Surface Detail / Iain M. Banks

Surface Detail

category: science fiction / fantasy, author:

Iain M. Banks

book 12(?) of Culture
original copyright 2010,
read in Aug 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 5 out of 10

If I wanted to pick just one word to summarise Surface Detail, it would be "tedious". The author seems to have forgotten to add "action" to his check-list. For the first 400 or so pages... nothing much happens.

Rather, things are happening -- but those happenings are swamped by... well... the surface detail of descriptions of the Culture. Oh, look! here's something wonderful! How does it advance the story? Not at all... But look, it's wonderful!

Go back and watch the very first Star Wars movie. The first one that was made, I mean. Look at the background, the detail, the little robots running round polishing and cleaning. Does anyone say, Look at that little robot! Isn't it wonderful!

No...

Look to Windward / Iain M. Banks

Look to Windward

(category: science fiction)
a book in the Culture universe by

Iain M. Banks

published by Orbit in 2000,
read in September 2009 (and before, in 2006)

Agamedes' rating: 5 out of 10

Agamedes' opinion:

Okay, I really enjoyed the last (only other?) Banks book which I have read. This one has the same “Culture” background -- complex, imaginative, etc -- but it has almost become the foreground. “Oh, look! Here’s another wonder!” No need for consistency because we’ll never see this technological wonder again. Doesn’t add much to the story, either. Speaking of which... The story is very light. Then, when all is finally revealed, you realise that the deus ex machina ending was hinted at half way through, with a chapter which -- at the time -- seemed as irrelevant as most of the lovingly detailed scenery. Of the multitude of characters, there are two who are vaguely sympathetic. One struggles through several chapters then is killed before he can do anything useful. (And is brought back to life in a late chapter, millions of years into the future.) The other sympathetic character does, well, nothing much. Observes, perhaps, though he never finds out what is happening. This book reminds me of the first Star Trek movie: a half hour plot stretched by special effects to a full length movie.

..o0o..

This blog is supported by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your own documents, email nick leth at gmail dot com.

Matter / Iain M. Banks

Matter

(category: science fiction)
a book set in the Culture Universe by

Iain M. Banks

published by Orbit in 2008, read in August 2009

Agamedes' rating: 7 out of 10

Agamedes' opinion:

An amazingly complex universe -- yet it all seems to make sense. There are sympathetic characters, including the ones from the “primitive” society -- who know that there is a more complex society surrounding them and who make their way out into the wider universe then back again. After a lot of enjoyable struggle, the end is rather sudden and brutal. Luckily enough, the “Culture” society includes memory saves, so death is not final, just a restart with some loss of experience. Unfortunately, this reincarnation does not help the more primitive heroes.

..o0o..

This blog is supported by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your own documents, email nick leth at gmail dot com.

The Hunted / L.A. (Leslie Esdaile) Banks

The Hunted

(category: fantasy, romance)
book 2 of A vampire huntress legend by

L.A. (Leslie Esdaile) Banks

published by St Martins Press in 2004, read in August 2009

Agamedes' rating: 7 out of 10

Agamedes' opinion:

An over-the-top, hip hop, Latino & African American, vampire novel... at least, that’s what I thought... I was more than half way through when I thought, hang on, no-one has died yet! And I realised: this is Twilight with heavy sex instead of heavy sighs. For example: The hero -- a vampire -- and the heroine -- a vampire killer -- have sex for almost twenty pages. Then she is too exhausted to kill and he is too exhausted to defend himself. Good grief :-) Likeable characters who spend a lot of time worried that their love for each other is doomed due to “cultural” differences. Oh, and there’s also the great bit where the hero is deeply affected by the lyrics of Get Low (sung by Lil Joe but attributed in the book to Choppa Style): Ya skit skit, mo’fucker, Yaw skit skit, got’damn (sic). I mean, how much more relevant could a song be?!