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Product Description
Product Description
It begins in the realm of the Real, where matter still matters.
It begins with a murder.And it will not end until the Culture has gone to war with death itself.
Lededje Y'breq is one of the Intagliated, her marked body bearing witness to a family shame, her life belonging to a man whose lust for power is without limit. Prepared to risk everything for her freedom, her release, when it comes, is at a price, and to put things right she will need the help of the Culture.
Benevolent, enlightened and almost infinitely resourceful thought it may be, the Culture can only do so much for any individual. With the assistance of one of its most powerful - and arguably deranged - warships, Lededje finds herself heading into a combat zone not even sure which side the Culture is really on. A war - brutal, far-reaching - is already raging within the digital realms that store the souls of the dead, and it's about to erupt into reality.
It started in the realm of the Real and that is where it will end. It will touch countless lives and affect entire civilizations, but at the center of it all is a young woman whose need for revenge masks another motive altogether.
SURFACE DETAIL is Iain M. Banks' new Culture novel, a breathtaking achievement from a writer whose body of work is without parallel in the modern history of science fiction.
It begins with a murder.And it will not end until the Culture has gone to war with death itself.
Lededje Y'breq is one of the Intagliated, her marked body bearing witness to a family shame, her life belonging to a man whose lust for power is without limit. Prepared to risk everything for her freedom, her release, when it comes, is at a price, and to put things right she will need the help of the Culture.
Benevolent, enlightened and almost infinitely resourceful thought it may be, the Culture can only do so much for any individual. With the assistance of one of its most powerful - and arguably deranged - warships, Lededje finds herself heading into a combat zone not even sure which side the Culture is really on. A war - brutal, far-reaching - is already raging within the digital realms that store the souls of the dead, and it's about to erupt into reality.
It started in the realm of the Real and that is where it will end. It will touch countless lives and affect entire civilizations, but at the center of it all is a young woman whose need for revenge masks another motive altogether.
SURFACE DETAIL is Iain M. Banks' new Culture novel, a breathtaking achievement from a writer whose body of work is without parallel in the modern history of science fiction.
About the Author
Iain Banks came to controversial public notice with the publication of his first novel, The Wasp Factory, in 1984. Consider Phlebas, his first science fiction novel, was published under the name Iain M. Banks in 1987. He is now widely acclaimed as one of the most powerful, innovative and exciting writers of his generation. Iain M. Banks lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. Find out more about Iain M. Banks at www.iainbanks.net.
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Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Back to The Culture,
By
This review is from: Surface Detail (Hardcover)
Absolutely no-one does space opera with the sheer brio of Iain Banks. Partly, it's the scale: unthinkably brilliant AI's; unthinkably huge spaceships (Torturer-class picket ships! Abominator-class offensive units! Deepest Regrets class warships!) capable of travelling at several thousand times the speed of light; a galaxy populated by trillions of beings - human and otherwise - in which the destruction of an entire star system might barely rate a notice; the ability to change one's sex merely by willing it...I could go on and on.Partly also, it's the Banksian voice, endlessly sardonic, sometimes to the point of childishness, more often laugh-out-loud funny. And to a large extent, it's how he portrays the interaction between man and machine, between poor little meat-based humans and the vastly more intelligent and powerful AI's who actually run the show. He does it by having the AI's find it useful to scale themselves down, in the form of drones for detached missions, and avatars for communicating with shipboard passengers. One of the main "characters" in Surface Detail is Demeisen, avatar of the Abominator-class ship Falling Outside Of The Normal Moral Constraints. Demeisen has "personality" to spare. Plot summary? Well, it all has to do with that old stand-by, virtual reality. More specifically, with the decision of some civilizations to create virtual hells for punishment of the wicked and deterrence of the rest. Trouble is, other civilizations find this practice abhorrent, and it might just lead to war in the Real. All in all, pure fun. Yes, it's a bit too long (627 pages), could have used some tighter editing, but over all, a great read.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Typically great,
By
This review is from: Surface Detail (Hardcover)
You almost can't go wrong with an Iain Banks novel, I've enjoyed all his last few offerings. As already noted, this is not quite as tight as some of his previous works, but his writing style sweeps you up effortlessly. He's one of the few authors I know who can make the revealing of technical details, which other authors make you grind through, an intense and thrilling experience. If you're not familiar with "the Culture", not to worry, it's thoroughly explained. If you are familiar with "the Culture", new revelations will keep you intrigued.Enjoy!
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great Banks novel,
By
This review is from: Surface Detail (Hardcover)
I think this is his best. I am re-reading it, which is rare for me as there are so many books to read.The other reviewers are all right, except for one thing; it is great space opera, about virtual reality and all that, but I don't agree with the "needs editing" comments. In fact, this is also a great social commentary and philosophy book; the virtual Hells mentioned by another reviewer are a use of virtual reality to subject people to terrible tortures where they can never die, so are very like the real hell envisaged by some christians. Banks uses this to comment on our own use of barbaric punishment. If you look for the comparison points with our own society you will easily see how he pushes these to the limits and thereby causes us to look again at the place these vices and virtues play in our own lives. One of the heroines, Ledetje, illustrates both the place attractive women can be put into in our own society, used as an adornment for some successful man and the more general ways in which the powerful can become corrupt but also how people can struggle against it. So don't ask to edit out the "slow bits", read the lines and between them and you will see that this is an even better book than you thought. Especially the second time.
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