_Consider Phlebas_ by Iain M. Banks
Apr. 16th, 2009 05:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexxkayGrand vistas, but grim storytelling.
Horza is a shape-changing interstellar spy, working during a war between two huge star-spanning civilizations. When we first meet him, he is literally in Deep Shit, having been caught by some enemies who have a particularly gross idea of appropriate execution methods. He is rescued, however, and given a new mission. Soon, however, he is marooned by a space battle, after which he falls in with a band of space pirates. He does his best to continue his mission under ever-more-dire circumstances, as his comrades die one by one around him. Eventually, at the big climax, he manages to snatch defeat from the very jaws of victory, and dies, unheroically. His (sympathetic) opponent 'wins', but is so traumatized that, not much later, she "auto-euthenizes"; so really, nobody wins.
I don't demand that stories have a happy ending (though I do generally prefer them); there are lots of other reasons to enjoy a book. The main ones, for me, are: witty dialogue, an interesting prose style, characters I want to spend time with, insight into the human condition, real-world facts, and worldbuilding. The prose and dialogue here are serviceable, but nothing to write home about. A few of the characters are mildly sympathetic, but none are likable enough to carry the book. The only insight I can see here is: "In a universe of vast wonders, the horrors also scale up to vastness." Which is not that enlightening, frankly. As the appendices make clear, horror is still a very minor fraction of the universe considered as a whole. The worldbuilding has *some* interest -- but Banks strikes me as the emotional equivalent of a small boy with wooden blocks; his main joy in building complex structures is in seeing what happens when he kicks them over.
To paraphrase![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rickthefightguy quoting The Princess Bride: "Geez, grampa! Why'd you tell me this story?" What reason is there for this book to exist? What was he trying to say that was worth hundred of pages of prose to say it?
I read this because I have heard many people whose opinions I respect recommend Banks, especially his Culture novels, of which this is the first. But I gotta say that there's nothing in this one for me. So a question for those who have read more of them: Do any of the others contain at least *some* of the elements I like?
Not Recommended.
Horza is a shape-changing interstellar spy, working during a war between two huge star-spanning civilizations. When we first meet him, he is literally in Deep Shit, having been caught by some enemies who have a particularly gross idea of appropriate execution methods. He is rescued, however, and given a new mission. Soon, however, he is marooned by a space battle, after which he falls in with a band of space pirates. He does his best to continue his mission under ever-more-dire circumstances, as his comrades die one by one around him. Eventually, at the big climax, he manages to snatch defeat from the very jaws of victory, and dies, unheroically. His (sympathetic) opponent 'wins', but is so traumatized that, not much later, she "auto-euthenizes"; so really, nobody wins.
I don't demand that stories have a happy ending (though I do generally prefer them); there are lots of other reasons to enjoy a book. The main ones, for me, are: witty dialogue, an interesting prose style, characters I want to spend time with, insight into the human condition, real-world facts, and worldbuilding. The prose and dialogue here are serviceable, but nothing to write home about. A few of the characters are mildly sympathetic, but none are likable enough to carry the book. The only insight I can see here is: "In a universe of vast wonders, the horrors also scale up to vastness." Which is not that enlightening, frankly. As the appendices make clear, horror is still a very minor fraction of the universe considered as a whole. The worldbuilding has *some* interest -- but Banks strikes me as the emotional equivalent of a small boy with wooden blocks; his main joy in building complex structures is in seeing what happens when he kicks them over.
To paraphrase
rickthefightguy quoting The Princess Bride: "Geez, grampa! Why'd you tell me this story?" What reason is there for this book to exist? What was he trying to say that was worth hundred of pages of prose to say it?I read this because I have heard many people whose opinions I respect recommend Banks, especially his Culture novels, of which this is the first. But I gotta say that there's nothing in this one for me. So a question for those who have read more of them: Do any of the others contain at least *some* of the elements I like?
Not Recommended.