no longer entirely bewildered. And it's really not all that complicated a story on the surface, summed up quite well by the back cover: the Culture has encountered a strange, technically advanced oddity and is debating what to do about it. There's an interesting backstory about it having been encountered before, and the hint that some elements of the Culture are working up a possibly-related conspiracy. I was hopeful the oddity might shake things up for this series the way that the Mule did for the Foundation.
Banks does a great deal of indulging in communications among GSV Minds, which always fascinates in its strange mix of enormous technological AI power and range of personalities. But this time he makes those exchanges so difficult to follow that they do nothing but add confusion until the murky picture finally becomes more clear. This same confusion applies to the many disparate human characters cycled among. It adds up to an extremely patience-testing experience. Clearly Banks is building up to some kind of surprise twist ending like we've seen him do before, but is it really worth making everything so gosh darn hard to follow? Having finished, I'm not sure that it was, or that it was even necessary. I'm also becoming less certain that the Culture universe is such a hopeful view of our potential future after all, with the AI treating us like children and our acting like we deserve it.
I'm putting this series on pause for a while. As much as I like the Culture universe (and that's what will eventually draw me back), only one experience in five was made a genuinely enjoyable ride. The rest have all taken work to appreciate and are trending more so. show less
The Culture novels to this point have almost never been straightforward tellings, "The Player of Games" being the one exception. It was also the best in the series, in my show more opinion. This fifth entry goes beyond the pale for most complex telling thus far; I was a good two thirds into it before I was no longer entirely bewildered. And it's really not all that complicated a story on the surface, summed up quite well by the back cover: the Culture has encountered a strange, technically advanced oddity and is debating what to do about it. There's an interesting backstory about it having been encountered before, and the hint that some elements of the Culture are working up a possibly-related conspiracy. I was hopeful the oddity might shake things up for this series the way that the Mule did for the Foundation.
Banks does a great deal of indulging in communications among GSV Minds, which always fascinates in its strange mix of enormous technological AI power and range of personalities. But this time he makes those exchanges so difficult to follow that they do nothing but add confusion until the murky picture finally becomes more clear. This same confusion applies to the many disparate human characters cycled among. It adds up to an extremely patience-testing experience. Clearly Banks is building up to some kind of surprise twist ending like we've seen him do before, but is it really worth making everything so gosh darn hard to follow? Having finished, I'm not sure that it was, or that it was even necessary. I'm also becoming less certain that the Culture universe is such a hopeful view of our potential future after all, with the AI treating us like children and our acting like we deserve it.
I'm putting this series on pause for a while. As much as I like the Culture universe (and that's what will eventually draw me back), only one experience in five was made a genuinely enjoyable ride. The rest have all taken work to appreciate and are trending more so. show less
Ah, what a scrumptious, cool space opera! The scope. The amazing world building. The sheer amount of themes and ideas. Mysterious artifacts. Understated humour. My third Culture novel was a treat.
There are many threads for the reader to unravel, and the book takes its time in the first half, to become a roller coaster in the second. I loved the layers upon layers of conspiracies – that explode in the reader’s face, sometimes literally and loudly (on page, I mean, he he), sometimes just quietly and brilliantly (cruelly, crazily).
I also have a weakness for when authors do this:
“Slogans, signs, announcements, odours and personal greeters vied for attention, advertising emporia and venues. Stunning ‘scapes and scenes played out in show more sensorium bubbles bulging out into the centre of the street, putting you instantly into bedrooms, feast-halls, arenae, harems, seaships, fair rides, space battles, states of temporary ecstasy, tempting, promoting, suggesting, offering, providing entrance, stimulating appetites, prompting desires; suggesting, propositioning, pandering.”
What did I say? Scrumptious.
The human characters were not particularly interesting – pathetic is a word that comes to mind. Ulver the spoiled brat does grow on you. A little. Somewhat. It doesn’t mean I did not care about them at all, though. On the other hand, I enjoyed following every single one of the too-clever-too-eccentric-too-everything-for-my-own-good sentient spaceships. Perhaps it was intentional? Anyway, I loved them! Their names are splendid, too. I suspect that lots of sci-fi authors with cool spaceship names in their books had read Banks ;) Shoot Them Later. Serious Callers Only. Fate Amenable to Change. Quietly Confident. Awww.
The wrap-up was immensely satisfying. show less
There are many threads for the reader to unravel, and the book takes its time in the first half, to become a roller coaster in the second. I loved the layers upon layers of conspiracies – that explode in the reader’s face, sometimes literally and loudly (on page, I mean, he he), sometimes just quietly and brilliantly (cruelly, crazily).
I also have a weakness for when authors do this:
“Slogans, signs, announcements, odours and personal greeters vied for attention, advertising emporia and venues. Stunning ‘scapes and scenes played out in show more sensorium bubbles bulging out into the centre of the street, putting you instantly into bedrooms, feast-halls, arenae, harems, seaships, fair rides, space battles, states of temporary ecstasy, tempting, promoting, suggesting, offering, providing entrance, stimulating appetites, prompting desires; suggesting, propositioning, pandering.”
What did I say? Scrumptious.
The human characters were not particularly interesting – pathetic is a word that comes to mind. Ulver the spoiled brat does grow on you. A little. Somewhat. It doesn’t mean I did not care about them at all, though. On the other hand, I enjoyed following every single one of the too-clever-too-eccentric-too-everything-for-my-own-good sentient spaceships. Perhaps it was intentional? Anyway, I loved them! Their names are splendid, too. I suspect that lots of sci-fi authors with cool spaceship names in their books had read Banks ;) Shoot Them Later. Serious Callers Only. Fate Amenable to Change. Quietly Confident. Awww.
The wrap-up was immensely satisfying. show less
Iain M. Banks has been on my to be read list for a long time, and I'd heard the Culture series didn't need to be read in order, so I leapt at the chance to read Excession.
Boy, is it a humdinger of a book! To label it a space opera seems insufficient and, perhaps, not entirely accurate. It is a dazzling work of imagination, and challenging in all the right ways. It also has a dry humor that had me chuckling more than a few times.
After finishing Excession I found out that it's generally considered *not* the place to start with the Culture. Oops! Well, having survived a plunge into the deep end, I'm anxious to explore the rest of the series.
Received via NetGalley.
Boy, is it a humdinger of a book! To label it a space opera seems insufficient and, perhaps, not entirely accurate. It is a dazzling work of imagination, and challenging in all the right ways. It also has a dry humor that had me chuckling more than a few times.
After finishing Excession I found out that it's generally considered *not* the place to start with the Culture. Oops! Well, having survived a plunge into the deep end, I'm anxious to explore the rest of the series.
Received via NetGalley.
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Author Information
66+ Works 93,113 Members
Iain Banks was born in Fife in 1954 and was educated at Stirling University where he studied English Literature, Philosophy and Psychology. Banks came to widespread and controversial public note with the publication of his first novel, The Wasp Factory, in 1984. His first science fiction novel, Consider Phlebas, was published in 1987. He continued show more to write both mainstream fiction (as Iain Banks) and science fiction (as Iain M. Banks). Banks' mainstream fiction included The Wasp Factory (1984), Walking on Glass (1985), The Bridge (1986), Espedair Street (1987), Canal Dreams (1989), The Crow Road (1992), Complicity (1993), Whit (1995), A Song of Stone (1997), The Business (1999), Dead Air (2002) and The Steep Approach to Garbadale (2007). His final book, The Quarry, was released posthumously on June 20, 2013. Banks died on June 9, 2013 of terminal gall bladder cancer. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Excession
- Original title
- Excession
- Original publication date
- 1996
- People/Characters
- GSV Sleeper Service; Byr Genar-Hofoen; Dajeil Gelian; Ulver Seich
- Dedication
- To the memory of Joan Woods
- First words
- A little more than one hundred days into the fortieth year of her confinement, Dajeil Gelian was visited in her lonely tower overlooking the sea by an avatar of the great ship that was her home. (Prologue)
Take a look at this: - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)'Oh, I could give it a try,' the avatar said.
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Whatever; after four decades in its state of self-imposed internal exile, navigating its own wayward course within its sought-out wilderness as part of the civilisation's Ulterior and functioning most famously as a repository for quiescent souls and very large animals, it sounded like the General Systems Vehicle Sleeper Service was again starting to think and behave a little more like a ship which belonged to the Culture. (Prologue)
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)lastly in recognition of the foregoing i wish now to be known hereafter as the excession
thank you
end
(Epilogue) - Blurbers
- Gibson, William
- Original language
- English
- Canonical DDC/MDS
- 823.087625
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- Genres
- Science Fiction, Fiction and Literature
- DDC/MDS
- 823.087625 — Literature & rhetoric English & Old English literatures English fiction By type Genre fiction Adventure fiction Speculative fiction Science fiction Space opera
- LCC
- PR6052 .A485 .E93 — Language and Literature English English Literature 1961-2000
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