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Matter

Orbit

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Average customer rating: 3.5 stars

One of Bank's better

Bank's latest Culture novel, Matter, is one of the strongest in the series, together with Player of Games and Excession. The plot involves several perspectives on the Culture universe as Banks presents a whole hierarchy of civilisations, from a medieval society placed within an artificial world, to the different caretakers of the same world (and their conflicts with one another), to the supremes like Culture and the Morganwelt. We meet a lot of characters: a medieval prince fighting for his right to the throne, a SC agent on her way home, an ancient ship mind, a renegade from the culture and some really weird and dangerous aliens, to mention a few. Highly recommended.

Six hundred pages of pleasure and stimulation

It seems that everything that reviewers have complained about here are things that I actually liked about "Matter."

(1) Length. I had no problem reading the nearly six hundred pages, and gladly would have read more. Those who found much of the material irrelevant should wait for the Cliff's Notes. The question of what is and is not important is, after all, one of the book's main themes.

(2) The fact that it's not "Consider Phlebas" or "Use of Weapons." Good. I'm sure that Banks would be bored with writing the same book over and over again, and I'd be bored reading it.

(3) The ending. Most books can't manage even one terrific ending. This one provides TWO. Granted, it may not be what most readers might have expected. But that's the point. Those who become too invested in the petty doings of a barbarian culture deserve to be reminded that they really DON'T amount to a hill of beans in the pan-galactic scheme of things--and rather sharply.

And on the purely positive side, the book contains things that every reader should like. Culture. Cheeky AI's. Neat weapons. An endless supply of REALLY alien civilizations. Moral ambiguity and inscrutability.

If Banks' next Culture book is completely different that this one, and is at least six hundred pages long, I bet I'll be completely satisfied as I was with this one.

Great!!!

First of all I love the entire Culture series...aside from Frank Herbert's Dune series, this is the best sci-fi series of all time. The philosophy and sociology in these books offers a fascinating lesson for modern times. Alot of the professional reviews said this book was too long, I thought there was a sense of adventure throughout the book and I thought it ended all too soon. The ending was abrupt, and typically Banksian i.e. lots of people die. I would have liked to learn more about the Aultridia and the Morthanveld, but maybe they'll turn up in later novels...

Nothing much Matters

Can this be the author of "Consider Phlebas" and "The Bridge"? I slogged through "Matter" as a duty to one of the UK's best writers (with and without the 'M'). "Sorely disappointed" in Matter doesn't adequately describe it. I had to go back to Phlebas to reassure myself that he was as good as I'd thought. It may be harsh, but if I were Banks I'd have put Matter in the bin, or published it under a pseudonym.

Awesome Space Opera

Take "Macbeth" and "The Hobbit", shake them together with a pinch of "The Lord of the Rings", set the result far in the future, and you've got the basics for this book.

A king is murdered and a son flees for his life into adventures that take him far beyond anything he'd ever expected to experience. On his adventures, he runs into his sister, long gone from the family and all grown up to be the far future equivalent of a special operator. They all return home to avenge the murder, and in the process stop Sauron.

Oh, and Samwise Gamgee lives happily ever after.

I picked this book up on Saturday afternoon, and finished it on Sunday evening. It sucked me in completely.

UPDATE: BTW, the book is worth it just for the names of the ships. Who'll ever forget "Eight Rounds Rapid", "Don't Try This At Home", or "Subtle Shift In Emphasis"? Reading Banks's books you get the impression that AIs have this hysterical, never quite revealed, take on the humans.