Finished The Culture series - Thoughts
Finished in order of release, I thoroughly enjoyed the books but this is more of preaching to the choir here so I am going to do a best of with minimal spoilers:
Edit: Corrected Matters being mentioned twice instead of the missing book Inversion. I read them one after the other which can be seen as a mistake since I wanted to read them by order of release but I did find it fascinating reading two books based on low-tech (by culture standard) and how they both functioned as stories.
9: Matter - felt like I wasn't able to see myself in the story half the time. The characters, world building and everything was coherent but the last third of the book feels like it came out of no where. I also prefer my science fiction to be more of a 'in space' story rather than with what I recall more low tech ish compared to the rest of the books. edit: >!The main shellworld the protoganist lived in primarily!<(correct me if I am wrong please) >!I also dislike the two 'plot twists' here the most compared to the rest of the series. !<Still worth reading overall though.
8: Consider Phlebas - >!Consider sucking my nuts. !<As my first foray into Iain's universe, he didn't do a lot of favours by putting us in the shoes of someone outside of the Culture. The story was still great and I still remember certain scenes in the story but he definitely expands more of the namesake's civilisation rather than the protagonist in this story. >!This is the only book where I couldn't think of the main plot twist at the end.!<If I was at gunpoint and was forced to skip a Culture Series book, I would tell them to fire. In all seriousness, if you don't fancy this book I would rather you move on to the next book in the series than giving it up all together.
7: Surface Detail - I don't like reading NSFW stuff, >!I loathe reading all the parts of hell, but that's probably what Banks was banking on. !<A person's ability to see themselves, a world or story in a book I have come to realise is both an asset and a curse. Outside of the NSFW sections I quite enjoyed, edit: Especially the dynamics between a mind and one of the leading characters. The plot twist I did not see coming. >!The last two words made me yell out 'WHAT' which is a first for me. I also now want to one day call someone a 'ghastly cunt'. Let me know what other things you all now want to say to someone thanks to these books giving you the idea.!<
6: Inversions - Remember when I said that I prefer my science fiction to be more of a 'in space' story? Yeah I think I'm a liar. I found the characters to be well fleshed out and whilst the story is small, it still matters to the philosophy of the culture. >!I also found this the second easiest plot twist to figure out.!<
5: Use of Weapons - It's chapter order is basically going to force me to reread it one day. I had trouble understanding the plot, especially when I wasn't consistently reading the book during my time with it. In hindsight, I still like it but I bet I will put this book a bit higher on the list later. >!The plot twist at the end is also a big reason why I want to reread the book.!<
4: Excession - The mind of the minds are so fascinating, hilarious and quite frankly, frightening. I didn't care much about what was in the box but how what is everyone going to do with the box? >!Interesting times gang is a very interesting name for a group.!<
3: Hydrogen Sonata - This one is fresh in my mind, it is the perfect send off to the series and to the author himself (though this was not originally the case). The interview was also a great read and I would say is an addition to the notes on the culture. >!Kinda knew that the book was made up as some sort of experiment but it was still cool to see it through. !<This is the last book I would recommend to read despite my rankings. >!I too would find tussling with fields homo erotic.!<
2: Look to Windward - The one that made me cry, the one that questions what is true justice. The vastness of AI and how we are light years away from comprehending even the kindest ones. >!Wasn't the hugest fan of now knowing some parts of the book just leads to nothing as a twist of 'oh the culture knew all along' but meh, still cool.!<
1: Player of Games - I found this one to be the most coherent of a story (not as a slight or positive compared to the rest of the books) but I remember the grotesque, the fascinating and how the Culture can view other civilisations. >!The easiest twist to see coming but nonetheless fun throughout. !<
If you read this through, thanks for your time. I have The Algebraist, Feersum Endjinn and Against a Dark Background to read but I might give them a break and come back to it at a later point. What other Iain M Banks books would you recommend for me to add to my collection?
