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Consider Phlebas (The Culture)
 
 
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Consider Phlebas (The Culture) [Kindle Edition]

Iain M. Banks (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (123 customer reviews)
Print List Price: £8.99
Kindle Price: £5.98 includes VAT* & free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
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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
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Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 715 KB
  • Print Length: 480 pages
  • Publisher: Orbit; New Ed edition (4 Sep 2008)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B002TXZRQI
  • Text-to-Speech: Not enabled
  • X-Ray: Not Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (123 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #606 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 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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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Thankyou Iain 5 April 2013
By Cannonball Stan
Format:Paperback
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 stories that have, quite simply, outshone anything else I have read in my 46 years.
The Culture series have formed the bedrock of my reading for the last 24 years, since I first picked up Consider Phlebas. Subsequent novels have expanded and complicated the Culture universe, but for me this first book is the best. The final section set in the underground tunnels is so evocatively written it gives me goosebumps to this day just thinking about it. Beautifully paced and pitched, devastatingly emotional in the juxtaposition of the close-up personal tragedies it describes and the ultimately futile, almost unnoticed effect of the episode on the war itself. I have re-read Consider Phlebas many times and I am in awe of the man who could dream up such fantasy and tease out so many emotions in the reader by the manner in which he writes. Thankyou Iain for the legacy of your talents. I am (selfishly) bereft that there will be no more Culture novels, but that pales next to the news you gave us two days ago. You are the writer that gave me the gift of reading, and for that I will be ever grateful.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Great story well told 23 April 2008
By Kevin O'reilly
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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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The best culture novel 26 Dec 2011
By David Clarke
Format:Paperback
This first entry in Banks's Culture series is regarded by surprisingly many people as one of the lesser works, in comparison to the likes of Player of Games and Use of Weapons. However I very much enjoyed it, and I prefer Consider Phlebas to the four other Banks novels that I have read thus far.

The novel introduces the reader to the Culture, a non-hierarchical hi-tech utopian humanoid civilisation sustained primarily by "Minds" - artificial intelligences that inhabit giant spaceships, in which the humans live. The protagonist is a shape-shifting humanoid who is allied to the Idirans, a rival alien civilisation of a Spartan ethos. The Idirans' brutal expansion and annexation of surrounding peoples provokes the Culture to wage war against them, and the novel charts the protagonist's adventures as he plays his part in the conflict.

I found Consider Phlebas satisfying as escapism and as science fiction. It really is an engrossing tale, and Banks's is probably the most successful utopia that any author has described.

I was also impressed by Banks's neutrality in his treatment of the two competing civilisations - something that I feel is lacking in the other Culture novels that I've read. That the protagonist is on the side of the civilisation with whom the reader would naturally tend to identify helps in this regard.
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34 of 39 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars The Wasp Factory in space... brutally good. 4 Jan 2004
By Dr Frazer Anderson
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
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic space opera science fiction
Banks is just as good at writing broad and imaginative sci fi as he is at writing quietly and dark dramas. Well worth a read!
Published 11 days ago by sam lockley
3.0 out of 5 stars Mediocre Sci fi
If you're looking for galaxy spanning space opera, try Peter Hamilton.
Consider Phlebas is a single story thread following the actions of the main character, Horza. Read more
Published 21 days ago by Alexander Brown
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 1 month 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 1 month 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 1 month 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 1 month 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 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 2 months 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 3 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 3 months ago by S. Golzari
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“Empathize with stupidity and you’re halfway to thinking like an idiot,” &quote;
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experience as well as common sense indicated that the most reliable method of avoiding self-extinction was not to equip oneself with the means to accomplish it in the first place. &quote;
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And if we tamper with our inheritance, so what? What is more ours to tamper with? What makes nature more right than us? If we get it wrong that’s because we are stupid, not because the idea was bad. &quote;
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