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Consider Phlebas: A Culture Novel (The Culture) [Paperback]

Iain M. Banks
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (121 customer reviews)
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Book Description

14 April 1988 The Culture

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.

Consider Phlebas - a space opera of stunning power and awesome imagination.


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Consider Phlebas: A Culture Novel (The Culture) + The Player Of Games (The Culture) + Use Of Weapons (The Culture)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 480 pages
  • Publisher: Orbit; New Ed edition (14 April 1988)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1857231384
  • ISBN-13: 978-1857231380
  • Product Dimensions: 12.6 x 3.5 x 20.1 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (121 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 19,568 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Review

Banks is a phenomenon: the wildly successful, fearlessly creative author of brilliant and disturbing non-genre novels, he's equally at home writing pure science fiction of a perculiarly gnarly energy and elegance (William Gibson )

There is now no British SF writer to whose work I look forward with greater keenness (THE TIMES )

Poetic, humourous, baffling, terrifying, sexy - the books of Iain M. Banks are all these things and more (NME )

Book Description

The first novel in Iain M. Banks' bestselling Culture series --This text refers to the Perfect Paperback edition.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly enjoyable 7 Sep 2011
By RoverP
Format:Paperback
I don't usually read science fiction but I picked this up just to try something different. The title, the list of contents and the small font all gave me the feeling that this was not going to be an easy read. I was wrong! One's interest is captured early on and empathy with the main character stays with you through to the end. That does not mean that Horza is a nice character or a good character - it is just that you sympathise with his plight.

The characters develop well as the story unfolds and the outcome is always in doubt. Much is left unresolved at the end but the end is not an unsatisfying one. For all the adventures and achievements of one person in a war, ultimately they count for little in the scale of things.

Whether an author's fantasy is founded in fact or is just pure imagination, science fiction allows the author to get away with the most ridiculous nonsense which is why I tend to dislike the genre. Banks clearly lets his imagination run riot and has some fun with it but the reason this book works is that this imagination is not the core of the book. Rather it is a vessel in which to play out a morality tale of someone caught between two sides in a conflict and his attitudes to and relationships with those on either side or none.

Banks never lets the absurdity of the imagined worlds and behaviours over-power the moral dilemmas and relationships at the heart of the story and as a result one keeps turning the pages. Despite the fears this was a genuinely enjoyable read.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Great story well told 23 April 2008
Format:Paperback
This is my first Iain Banks Novel and proved to be an absorbing and thrilling read. (Thks Mark). The plot (set in the backdrop of a Galatic war between the Idirans and the Culture) moves along at a nice pace and develops characters to a degree that you quickly sympathise with them even when they're diametrically opposed.

Bank's imagination is un-surpassed as you experience orbitals, GSV's, quirky robots,a life threatening game of poker called damage and much more..

The ending is a little disappointing but serves to emphasise that you have just read about the experiences of a small band of mercenaries, caught up in huge conflict played out over unimaginable distances spanning many years. (Also liked the small appendices at the back of the book detailing the reasons for the war)

On the whole this is a good introduction to Ian Banks and I would not hesitate in recommending this book to anyone.
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33 of 38 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars The Wasp Factory in space... brutally good. 4 Jan 2004
Format:Paperback
Just as Iain Banks' first novel "The Wasp Factory" was a calling-card for his somewhat twisted world-view, so "Consider Phlebas", his first SF novel as Iain M, gives you a pretty clear idea of what to expect in his subsequent SF. Extraordinary as it may seem to anyone who has read much of his other work, this book takes first prize for scope of ideas and - most particularly - inventive emotional brutality. This is emphatically not an easy read. Yes, it's space opera. Yes, it's a gung-ho adventure story. No, it's not like any of the other 5 million books in this genre. For its sheer skill at leaving horrible images in your mind as a result of really quite limited violent episodes the only comparison which springs to mind is Julian May's "Intervention".
The story sees a man - well, not exactly a man - caught on the wrong side (defined as the one which is going to lose) in a galaxy-wide conflict. His efforts to assist his alien allies lead him into a spiral of death and destruction where even his identity is gradually stripped away. The pointlessness of his desperate struggle is finally confirmed in the appendix, where in a couple of lines Banks creates the final, overwhelming message of the book as a whole. Of course, he gave it away in the title.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars awful, autistic trip
i felt like i was reading the words of a lonely school kid. The characters had stupid names, they were awfully developed, it included a cringe worthy mix of attempts at Hollywood... Read more
Published 7 days ago by michael lever
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Great first book in a series I can't wait to continue, really engaging writing and brilliant characters, would recommend to anyone
Published 15 days ago by David Burke
5.0 out of 5 stars What a pleasure ..
.. to have the rest of the Culture series to look forward to. I've read all the detective stuff, thought I'd start on the SF and now can't put them down. Fantastic.
Published 21 days ago by Bev Pace
5.0 out of 5 stars The original
I went back to re read this after many years, and still find it brimming with ideas and concepts that seem fresh and new. Also a great read
Published 21 days ago by Charles MacKinnon
5.0 out of 5 stars As original....
... and witty now as it was twenty odd years ago. Clever, thought provoking and entertaining. If you've read it before (I had) go back to it for old time's sake.
Published 1 month ago by Scallywag
5.0 out of 5 stars Thankyou Iain
In the light of the news of the author's terminal cancer, I wanted to say something that could maybe express my condolences to him and thank him for creating a collection of... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Cannonball Stan
5.0 out of 5 stars First Iain M Banks book I ever read
A pleasure to re-read this Culture novel. The imagination of the author is limitless. He really does take you to a different time and place. Very entertaining and enjoyable. Read more
Published 1 month ago by bknewhaven
5.0 out of 5 stars Good read
Great imagination ... Great, tragic,exciting story.

What? 14 more words required? Ok erm yes I do recommend this very much.
Published 2 months ago by Portly Bill
4.0 out of 5 stars Great scene setter
Actually the story itself is worthy of 3 stars as it was very slow to get going but what got it four stars was the originality and depth of the whole universe creat by IMB. Read more
Published 2 months ago by S. Golzari
3.0 out of 5 stars TOO MUCH ATTENTION TO DETAIL MAKE PHEBUS A DULL(ER) STORY
Despite a strong cast of characters and an engaging storyline, this book unfortunately gets too bogged down in a mire of description to raise it above the level of average for me... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Easily Me
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