Contemporary great of Science Fiction. (Iain Banks in general)

Member Name: RussellC

Product:	Iain Banks in general
Date:	10/08/00 (11 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fascinating concepts, characters and an all round enjoyable read.

Disadvantages: Culture stories feel a bit 'samey' after a while.

I'm going to review Iain M Banks when he's writing Science Fiction as I've yet to try and of his contemporary fiction, but have read all the SF he's written and loved every book. So far Banks has written 8 SF books, with one more out this month. The majority focus on his far futuristic society, the Culture an essentialy anarchist society who can't seem to keep their noses out of other people's business. Two of his novels, Feersum Endjinn and against a Dark Background take place in different, equally rich worlds. One book, The State of Things is a collection of short stories and arguably his weakest work in SF.

Rather than go into too much detail on the individual books I'll give a summation of the concept of the Culture as I understand it as if anything will give a good indication of the nature of his SF work this will. As said the Culture is essentially an anarchy, everyone can do what they want. Their technology is so advanced that energy and matter are without value so with rare exceptions a person can have a near unlimited supply of both. A member of the culture will live for hundreds of years and then generally die by choice, rather than any genuine problem. They also have full control of their own physiology able to change their body to their own will, even to the extent of chaning sex. Their equivelent of computers, called Minds, whose brains operate in hyperspace spend their leisure time simulating galaxies and Universes to high degrees of accuracy (so high is their ability to calculate). Vast ships continually shuttle Culture members about the Universe and provide them with all the pleasures they need.

So essentially the Culture is a society in which every member can have their own personal desires and every one is generous enough to want them to ave their own desires. With the vast array of possibilities concepts such as possessions and personal territory are essentially irrelevant. The Culture has certainly ha
d no in fighting that Banks has ever mentioned and they abhor war with other species. What the Culture represents is a vision of a Utopia (at least for me), but as with any Utopia the everyday events of a person's life could well be tedious. With the freedom to do anything and the long life we might expect the bulk of the poulation to spend their time doing the same sort of things. Fortunately the Culture isn't perfect, it deals with non-Culture societies and likes to interfere when it feels it can get away with it.

Many of the novels deal with a special group of the Culture called Special Circumstances which utilise all the Cultures vast array of technology and skills to interact with alien cultures and experiences. An infant mind is jetisoned onto a desolate planet, a Special Circumstances agent is sent to retrieve it before an enemy of the Culture gets their hands on it (Consider Phlebas). A vast and archaic empire could potentially pose a threat to the Culture and a skilled game player is sent to defeat them at their national game that determines rankings within society (The Player of Games). What Special Circumstances gives is an opportunity to see the cool Culture technology and to witness many aspects of their society (at the same time experiencing the irony of radical inidividualists trying to coerce others into their social structure) and at the same time experience other weird worlds that they encounter.

If there is any problem with the Culture novels it's that although Banks employs clever plot twists that frequently surprise you only need read a couple of Culture books before the surprises have less impact. You soon learn what the Culture means and stands for and just know they'll have some clever plan afoot, or already seen the outcome that you hadn't even expected. Culture technology is the ultimate get out, whatever the problem the Culture can throw technology at it, it's probably a handy writing tool, but a
t least we can believe the Culture really would do this.

Iain M Banks is a skilled and creative writer, each of his SF books presents a new and interesting concept, even when dealing with the Culture for the 5th or 6th time. Characters have interesting facets that are explored throughout the story, their past history often having relevance to present events, it creates genuinely involving characters. His writing style is easy to read and drives you through the book, but at the same time it isn't shallow by any means. A combination of good character, clever twists and fascinating plots that keep you hooked to the book make everyone entertaining. If I had to pick favourites I'd recommend Use of Weapons (it's a very dark Culture story and raises some questions about their morality) and Feersum Endjinn, which isn't a Culture story, but creates a fascinating mixture of high technology and undeveloped society.

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