Paperback, 544 pages
English language
Published July 4, 2005 by Orbit.
It is 4034 AD. Humanity has made it to the stars.
Seconded to a military-religious order he's barely heard of, Fassin Taak must travel amongst the Dwellers of the gas giant Nasqueron, in search of a secret hidden for half a billion years. Any help they offer will be on their own terms and in their own time.
But time is one thing Fassin Taak doesn't have, with each passing day bringing the system closer to war—a war that threatens to overwhelm everything and everyone he's ever known.
If "Excession" is Banks' best Culture novel, I believe this book to be his best sci-fi. Clearly written at the height of Banks' writing prowess it is a unique, inventive exploration of an alien civilization. While not necessarily a unique spin on aliens, the book is well-pace, well-written and one I've enjoyed reading, repeatedly.
Another galactic scale SciFi from a master of the genre. Not, this time, in the Culture universe, but one with gas-giant inhabitants who live a billion years along with humans and other fast, short-lived creatures. This involves several of each as characters.
The usual complex story of politics, culture and adventure.
It was a decent enough story, but I wish that the math in a book with such a title was a little higher level. And I don't mean actual math, as there wasn't any. But it left the impression that the purpose of an equation or a set of equations is to give a number at the end, and that's very rarely true.
Other than that, I found it fun for the most part, it lost me in some parts, but not too badly. I like the dwellers. Like the characters. Sympathize with the AI's. All in all, pretty good story.
Still can't decide if I liked or hated this book.
