The Hydrogen Sonata

This was my second read, and I understood more of the plot this time. Not that it's all THAT complicated. This is an excellent book for those who are interested in delving into the thoughts and activities of the Culture's most powerful members, the Minds who constitute the sentient operating systems for their space ships. It's less depressing than some of Banks' earlier Culture stories. Points deducted for a relatively unsatisfying denouement for anyone who likes seeing bad guys get their comeuppance. Still an enjoyable romp through giant ships and small ones, the Gzilt "girdle city" is a fascinating structure to consider, plus various orbitals.

Rest in peace man, thanks for everything.

Like [b:Excession|12013|Excession (Culture, #5)|Iain M. Banks|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1288930712l/12013.SY75.jpg|1494164], just with more likeable human protagonists.

Good:
I just like it when the Minds play the active role in the story.
It was fun seeing a Culture equivalent civilization!
Dealing with the subliming and immortality in what ended up a last book of the series feels oddly fitting.

Bad:
Book of Truth could have been explored more. Its importance is stated, but not really shown.

This is a weird one. I'm kind of confused about the levels of different civilisations in this world. I'm also kind of ashamed for the sake of the Culture minds involved. They caused, though indirectly, a lot of deaths and destruction, for the sake of satisfying their curiosity. Not to mention I didn't understand, why did the septain or what was he, kill the president. Maybe I missed something.
I kind of want to learn the full name of the EOU Mistake Not... I like the characters in these books.

I accidentally deleted my review halfway through, and can't be bothered to retype it all, so here's a synopsis. The Culture novels are fascinating, a bit too complex to be "just" space opera, a bit too light on plausibility to be properly hard sf, and all about lives and existence, whether of civilizations or individuals of all kinds, AIs, humans, aliens of all kinds and their simulated equivalents.

This is one of the better ones.

A solid Culture book, if not the most memorable. Some of the themes felt like a bit of a rehash -- it especially reminded me quite a bit of [b:Excession|12013|Excession (Culture, #5)|Iain M. Banks|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1288930712s/12013.jpg|1494164].

Fine Culture novel, but just fine. I'm afraid that Banks meant there to be no point.