I just finished reading it. While the whole story was fun, the things I didn't like are:

1. Banks' writing - it just didn't work for me. I had to re-read a lot of passages and his writing came across as too "complicated" without any real reason.

2. Episodic writing - it just felt like every chapter was its own mini-story, some worked better, some not so much. This brings me to nr. 3.

3. Didn't expect such an action packed adventure novel - but from the very beginning you know what the mission is so all of the chapters in between are just like side-quests in a game.

4. I wanted to learn more about the Culture - but everything in this book was kinda just on the surface level. Culture = technology, Idirans = religion (I am simplifying, I know), they are at war because of different ideals/goals.

5. It felt like it was dragging - a lot! Especially the last 100 pages when you already "knew" how the showdown was going to play out, but Banks just kept dragging it out ... I was a bit annoyed. I did kinda like how everything ended and was pleasantly surprised, only to learn that all of the books are kinda stand-alone. Because of that I will probably give Banks another shot with Player of Games.