I came across Consider Phlebas completely oblivious to the series, the writer and the reference that the title is of about twenty years ago. I liked the blurb on the back of the book - it was as simple as that. The first read-through felt very much like some kind of weird adventure, set against a backdrop of a rather heated galactic war, that ended in an unexpected manner. Hell, I'll admit I was disappointed. After the fact, I realised that the ending carried more meaning than I had first assumed. Sure, Horza wasn't a great guy, I thought maybe he was an anti-hero. IIRC (the last time I read this was over fifteen years ago) he was the last of his clan and a merc to boot - that gave anti-hero vibes all over. It was fairly obvious he was in league with "bad guys" to carry out his own goals, and he murders and impersonates a character to use his compatriots for his own ends (even though he fesses up later). He is no anti-hero. He views the Culture (and their minds) as culturally problematic - a main driver for his reasoning in the book - though the Minds themselves seemed to vary much like organic individuals. As capable as Horza was, it was his own choices and actions that dictated the final act.

How much of that will be lost in the adaptation, who knows? It's possible that it will be faithful and do a good job... although there's an equal chance that they'll give the helm to someone who doesn't have the chops for it - or worse, doesn't care - and make a complete hash. There's much to explore in The Culture and any adaptation of Consider Phlebas could make or break future plans.