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Book List
Series is Culture Series
Culture Series:

A loosly related series of science fiction books that all take place in the same universe.  Written by Iain M Banks.
#Year1st ReadTitleAuthor(s)My Rating 
1 1987 2010 (1) Consider Phlebas
Cover Blurb
Iain M Banks  Rated 3Rated 3Rated 3Rated 3Rated 3
I read thisIn my library
Book Cover
The war raged across the galaxy.  Billions had died, billions more were doomed.  Moons, planets, the very stars themselves, faced destruction, cold-blooded, brutal, and - worse - random.  The Idirans fought for their Faith; the Culture for its moral right to exist.  Principles were at stake.  There could be no surrender.

Within the cosmic confliict, an individual crusade.  Deep inside a fabled labyrinth on a barren world, a Planet of the Dead proscribed by mortals, lay a fugitive Mind.  Both the Culture and the Idirans sought it.  It was the fate of Horza, the Changer, and his motley crew of unpredictable mercenaries, human and machine, to actually find it, and with it their own destruction.

Consider Phlebas - a space opera of stunning power and awesome imagination.

"Banks is a phenomenon: the wildly successful, fearlessly creative author of brilliant and disturbing non-genre novels, he's equally at home writing pure science fiction of a peculiarly gnarly energy and elegance." William Gibson

"There is now no British SF writer to whose work I look forward with greater keenness." THE TIMES

"Poetic, humorous, baffling, terrifying, sexy - the books of Iain M. Banks are all these things and more." NME
2 1988 2010 (2) The Player of Games
Cover Blurb
Iain M Banks  Rated 3Rated 3Rated 3Rated 3Rated 3
I read thisIn my library
Book Cover
The Culture - a human/machine symbiotic society - has thrown up many great Game Players, and one of the greatest is Gurgeh.  Jernau Morat Gurgeh.  The Player of Games.  Master of every board, computer and strategy.

Bored with success, Gurgeh travels to the Empire of Azad, cruel and incredibly wealthy, to try their fabulous game... a game so complex, so like life itself, that the winner becomes emperor.  Mocked, blackmailed, almost murdered, Gurgeh accepts the game, and with it the challenge of his life - and possibly his death.

'Few of us have been exposed to a talent so manifest and of such extraordinary breadth'
THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF SCIENCE FICTION

'Poetic, humorous, baffling, terrifying, sexy - the books of Iain M. Banks are all these things and more.'  NME

'Confirms Banks as the standard by which the rest of SF is judged'  GUARDIAN

'There is now no British SF writer to whose work I look forward with greater keenness'  THE TIMES
3 1990 2010 (3) Use of Weapons
Cover Blurb
Iain M Banks  Rated 3Rated 3Rated 3Rated 3Rated 3
I read thisIn my library
Book Cover
The man known as Cheradenine Zakalwe was one of Special Circumstances' foremost agents, changing the destiny of planets to suit the Culture through intrigue, dirty tricks or military action.

The woman known as Diziet Sma had plucked him from obscurity and pushed him towards his present eminence, but despite all their dealings she did not know him as well as she thought.

The drone known as Skaffen-Amtiskaw knew both of these people.  It had once saved the woman's life by massacring her attackers in a particularly bloody manner.  It believed the man to be a burnt-out case.  But not even its machine intelligence could see the horrors in his past.

Ferociously intelligent, both witty and horrific, Use of Weapons is a masterpiece of science fiction

'There is now no British SF writer to whose work I look forward with greater keenness'  THE TIMES

'Poetic, humorous, baffling, terrifying, sexy - the books of Iain M. Banks are all these things and more.'  NME

'A sophisticated, intricately structured novel packed with action and moral insights, and so beautifully written I never wanted it to end'  TIME OUT
4 1991 2022 (4) The State of the Art
Cover Blurb
Iain M Banks  Rated 3Rated 3Rated 3Rated 3Rated 3
I read thisIn my library
Book Cover
State of the Art is the only collection of Iain Banks' short fiction, and includes the acclaimed Culture novella of the same name.  From science fiction to horror, dark-coated fantasy to morality tale, all bear the indefinable stamp of Iain Banks' staggering talent.

'Banks is a phenomenon: the wildly successful, fearlessly creative author of brilliant and disturbing non-genre novels, he's equally at home writing pure science fiction of a peculiarly gnarly energy and elegance.'  William Gibson

'Few of us have been exposed to a talent so manifest and of such extraordinary bredth'  THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF SCIENCE FICTION

'The standard by which the rest of SF is judged'  GUARDIAN

'Captivating' TIME OUT

'A wild imagination'  MAIL ON SUNDAY

'Spectacular... the field needs his energy, skill and invention.'  THE SCOTSMAN
5 1996 2013 (5) Excession
Cover Blurb
Iain M Banks  Rated 3Rated 3Rated 3Rated 3Rated 3
I read thisIn my library
Book Cover
Two and a half millenia ago, the artifact appeared in a remote corner of space, beside a trillion year-old dying sun from a different universe.  It was a perfect black-body sphere, and it did nothing.  Then it disappeared.

Now it is back.

'Banks is a phenomenon... wildly successful, fearlessly creative' - William Gibson

'Thrilling, affecting and comic... probably the finest scienc fiction he has written to date'  NEW SCIENTIST

'Banks has rewritten the libretto for the whole space-opera genre'  THE TIMES

'Gripping, touching and funny' TLS

'The story is vital and urgent and has a brilliantly subtle resolution... wildly enjoyable'  INTERZONE

'A dizzying adventure'  DAILY MAIL

'Explosive but tender'  SUNDAY TIMES
6 1998 2022 (6) Inversions
Cover Blurb
Iain M Banks  Rated 3Rated 3Rated 3Rated 3Rated 3
I read thisIn my library
Book Cover
In the winter palace, the King's new physician has more enemies than she at first realises.  But then she also has more remedies to hand than those who wish her ill can know about.

In another palace across the mountains, in the service of the regicidal Protector General, the chief bodyguard, too, has his enemies.  But his enemies strike more swiftly, and his means of combating them are more traditional.

'A fantastic, awe-inpiring book... I can't imagine not being won over by this deeply entertaining, thought-provoking and humane story.'  EXPRESS

'Taut, hilarious and wicked'  MAIL ON SUNDAY

'Compulsive Banksian reading... thoughtful, intelligently bloody stuff'  SFX

'Captivating... incisive... as sublime as ever'  TIME OUT
7 2000 2022 (7) Look to Windward
Cover Blurb
Iain M Banks  Rated 3Rated 3Rated 3Rated 3Rated 3
I read thisIn my library
Book Cover
It was one of the less glorious incidents of a long-ago war.

It led to the destruction of two suns and the billions of lives they supported.

Now, eight hundred years later, the light from the first of those ancient mistakes has reached the Culture Orbital, Masaq'.

The light from the second may not.

'Confirms Banks as the standard by which the rest of SF is judged'  GUARDIAN

'In terms of sheer storytelling prowess and verve, Look to Windward is a work of genius'  SFX

'A great book'  NEW SCIENTIST

'It's a gymnasium for the imagination'  EVENING STANDARD

'A mordant wit, a certain savagery and a wild imagination'  MAIL ON SUNDAY

'Spectacular... the field needs this energy, skill and invention'  THE SCOTSMAN

'Banks; mind-expanding future history is unrivalled for imaginative sweep, startling ideas, and savage by wry sense of humour.  One of the best just got even better'  STARBURST
8 2008 2023 (8) Matter
Cover Blurb
Iain M Banks  Rated 3Rated 3Rated 3Rated 3Rated 3
I read thisIn my library
Book Cover
MATTER is a novel of dazzling wit and serious purpose.  Am extraordinary feat of storytelling and breathtaking invention on a grand scale, it is a tour de force from a writer who has changed the face of science fiction.

'Of all the books I've read of ultrapowerful galactic civilisations, this one does it best.  Incredible tech and a huge scope, yet telling a very human story that stands out among the vastness'  WIRED.COM

'This long-awaited return for both the writing legend and his finest creation is a delight'  SFX

'[Banks] can summon up sense-of-wonder Big Concepts you've never seen before and display them with narration as deft as a conjuror's fingers' SCIFI.COM

'A searing inquiry into justified warfare and the dangers of imposing your ideas of civilisation, told at a rattling pace with breathtaking set pieces and oodles of wit and charm'  SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY

'Set in an intricate, yet wonderfully realised world, this latest Culture novel will pull you in and keep you hooked right up to the explosive finale'  WATERSTONE'S BOOKS QUARTERLY

"beautifully written and filled with memorable characters and startling technology... Banks is still at the height of his powers'  PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (STANDARD REVIEW)
9 2010 2023 (9) Surface Detail
Cover Blurb
Iain M Banks  Rated 3Rated 3Rated 3Rated 3Rated 3
I read thisIn my library
Book Cover
It begins in the realm of the Real.

It begins with a murder.

And it will not end until the Culture has gone to war with death itself.

'Full of elaborate games... and, above all, a thrilling sense of the limitless scope SF affords an author's imagination'  FINANCIAL TIMES

'An engrossing novel of ideas ornamented by fantastically cinematic set-pieces'  GUARDIAN

'Banks's ability to combine humour and horror, the cosmic and the human, as he builds an action-packed story on a moral framework, as well as his wonferfully original characters and, of course, the lavish descriptions of weapons and spaceships, makes Surface Detail all you could ask for in a space opera'  THE TIMES

'Famed for his profoundly dark and intelligent humour, Iain M. Banks has succeeded in weaving another intricate tale that offers fascinating insight into the human condition'  SCIFI NOW
10 2012 2023 (10) The Hydrogen Sonata
Cover Blurb
Iain M Banks  Rated 3Rated 3Rated 3Rated 3Rated 3
I read thisIn my library
Book Cover
The scavenger species are circling.  It is, truly, the End Days for the Gzilt civilisation.

'Banks has created one of the most enduring and endearing visions of the future... The Hydrogen Sonata confirms his pre-eminence in the field'  GUARDIAN

'Epic in scope, ambitious in it ideas and absorbing in its execution'  INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

'The Hydrogen Sonata counts down to Sublimation, where an entire race leaves our universe to move spiritually upmarket.  But scavengers await, and a racial secret sparks violence, intrigue, murder and general unspirituality.  Compulsive reading'  SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

'Sharply satirical and packed with brilliant action scenes'  BBC FOCUS

'Magnificent'  DAILY MAIL

'Jam-packed with extraordinary invention'  SCOTSMAN






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Presented: 28-Mar-2024 07:57:01

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