⋙ Libro Gratis Matter Iain M Banks 9781841494180 Books

Matter Iain M Banks 9781841494180 Books

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Matter Iain M Banks 9781841494180 Books

My general experience in reading culture novels is that I enjoy them but I almost always find myself unsatisfied at the end. In all but two (Player of Games and Look to Windward) I ended up feeling duped or cheated, because the central driving force was no better than a cheap ruse (see Consider Phlebas and Excession) . Matter is different in that it holds together from beginning to end and does not take it's driving force from some convenient MacGuffin. However, in the course of the novel, everything that would ultimately make the ending satisfying is vaporized. It's a bit like Hamlet it space, and that really wasn't I wanted to sign up for.

For all that, it's one of the best written Culture novels: it held my attention to the end. I would have liked a clearer denouement, but we can't always get what we want.


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Matter Iain M Banks 9781841494180 Books Reviews

Hated the first 1/3 of this book. Was like a bad black adder episode. All funny words, cunning plans, idiot princes, evil ministers, blah blah.

Once you.batter past that it does get better.

I do feel like Banks based all.the characters off Black Adder. Holse is Baldrick. Tyl is Black Adder. Ferbin is Prince regent.
As with all of Banks' novels I've read, the writing is very engaging. Unfortunately, this is one of Banks' worst for abrupt change of pace and change of focus. After more than 500 pages of a political intrigue storyline, that storyline is resolved extremely abruptly and mostly off-screen. The last 50 or so pages are practically a different story, elevating what was a secondary plot line to the central plot. Plot twists are not inherently bad, but the political intrigue and the secondary story are very poorly tied together. The net effect is that the resolution of the political intrigue is unsatisfying and the investment in that plot line fails to transfer to the secondary plot, while the secondary plot has not had enough time to generate it's own investment.
The book started somewhat slowly with the killing of King Hausk by his longtime friend and trusted adviser during a war with the Deldeyn. The killing was witnessed by his son Ferbin who then took off with his servant Holse to seek help. The story catches fire as Ferbin and Holse begin a trek to find help among the ruling races of the galaxy and the Culture, but his quest for justice runs afoul of their non-interference policy.

The writing is uniformly excellent and often humorous especially when coming from the pragmatic Holse. It's another classic entry in the Culture series even though I had some reservations with the ending.
To me the least involving aspect of this novel is what takes so much room in it -- the lower level society located on one level of a multi-level shell world (an incredible construct) and its military/ruling family disorders. The real focus of this novel is the wonderfully conceived female refugee from that family, cast away by her father, the King, to the Culture, where in the end she becomes a Special Circumstances agent. In the process, we learn of two fantastically imagined, higher level intergalactic societies with which the Culture interacts, both perhaps its technological equals, and two mid-level societies that, while they enjoy intersteller travel, are a clear step down from these three -- or behind. Add to this the mysteries of two more very high-level, but now vanished (millions of years ago) glactic societies -- vanished with an exception --that left behind indelible traces of their opposing handiwork, and yet one more strange, elder society that crowds the stage, formerly of great but no longer well understood capability, now deemed senile. The motives and interactions of these societies, with each other and up and down the line, on a canvas unimaginably more vast than that on which the original lower level society plays out its small part, dazzle, daunt, and (dare I say) morally instruct. The SC agent figure links all this together, rejoining her original society after years in the Culture, initally for family and local reasons, but later to deal with more alarming considerations that threaten to unravel the very fabric of galactic society as a whole. Banks continues to perfect and play out his usual themes of altruism and its opposite, cruelty and kindness, mistrust, miscommunication, misunderstanding, courage, and the importance of singeleness of purpose -- this time with an effective and welcome strain of real humor. Is the ending abrupt? Perhaps. But pretty thrilling anyhow. I agree with others don't start here -- but do eventually go on to this one after you start.
Iaim M. banks deserves a listing in the Science Fiction hall of fame "Killer B's". This book was like all of the "Culture" series of books, in so much that there is a story beyond the story of the book. The reader is not only treated to a compelling plot, you are also rewarded with the writing expertise of a true artisan.
This book is similar in style as Bank's book titled "Feersum Endjinn", another great read. I own the book "Matter" in paperback, yet had a one day sale of this book for $1.99, so I purchased it to add to my digital library.
When I finish reading a "Culture" series book, I always spend a couple of days working the story through my mind's eye."Matter" is a great read.
Iaim M. Banks has passed on, so there will no more forthcoming books.
My general experience in reading culture novels is that I enjoy them but I almost always find myself unsatisfied at the end. In all but two (Player of Games and Look to Windward) I ended up feeling duped or cheated, because the central driving force was no better than a cheap ruse (see Consider Phlebas and Excession) . Matter is different in that it holds together from beginning to end and does not take it's driving force from some convenient MacGuffin. However, in the course of the novel, everything that would ultimately make the ending satisfying is vaporized. It's a bit like Hamlet it space, and that really wasn't I wanted to sign up for.

For all that, it's one of the best written Culture novels it held my attention to the end. I would have liked a clearer denouement, but we can't always get what we want.