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Title: Consider Phlebas |
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Review of Consider Phlebas
- "Dazzlingly original." -- Daily Mail
"Gripping, touching and funny." -- TLS
The war raged across the galaxy. Billions had died, billions more were doomed. Moons, planets, the very stars themselves, faced destruction, cold-blooded, brutal, and worse, random. The Idirans fought for their Faith; the Culture for its moral right to exist. Principles were at stake. There could be no surrender.
Within the cosmic conflict, an individual crusade. Deep within a fabled labyrinth on a barren world, a Planet of the Dead proscribed to mortals, lay a fugitive Mind. Both the Culture and the Idirans sought it. It was the fate of Horza, the Changer, and his motley crew of unpredictable mercenaries, human and machine, actually to find it, and with it their own destruction.
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Comments for Consider Phlebas
- Posted on 2008-07-06
Seminal work of "new" space opera- but not to everyone's taste.
I'm right in the demographic that is completely nuts about star wars, but I'm not. I saw the film in 1979 on the big screen. I was eight years old. Yes, it completely blew me away, and I was obsessed with it as a kid. I still have a soft spot for the three original movies, probably because they were seen through the eyes of a young boy without much access to TV or movies in general, and a bent toward nerdy scifi/fantasy stuff.
As I got older, I saw star wars for what I think it really is. A really great space opera for its time, with great special effects, characters and costumes. But limited. The empire and the rebels are kind of cardboard. Yoda (and I realized this the first time I saw it) has the same voice as Grover. The Ewoks are just cutesy muppets. Not to diminish it, but from an adult perspective, it just doesn't scratch my itch anymore. I'm more jaded, more sophisticated, and don't want to watch a muppet with Grover's voice dispensing Jedi wisdom.
This is where the Iain Banks culture novels come in. They scratch pretty much the same itch, but in more of an adult way. First, they're hard R for violence, sex, peril, etc. Second, there are some realistic and sophisticated political machinations going on that the characters inevitable interact with. More realistic and sophisticated than rebels vs. empire- more interesting as well. Third, they have cooler races, cooler weaponry, and WAY cooler robots!
That said, there's a certain sci-fi reader that may not like this. Someone who's into, for example, Greg Bear or John Scalzi. A more sedate and "scientific" breed of reader who likes plodding, pedestrian development, characterization, and books where the good guys always win in a nicely tied up ending. Banks doesn't play that. He writes on a grandiose scale- baroque plots, nasty alien races, awesome artificial intelligences- surprises around every corner. This is the real deal.
Score: 5
- Posted on 2008-07-02
A Better Starting Point
My first read of Iain M. Banks was The Algebraist, which I quite enjoyed and thought worth 4 stars. That was until I read "Consider Phlebas", the first of the Culture novels, and found myself far more impressed and interested.
The main character, an interesting Changer with some nasty surprises for those who irritate him, is on the hunt for a Culture mind that decided to hide itself on a Planet of the Dead. Horza is commissioned by a race at war with the Culture to find it and get it. The commission goes to the dogs pretty much right from the first minute, and the book's plot is made of Horza's attempts to get at the Mind. Sadly, the Culture are also aware of it, and his mission, so that adds something extra.
The scope of the story is massively huge, and the universe Banks has created is simply boggling in its immense size and variety. The range and sheer detail of the universe is wildly cool, and this alone kept me hooked until the end.
Sometimes, Bank's turn of phrase stretched the mind as he said things in a strange or unusual way. However, for the most part, this added to the "other-worldliness" of the story. Only occassionally did it distract from the business of enjoying the adventure.
Although I gave this the same rating as "The Algebraist" in my ignorance, I do consider this to be a much better book and story. Having read this, I am no longer wondering what people see in Iain M. Banks.
Score: 4
- Posted on 2008-06-27
Great action, but needs editing
I'm pretty sure there's a good book buried in here somewhere. There are good characters, a compelling if straightforward storyline, and some exciting action scenes. It would make a good movie. But Banks describes his action scenes in ridiculous detail, and from multiple viewpoints. He'll take 15 pages to tell something that happens in one minute. A good editor could turn this into a much better book that's about 2/3 as long. (This was my 2nd Banks novel; I enjoyed The Algebraist much more.)
Score: 3
- Posted on 2008-06-22
Some 4 stars bits, but a 2-star ending (huge spoilers!)
Consider Phlebas had some 4 star moments, for sure, but the ending was utterly 2 star, and that's being generous. I've read that it was an early book that Banks rewrote, and I believe it. I think he probably tweaked the actual writing a lot, but left the basic plot. And that's a problem: the ending felt very college writing class. I mean, come on. If you want to write a story whose whole point is that war is bigger than any individual, and that no one can really change the course of it, fine. But 500 pages of "and then this happened" space opera that suddenly and abruptly ends with what amounts to "and then then they all died, pointlessly" is just facile, and bad writing, too. I get what he was trying to do, and it didn't work for me. I had the same feeling of letdown at the end of The Business actually: good writing, but the ending didn't live up to what preceded it.
The book had other problems, too. The whole Fal N'Geestra intercut story line never really went anywhere, and then just petered out annoyingly. Sad, considering that it seemed like the most interesting storyline. I also didn't like his third person inconsistent POV. We mostly know only the thoughts of the two main characters, Bora and Fal, but, very occasionally, and in the middle of segments that are told with insight into Bora's POV, we suddenly see the thoughts of someone else whose thoughts we were never privy to before, and never will be again. That's not great writing, I don't think. That said, I'm probably going to keep reading his books. The good parts really are good, and I'm hoping that his later books cure the problems I had with this one...
Score: 3 - Posted on 2008-06-12
A Great Big Universe!
Read all the rave review about the Culture -- Can't believe it took me so long to find it... but anyways -- I did enjoy visiting that Universe....
Lots of interesting places and people --- I was a bit taken aback with all of (practicaly S&M) renditions of bizare tortures.... & the battles did become a bit tedious at times, well - usualy --- I am certain that the entire bit about 'the eaters' could have been left out entirely! That bit of gruesome perversion was totaly unnecesary and added diddle to the overall story -
Sadly, the attrition rate during the endless battles was the one constant... and Considering Phlebas was ernestly illustrated in an unexpected fashion...
Score: 4