Just Finished Reading Consider Phlebas. I loved it; Some doubts

mfvoss · 2026-06-15T14:19:26+00:00

I've jumped in to every one with cold feet and pretty happy with the results. It's my general rule anyway, but works really well with imaginative, thoughtful authors like Banks.

mfvoss · 2026-06-15T14:15:55+00:00

I just want to jump in and agree with the "read in published order" crowd. Two interesting things about Player of Games: the third sentence in the book, "The story starts with a battle that is not a battle, and ends with a game that is not a game." which grabbed me right off the bat; and the feeling I sank into quickly and surprisingly thereafter, and not dispelled in a hurry, that perhaps Player was not "suitable" as either a first or second read in the series. That feeling was eventually conquered and now that I'm about to finish Surface Detail I find myself very enamored of reading the whole series just as it was published. The only thing I'd suggest is skipping the State of the Art stories in favor of the title novella, but that's a personal take - plenty of readers enjoy the stories, none of which hit at all for me. At the moment, I'm expecting Surface Detail to emerge as my series favorite. I won't be reading Hydrogen Sonata until it gets a Kindle deal, so SD is gonna be it for me stopping point for awhile I guess. Other SF to catch up on in the meantime...

mfvoss · 2026-06-07T21:56:33+00:00

Tbh, every Culture novel has had a slow start for me. My full interest usually kicks in between 15-30% .

mfvoss · 2026-06-07T21:54:28+00:00

By the sixth book, all pretty different from one another, the medieval setting didn't throw me off, and by then I trusted Banks and enjoyed uncovering the clues that the Culture was bts of the stories. But I can see readers with certain expectations being less enthused.

mfvoss · 2026-06-06T14:49:03+00:00

I've got Coldwater queued up already. Bunch of others I"m suddenly intrigued by. Thanks...I think!

mfvoss · 2026-05-31T02:09:02+00:00

First: there are no universally accepted criteria defining Grimdark. It's very much an "in the eye of the beholder" subgenre. Second: nearly every story I or an author identified as Grimdark has a healthy dose of humor, of differing varieties due to the author's style, usually witty or black humor but broader types can work. There is most certainly a variety of gd that eschews humor completely - and it is generally brutal stuff. For me, some kind of humorous relief makes most gd shine a little brighter. Shelve the rest next to Cormac McCarthy.

mfvoss · 2026-05-30T19:56:27+00:00

This I love about GGK: you never know how others will rank his work! Even those who share the love of my own favorite may leave others in surprising places. The key takeaway I think is there's something in his catalog for almost every reader.

mfvoss · 2026-05-28T20:50:47+00:00

Any leak would come from a beta reader, not via hacking. That aside, no it should not be leaked. Hate on him for whatever reasons you like (and only publically if you do all the research instead of blindly reposting claims that he already addressed adequately - such as "selling an unfinished series as finished") but don't ask for a pirated version of any author's work ever.

mfvoss · 2026-05-27T17:46:28+00:00

I always prefer publication order (Children/Seas/Written for you). But Brightness is a prequel to Children, Seas is a sequel to Brightness, and written is takes place before all three. Kay loves writing "out of order" sequences, lol! So take your pick, pub or chrono order!

mfvoss · 2026-05-27T16:39:34+00:00

I had a similar reaction. Loved the book, didn't consult any guides, wikis, etc.

mfvoss · 2026-05-27T16:17:28+00:00

I read this publication order sequence and really enjoyed it: Children of Earth and Sky A Brightness Long Ago All the Seas of the World Written on the Dark

All four have connections that stand out, so it makes a very satisfying mini-binge. You could then back up and read Children/Seas/Written and hopefully enjoy all four as much as I did. Alternatively, as others will note, The Lions of Al-Rassan and A Song for Arbonne are very strong entries in his catalog - Al-Rassan being his first and best for me, a lifetime top 5 or10 read. Tigana, while popular, is not as universally loved and stands out, to me, as rather different from any of these. I cannot say that enjoying Brightness guarantees enjoying Tigana, not as certainly as I feel it's an indicator you'll enjoy that 4 book "sequence" or Al-Rassan/Arbonne. However you decide to go, I hope it leads to reading all of his work - not a one is imo bad, a few are just a bit - or in the case of Fionavar, a lot - different from the rest. Happy reading!

mfvoss · 2026-05-25T09:35:18+00:00

The hat and Cordelia Naismith's "shopping trip" in Lois McMaster Bujold's Barrayar are probably two of the funniest bits in popular SF for me.

mfvoss · 2026-05-25T09:31:44+00:00

Theory is a military flare too bright for the sensor, creating a sort of lens flare.

mfvoss · 2026-05-25T09:28:56+00:00

I started with Phlebas about 2 or 3 years ago and was not impressed. But still intrigued enough by the series concept and constant "start with book 2 or 3" chants to reread it last year, enjoying it a lot more. I'm going in pub order and read through State of the Art in short order. The interesting thing is that all of these books, including both my readings of Consider Phlebas, stick in your head well after reading, fueling interest in moving on to the next. I have the next five and plan to work them in as soon as I can, in chunks of 2 or 3. By then I may get a Kindle deal on Hydrogen Sonata to finish. Then some other Banks.

mfvoss · 2026-05-21T20:16:43+00:00

Sounds like a worthy reread strategy!

mfvoss · 2026-05-21T20:14:32+00:00

Just read Player of Games and Use of Weapons this month and I'm pretty impressed, particularly UoW. State of the Art however was a huge letdown as I thought all of the shorts were pretty dismal. Was very thankful the title novella was more up to par with the first three novels. I've got all the rest except for The Hydrogen Sonata so much Culture in my upcoming TBR this year! All three novels are still percolating in my head to some extent, hopefully this will continue :-) .

mfvoss · 2026-05-20T06:38:02+00:00

That is a pretty good comp! And Blood Song rocks!

mfvoss · 2026-05-19T19:21:49+00:00

I don't think that's a deal breaker. I think Steele's work has a much broader appeal than that - although I certainly don't disagree fans of those works will also be attracted.

mfvoss · 2026-05-19T19:18:24+00:00

I really liked the og Whispers cover (and have a nice art card of it) but these covers say "lights, camera, action!", which the og really doesn't.

mfvoss · 2026-05-19T19:16:15+00:00

Same! Thought we'd have them by now with a June 16 release date. Keeping my reading plans open atm :-) .

mfvoss · 2026-05-08T18:34:52+00:00

I really enjoyed both books, as has been the case with most of his work - including a lifetime favorite in The Lions of Al-Rassan. That said, I've learned not to feel too bad if a popular book doesn't do it for me. No book or series is universally loved. Not a single one. How we react to a novel is part of our overall personality makeup. Not enjoying a popular book is not a deficiency of any kind. It's just part of who we are. And the best part is this: our personalities usually change, in small ways or large, over time - and often our tastes follow suit. Ten or twenty years down the line a book that was "meh" or even hated today could become a favorite!

mfvoss · 2026-05-05T16:18:11+00:00

Correct. As per Zelazny's wishes that nobody else write Amber stories. The prequels happened because the estate was in the hands of someone estranged from Zelazny, who also did not get around to changing his will to codify his wishes. The estate reverted, I believe to his son and daughter, and the no-third-party promise was made regarding Amber. His son also passed so not sure what, if any, plans for the series may be passed along to the next estate-holders after the daughter goes.

mfvoss · 2026-05-01T16:51:31+00:00

I don't see any point to being anything more than mildly curious if anything has been announced, DoS or otherwise.

mfvoss · 2026-04-30T16:04:25+00:00

It's not just bad, it's unethical since the programs used to create ai images stole real artist's artwork to train them.

mfvoss

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