What is your favorite Iain M Banks novel?

veschke · May 8, 2012

I've read The Player of Games, The Use of Weapons, and Matter. Two of the three left me feeling distinctly... annoyed with the author, shall we say. Should I give another of his books a try, or add him to the shelf of "totally brill but not for me?"

Once! · May 8, 2012

I know what you mean. I don't like the way all of his books start with confusing characters and apparently disparate plot lines. It's fun the first few times, but gets tiresome after a while.

I've tried several times to read the Algebraist without success.

Just finished Transition - a non-Culture novel but with the same problem/ issue.

For me, the good points outweigh the bad and I do rate him as one of my favourite authors. But ... life is too short to struggle with a book you are not enjoying. And there are far too many good books out there. So if it's not working, then I'd look elsewhere. You're not alone in finding him a bit irritating at times.

Torgo · May 8, 2012

The Player of Games is my favourite, closely followed by Excession. The difficulty for me with his recent work is that he seems to be having trouble finding things for his human characters to do.

RobJ · May 8, 2012

I've read Consider Phlebas and The Player of Games. I've listened to Matter on audio book. I'm currently reading Surface Detail, and I've also read Transition. Of those, Transition made the best impression, though I wasn't totally happy with the ending.

I think Banks is the author I love to hate. I find all kinds of reasons not to read his books, but keep reading them. I'm about two-thirds the way into Surface Detail and have a list of things that I dislike, but I'm starting to enjoy it. Somewhere in there he must be doing something right.

Maxx · May 8, 2012

veschke said:
I've read The Player of Games, The Use of Weapons, and Matter. Two of the three left me feeling distinctly... annoyed with the author, shall we say. Should I give another of his books a try, or add him to the shelf of "totally brill but not for me?"

Matter and the Algebraist don't seem to be Culture Novels. Apparently they are some kind of simulated cosmoi (maybe in a Culture machine mind?).

Matter is very annoying! And Use of Weapons is as well. My favorite Banks books are Excession and The Player of Games.

I think the early Culture novels (Consider Phlebas, The Player of Games and Excession and Maybe Use of Weapons ) hit a sweet spot in the Banksian repetoire but even Use of Weapons and Consider Phlebas are a bit too creepy as of course is Matter. If you line up the creepy/depressing Banks you get:
Matter, Against a Dark Background, Consider Phlebas, Feersum Engine (also known as Unreedible Ingeen) and Use of Weapons.

I prefer the happy-go-lucky slaughter of Excession, Player of Games and the Algebriast.

Maxx · May 8, 2012

Torgo said:
The Player of Games is my favourite, closely followed by Excession. The difficulty for me with his recent work is that he seems to be having trouble finding things for his human characters to do.

Yes. Those two are the best. I haven't read anything later than Matter and the Algebraist (ie no Transition and no Surface Detail).

Grunkins · May 8, 2012

I've only read two of his books thus far, Consider Phlebas and Player of Games, and I really enjoyed both of them. I'm considering starting Use of Weapons today. On the strength of the first two I read I've ordered 5 or 6 more. He was a very pleasant surprise.

dpaterso · May 8, 2012

Insolently edited the thread title to include the "M" letter Banks uses for his Sci-Fi persona!

There have been many novels I've liked lots (I'm re-reading Excession right now, and just finished re-reading Look To Windward last month), and there are a couple I've had trouble with. He's still batting above average. If I had to pick favorites... Player of Games has a lot going for it, ditto Consider Phlebas.

-Derek

veschke · May 8, 2012

dpaterso said:
Insolently edited the thread title to include the "M" letter Banks uses for his Sci-Fi persona!

Thank you.

I couldn't remember which way around he used that.

I guess I shall give Excession a try, at least. In my copious free time.

Shadow_Ferret · May 8, 2012

I never heard of him. He writes sci-fi, but only with an M?

Grunkins · May 8, 2012

Shadow_Ferret said:
I never heard of him. He writes sci-fi, but only with an M?

Yes. He writes literary fiction as Iain Banks, and SF as Iain M. Banks.

Once! · May 8, 2012

Apart from his latest, Transition, which most would call science fiction but is set in a contemporary world. For that novel, he writes as "Iain Banks". Other than that, he generally writes sifi as Iain M. Banks.

Rob Lopez · May 8, 2012

Consider Phlebas was the first of his novels that I read and I enjoyed that the most. It is still my favourite space opera and still very readable. Player of Games was a page turner as well. Excession was a fun read.

Use of Weapons was ok but even after a second read I really couldn't remember much of it. Against a Dark Background was dark to the point of being opaque, but I made it to the end. The Algebraist however I gave up on. Nothing after that really tempted me to buy.

His writing style is fluent but I get the sense that he's trying to be too Literary now and his radical politics and mysanthropic viewpoint is creeping in too much. The cod-feminism was getting repeated ad-nauseum in exactly the same way every time - enough already! I got the message the first time.

A talented stylist but he's disappearing up his own backside by playing to the radical intellectual gallery.

Torgo · May 8, 2012

Rob Lopez said:
A talented stylist but he's disappearing up his own backside by playing to the radical intellectual gallery.

I dunno if it's fair to say 'playing to the gallery' - that kind of implies he's not sincere. I'd also say politics aren't so much radical as traditional Scots leftie adapted to a post-scarcity Utopia. It makes sense to be Communist if, actually, resources are infinite. Cf Ken MacLeod.

ETA: Wait, no it doesn't. An anarchist, I guess.

Chasing the Horizon · May 8, 2012

I loved the ideas and characters in The Algebraist. However, I found his style of writing very nearly unreadable in places (even Stephen King has never constructed a run-on sentence of such amazing complexity). It didn't leave me falling all over myself to read more of his stuff.

Umbrageofsnow · May 14, 2012

I've never actually been able to finish a Culture novel, although I started "The Use of Weapons" a few years ago. But I really got a kick out of his Iain M. Banks short story collection "State of the Art." It might be off topic for the SF forum, but I also absolutely loved "The Wasp Factory," although it's an Iain Banks (no M.) book. It isn't SF, but I read it as a horror novel and it is definitely a favorite.

What is your favorite Iain M Banks novel?

veschke

Tortoise

Once!

Still confused by shoelaces

Torgo

Formerly Phantom of Krankor.

RobJ

Maxx

Got the hang of it, here

Maxx

Got the hang of it, here

Grunkins

Grand adventurer of the couch

dpaterso

Also in our Discord and IRC chat channels

veschke

Tortoise

Shadow_Ferret

Court Jester

Grunkins

Grand adventurer of the couch

Once!

Still confused by shoelaces

Rob Lopez

New Skin; Learning About Thick Fish

Torgo

Formerly Phantom of Krankor.

Chasing the Horizon

Blowing in the Wind

Umbrageofsnow