The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks Perusing bookshops in Poland one finds fiction is categorized along the same genre lines as America or Britain. They have horror, fantastyka, science fiction, kryminalny — all of which are readily recognizable to the English speaker. There is one additional category, however, that I’d never seen before: sensacyjny. Neither […]
Read MoreJesse Hudson´s rating: 3 | Iain M. Banks | Horror, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | | 2 comments |
The Bridge by Iain M. Banks Iain M. Banks is a versatile Scottish writer, equally skilled in far-future space opera (the CULTURE series), dark contemporary novels (The Crow Road, The Wasp Factory, Walking on Glass), and a host of novels in between. The Bridge is one of his earlier books, and the late author’s personal […]
Read MoreStuart Starosta´s rating: 3.5 | Iain M. Banks | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | | 1 comment |
Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks Consider Phlebas, the first of Iain M. Banks’s CULTURE novels, introduces readers to the Culture, a machine-led intergalactic civilization that offers its biological humanoids a carefree, utopian lifestyle. Though most centuries are free from worry, Consider Phlebas takes place in the middle of the Idiran-Culture War. The Culture is an […]
Read MoreRyan Skardal, Stuart Starosta and Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Iain M. Banks | SFF Reviews | | 2 comments |
The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks The Player of Games (1988) is the second of Iain M. Banks’s Culture novels. Jernau Morat Gurgeh is a famous game player from the protective, machine-run Culture. Like everyone else that lives in the Culture, Gurgeh has never known fear, pain, or greed. He wants little beyond the […]
Read MoreRyan Skardal, Stuart Starosta and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5 | Iain M. Banks | SFF Reviews | | 5 comments |
Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks Iain M. Banks’s Use of Weapons is the third CULTURE novel. For those not in the know, the Culture is an intergalactic paradise run by its extremely sophisticated machines. Its people are augmented so that they are able to control and enhance every function their body serves. Life […]
Read MoreRyan Skardal, Stuart Starosta and Kat Hooper | Iain M. Banks | SFF Reviews | | 5 comments |
Excession by Iain M. Banks Let’s skip the highty-flighty, atmospheric float of intros and get right to the point. Iain M. Banks’ 1996 Excession is gosh-wow, sense-wunda science fiction that pushes the limits of the genre as far into the imagination — and future — as any book has. The AI ship-minds, post-human world-is-your-oyster humanity, and […]
Read MoreJesse Hudson´s rating: 4.5 | Iain M. Banks | BSFA Award | SFF Reviews | | 3 comments |
Inversions by Iain M. Banks Like Excession, Use of Weapons, and The Player of Games, Iain M. Banks’ 1998 Inversions continues to prove that the reader should expect the unexpected because, with Inversions, Banks explicitly aimed to write “a CULTURE novel that wasn’t a CULTURE novel.” It is likely to be categorized as fantasy by someone who knows nothing of […]
Read MoreJesse Hudson´s rating: 4 | Iain M. Banks | SFF Reviews | | no comments |
Look to Windward by Iain Banks This is the first book I have read by Iain Banks — and it won’t be the last. His post-human vision of the very distant future, with its closer-to-perfect, but all-too-human AI, is not only plausible but a thought-provoker. And if you read science fiction, don’t you want something […]
Read MoreJesse Hudson´s rating: 4 | Iain M. Banks | SFF Reviews | | 3 comments |
Matter by Iain M. Banks Matter is the seventh book in Iain M. Bank’s popular CULTURE series about a utopian society run by a beneficent artificial intelligence organization called The Culture. I haven’t read any of the previous CULTURE novels which, I think, gives me a unique take on Matter. Reading through some of the reviews […]
Read MoreKat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Iain M. Banks | Audio | SFF Reviews | | 5 comments |
Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks Surface Detail (2010), the penultimate CULTURE novel, is another wild ride in Iain Banks’ far-future universe. Interestingly (or at least I think so), this novel deals with the afterlife, as does the final CULTURE novel, The Hydrogen Sonata, which was published several months before Banks’ unexpected death of gallbladder […]
Read MoreKat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Iain M. Banks | Audio | SFF Reviews | | no comments |
The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M. Banks The Gzilt civilization is as old as the Culture, and their technology is roughly equivalent, too. Although the Gzilt were invited to join the Culture when it was created, they declined, in part because of the Book of Truth. The Gzilt are proud of their Book of Truth […]
Read MoreRyan Skardal and Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Iain M. Banks | SFF Reviews | | 6 comments |
The State of the Art by Iain M. Banks The State of the Art is a collection of short fiction written by Iain Banks between 1984 and 1987. Surprisingly, it is the only such collection the author has published. Given Banks’ fifteen mainstream novels and twelve science fiction novels, one would expect a much larger output of […]
Read MoreJesse Hudson´s rating: 2 | Iain M. Banks | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | | 1 comment |
Against a Dark Background by Iain Banks Despite being Iain M. Banks’ fifth published work of science fiction, Against a Dark Background has all the feel of being the author’s fledgling effort in the genre. Overwritten, narrative fragmented in inconsistent fashion, and plot devices and storytelling all rather overt, the book is good if you’re […]
Read MoreJesse Hudson | Iain M. Banks | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | | 3 comments |
Feersum Endjinn by Iain M. Banks Sometimes a book has so many incredible elements that it defies easy summary. Compound that with the fact that it shares themes with some of your favorite genre classics, and that it is written by the incredibly-talented Iain M. Banks, and you have the recipe for a very unique […]
Read MoreStuart Starosta´s rating: 4.5 | Iain M. Banks | Audio, BSFA Award, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | | 4 comments |
Raw Spirit by Iain Banks In Raw Spirit (2003), Iain Banks (Iain M. Banks to science fiction readers) and his friends journey in search of the perfect dram. It would not be wise to approach this book for an overview of Scotch, how it’s made, and how to drink it. One part stunt memoir, one […]
Read MoreRyan Skardal´s rating: 3 | Iain M. Banks | Non-fiction, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | | no comments |
The Algebraist by Iain Banks Over the top villain. Check. Strange and funny alien races. Check. Quest for singular object that leads through space. Check. Multitudes of battlecruisers, space wings, and dreadnaughts converging at a single point. Check. Boxes ticked, Iain M. Banks makes no bones about it: The Algebraist is unabashed space opera, for better and […]
Read MoreJesse Hudson´s rating: 3 | Iain M. Banks | SFF Reviews | | no comments |
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