Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
The subtlest Culture novel, 18 Mar 2008
Having read a few lousy reviews I feel the need to chip in! I'm a huge fan of all the Culture books, and while ok yes this one does grind along at times, overall I found it deeply fascinating. It feels more "grown-up" somehow than its predecessors - no tricksy structure ("Inversions" or "Use of Weapons") or clever computer-speak ("Excession") but rather a thoughtful exploration of the interplay between the different races at different levels of technological development. I love the way Banks shuttles effortlessly up and down the Sarl-Oct-Nariscene-Morthanveld ladder of patronage / influence / manipulation, and that you slowly realise that there is:
1. Influence that the characters in the book know about
2. Influence that the characters in the book suspect
3. Influence that the characters in the book are oblivious to, that but READERS will start to suspect
So you really have to read between the lines to work out what is actually going on. Superb, thought-provoking stuff, and very relevant to the current situation on our own shell of a world...
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56 of 64 people found the following review helpful:
Another fine Culture novel, 24 Jan 2008
While his mainstream and standard SF novels have been increasingly disappointing in recent years, the author's marvellous Culture universe has never failed to provide Banks with the ideal material for setting his imagination loose, and it has always resulted in the creation of the writer's best work. Matter is no exception.
Disconcertingly however, Fantasy elements are to the fore at the start of this new Culture novel. Set on the Eighth level of the Shellworld of Sursamen, the story is initially based around the court intrigues following the death of King Hausk of the Sarl warrior race during a battle with the Dedalyn of the Ninth level. The King's murder, by his best friend, is witnessed by Prince Ferbin, who flees for his life, while his brother Oramen is prepared for the throne. His search for justice takes Ferbin outside of Sursamen in a quest for his sister Djan Seriy Anaplian, who is now a member of the Culture, working in Special Circumstances, an agency that monitors and secretly intervenes in more primitive civilisations in the galaxy. It soon becomes clear to Anaplian that there is more going on around Sursamen than a localised power struggle on her primitive home world - there are worrying signs of activity that suggest that there are higher forces interested in the events playing out on the Shellworld.
With its basic quest outline and explorations of ancient cultures and mysterious planets that hold ancient secrets, Matter often feels like Banks's last SF novel The Algebraist rewritten as a Culture novel. Although it still leans largely towards fantasy, the whole balance however is much better here, with the several plot threads all moving towards a common purpose, and Banks working as well on the small scale characterisation of the personalities on the Eighth level of Sursamen, as he does in extending it outward into the wider scope of the Culture universe. As ever, Banks continues to expand on the almost limitless possibilities of this vast universe in his depiction of the other Optimae races - the Morthanveld, the Nariscene and the Oct - and in his marvellous creation of the fascinating and mysterious multi-level Shellworlds. The small details accumulate and Matter all builds up marvellously into an appropriately epic scale with a suitably explosive grand finale. If only all Iain Banks books were as good as the Culture novels...
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Fear of Flying, 10 April 2008
Space operas can be ungainly beasts. Carrying the heavy load of vast stretches of galactic history, manifold ultra-advanced civilisations, hyper(supra?)-intelligent machines and an abundance of very, very silly names, their early stages often resemble nothing more than an overweight, young goose making its first attempt to get aloft: first comes the slow and steady glide into starting position as millennia of backstory are doled out by characters who might as well be named Ba's-l xPo'zish'n for all that they resemble octopoid man-pigs, diamond-eyed cyberdogs or (as here) a large piece of shrubbery; next comes the beginning of forward momentum, the legs of our over-extended metaphor quickening their pace beneath the water as multiple plot-lines are set out, conspiracies put in place and overwhelming threats to the galaxy itself are foreshadowed; and then, at last, comes the take off - a sudden burst of frantic flapping and splashing as we leap from sub-plot to sub-plot and character to character, aware that they must inevitably come together to create that thrilling, magnificent moment when the story finally soars. It may sometimes be a messy process but the promise of flight is what keeps us watching.
Iain M Banks has proved himself something of a master of space opera aerodynamics over the years. Ever since Consider Phlebas in 1987 he has provided a series of thrilling, witty praise-showered tales of futuristic derring-do, that have deservedly attracted a large audience of devoted fans and a significant number of Wikipedia pages.
Unfortunately, with Matter, Banks seems to have mislaid his flight manual. At least two-thirds of the story is spent paddling into position, setting out the internecine conflicts of a basically Medieval society with a few steampunk leanings and sketching out some slightly new takes on Banks's traditional male hero figure, the man/boy with an essentially teenage mindset, and retreading his traditional female hero figure, the preternaturally mature but emotionally distant young woman.
Normally in an Iain M Banks story nominally set in The Culture, Banks's anarchic, high-tech utopia, this long set-up period would at least be accompanied by some hilarious byplay from the "Minds" (those supra-intelligent - and rather camp - machines that run the society's culture) or a plethora of laugh-out-loud spaceship names (it was far too long before the Lightly Seared on the Reality Grill made itself known in Matter). Here we get instead the machinations of court and the workings of a baddie who is, in essence, merely another take on the wicked vizier.
The story does take off, eventually, but it's a very short flight. There's less than a fifth of the book left when the real source of evil finally makes itself known and the forces of good finally manage to come together and from there everything happens at such a frantic pace that it's difficult for either the reader or the author to care that much. What could have proved promising territory, as family members kept apart for years and further distanced by vast technological and cultural space are reunited, is skipped over in a few paragraphs. Indeed, by the time of the final confrontation I found the only character I still had any time for was a gung-ho offensive drone, particularly worrying given that most of the other characters were frantically applying for Sidney Carton like moments of redemption at the same time.
Ah well. Like most of Iain M Banks (and Iain Banks)'s work, this is undoubtedly a page-turner. There are plenty of well-hewn sentences to admire, alongside some interesting new coinages. There is excitement and wit, though not aplenty. If that's what you're looking for, why not have a gander at Feersumm Endjinn or even The Bridge?
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