En la Cultura, una vasta sociedad de dimensiones galácticas y protegida y custodiada por las Mentes, la forma más avanzada de inteligencia artificial, nada parece capaz de poner en peligro la placentera existencia de los seres humanos. Ni siquiera los Affront, la única especie capaz de rivalizar con la Cultura es una seria amenaza. Sin embargo, nadie había contado con el extraño suceso que tiene lugar en un remoto y olvidado extremo del universo. Excesión, una misteriosa esfera oscura que se resiste a todo estudio, ha aparecido donde dos milenios y medio antes una estrella se desvaneció por completo. La humanidad y los Affront se disputan la posesión de los secretos tecnológicos que Excession guarda en su interior. Pero los planes de la Cultura se enfrentan a serias dificultades. Mientras el embajador Genar Hofeon intenta encontrar una desaparecida y excéntrica inteligencia artificial, un grupo disidente de Mentes de la Cultura …
En la Cultura, una vasta sociedad de dimensiones galácticas y protegida y custodiada por las Mentes, la forma más avanzada de inteligencia artificial, nada parece capaz de poner en peligro la placentera existencia de los seres humanos. Ni siquiera los Affront, la única especie capaz de rivalizar con la Cultura es una seria amenaza. Sin embargo, nadie había contado con el extraño suceso que tiene lugar en un remoto y olvidado extremo del universo. Excesión, una misteriosa esfera oscura que se resiste a todo estudio, ha aparecido donde dos milenios y medio antes una estrella se desvaneció por completo. La humanidad y los Affront se disputan la posesión de los secretos tecnológicos que Excession guarda en su interior. Pero los planes de la Cultura se enfrentan a serias dificultades. Mientras el embajador Genar Hofeon intenta encontrar una desaparecida y excéntrica inteligencia artificial, un grupo disidente de Mentes de la Cultura conspira para llevar a cabo sus propios fines para Excesión. La última esperanza de la Cultura es una mujer muerta, una mujer que vivió dos mil quinientos años atrás y la única persona que pudo presenciar la desaparición de la estrella.
Con una prosa enérgica y brillante Iain M. Banks nos introduce en un intenso mundo de diplomacia y luchas por el poder, en un escenario lleno de inagotable sentido de la maravilla y en una aventura que rebosa intriga y épica a lo largo de cada una de sus páginas.
The book is largely about the response of the Culture's Minds (benevolent AIs with enormous intellectual and physical capabilities and distinctive personalities) to the Excession itself and the way in which another society, the Affront, whose systematic brutality horrifies the Culture, tries to use the Excession to increase its power. As in Banks' other Culture novels the main themes are the moral dilemmas that confront a hyperpower and how biological characters find ways to give their lives meaning in a post-scarcity society that is presided over by benign super-intelligent machines. The book features a large collection of Culture ship names, some of which give subtle clues about the roles these ships' Minds play in the story. In terms of style, the book is also notable for the way in which many important conversations between Minds resemble email messages complete with headers.
I liked how the Culture Minds schemed against each other, in the setting of the sudden appearance of a mysterious space artefact that even the superminds had trouble understanding. But with long, random names and lack of characteristics made the "back channel talks", between the Minds, really hard to follow (without taking notes).
The human/alien characters had more life though and their parallel plot was equally interesting and easier to follow.
I was kind of suprised at the near end reveals of both plots and how everyone got a happy ending.
I believe this to be the best book in Banks' Culture series. It has the core hallmarks of his other novels: great characters & strong prose; it also has the best use of Minds, the Excession, and an unusually well-paced plot. If you had to read one Culture novel, this is the one.
"Excession" est le cinquième tome du cycle de la Culture de Iain M. Banks. Après le recueil de nouvelles qui constituait le quatrième volume, on retrouve ici un long et très bon roman de science-fiction.
Je dois pourtant dire que j'ai eu un peu de mal à plonger dedans : la multitude de personnages et de factions mises en scène m'a un peu perdu, le récit met un peu de temps à décoller. Même une fois lancé, cela reste parfois confus car les intrigues, mêmes si on sent qu'elles sont liées, sont multiples et pas toujours faciles à suivre. Heureusement, cela est tout de même atténué par la présences des Intelligences Artificielles et notamment les discussions absolument hilarantes qu'elles ont entre elles. Je crois que c'est la première fois que je vois des IA qui soient traitées à ce point comme des personnages à part entière, et c'est vraiment la …
"Excession" est le cinquième tome du cycle de la Culture de Iain M. Banks. Après le recueil de nouvelles qui constituait le quatrième volume, on retrouve ici un long et très bon roman de science-fiction.
Je dois pourtant dire que j'ai eu un peu de mal à plonger dedans : la multitude de personnages et de factions mises en scène m'a un peu perdu, le récit met un peu de temps à décoller. Même une fois lancé, cela reste parfois confus car les intrigues, mêmes si on sent qu'elles sont liées, sont multiples et pas toujours faciles à suivre. Heureusement, cela est tout de même atténué par la présences des Intelligences Artificielles et notamment les discussions absolument hilarantes qu'elles ont entre elles. Je crois que c'est la première fois que je vois des IA qui soient traitées à ce point comme des personnages à part entière, et c'est vraiment la grande force de ce roman.
Le récit s'accélère nettement à la fin et on finit par comprendre où l'auteur a voulu nous amener depuis le début. Je continue de penser que certaines intrigues et certains personnages n'étaient pas forcément indispensables mais ce n'est qu'un petit bémol dans un excellent roman. Je reste clairement sur la très forte impression laissée par les derniers chapitres, ainsi que pour mon adoration pour les personnalités des IA imaginées et mises en scènes par Iain M. Banks.
Autant dire que je vais enchainer directement avec le prochain tome du cycle !
Solid space opera, but construction (how Banks creates suspense and mystery) and message ("more humility, less competition") are a little in-the-face ("man merkt die Absicht und ist verstimmt"). Good: how Banks deals with identity, memory and guilt.
I know it's not fair to the book itself, but I struggled to finish this one because the narrator's voice did not agree with my ears. It's quite interesting overall, a bit complex but I think necessarily so given the topic.
I'm a fan of Banks' Culture universe but this book was hard to finish for me.
Culture books, in general, work best when the insane level of technology is a backdrop for a more selective, human story. Excession attempts to follow this formula, but relies too heavily on the detached technological angle and bungles the human one. The main plot line is driven by machines making decisions and communicating with each other, while the human characters are just caught up in their plans. This doesn't sound too different from previous Culture books, but in Consider Phlebas, The Player of Games (or even Use of Weapons which was meh for other reasons) Banks did a better job of creating interesting characters and a plot within the vast and complex universe without the human element feeling vestigial.
This book is only saved by Banks' usual gift for scale, description, and dry humor …
I'm a fan of Banks' Culture universe but this book was hard to finish for me.
Culture books, in general, work best when the insane level of technology is a backdrop for a more selective, human story. Excession attempts to follow this formula, but relies too heavily on the detached technological angle and bungles the human one. The main plot line is driven by machines making decisions and communicating with each other, while the human characters are just caught up in their plans. This doesn't sound too different from previous Culture books, but in Consider Phlebas, The Player of Games (or even Use of Weapons which was meh for other reasons) Banks did a better job of creating interesting characters and a plot within the vast and complex universe without the human element feeling vestigial.
This book is only saved by Banks' usual gift for scale, description, and dry humor that occasionally reminds you why the Culture universe is so compelling. It's unfortunate that these are exactly the attributes that are lost when reading pages and pages of what amount to ship logs.
This book tickled my fancy. What a strange universe.
War footed aliens, an AI mind conspiracy, a love story gone weird, entanglements aplenty, and oh--an event of such proportion that freaks out a multi-thousand year old Culture. Yea. That'll do.
While I find Banks people-sided stories well writ, composed and read they don't hook me as deep as the science(y) side of events. I like them, but I'm always left going, "What?" Probably because my mind is not a couple thosand years in the future and I don't live in the Culture proper. Or maybe right now I just want more science. I dunno. I like them, but I don't love them.
What I do highly enjoy was the drama of the AI Minds, their deep thought, ponderings, escapisms, and more. To be able to shunt off elements of a mind to interact with people, think on multiple courses of …
This book tickled my fancy. What a strange universe.
War footed aliens, an AI mind conspiracy, a love story gone weird, entanglements aplenty, and oh--an event of such proportion that freaks out a multi-thousand year old Culture. Yea. That'll do.
While I find Banks people-sided stories well writ, composed and read they don't hook me as deep as the science(y) side of events. I like them, but I'm always left going, "What?" Probably because my mind is not a couple thosand years in the future and I don't live in the Culture proper. Or maybe right now I just want more science. I dunno. I like them, but I don't love them.
What I do highly enjoy was the drama of the AI Minds, their deep thought, ponderings, escapisms, and more. To be able to shunt off elements of a mind to interact with people, think on multiple courses of actions, sit in a universe of their own creation, and perhaps stage elaborate art pieces with sleeping humans. All within pico-seconds? LoL! Awesome.
As it's also been mentioned by reviewers greater than I. Ship names. They are glorious. To read a complete list here. For a sampling: Unacceptable Behavior, Ethics Gradient, Honest Mistake, Quietly Confident, Jaundiced Outlook, The Anticipation of a New Lover's Arrival, Yawning Angel, and so many more. The AI's get to name them, and I will never think in simple terms when I name gaming elements again. Too much fun!
This Culture novel is much better balanced with the human, alien, & ultra-aliens. Along with a healthy dose of getting to understand the effectors underneath the technology of the Culture. Which was pretty vivid at times and leads one to dream a little.
I also had very little idea where this was going and Banks hid it well until truely the end. How will a brimming war play out? What is the conspiracy? Will it be broken? Will the Excession itself do something? WTH is it? Will the human components find reconciliation? Will a 40 year gestation ever birth? There are so many resolutions you deeply want to understand how it plays out--and it does. So enjoy.
Goodreads needs a "read again" date option. ;) this remains as excellent as sci-fi can get, with only the caveat that the cast of characters is large enough that it can be difficult to follow at times. Otherwise impeccable.
Iain M. Banks highly advanced human (and AI) civilization, The Culture is rather unusual amongst modern science fiction in that it is presented as something close to a post scarcity utopia. Excession deviates from that presentation by showing that maybe the almost godlike (by human standards) Minds aren't quite as morally perfect as they might at first seem. Perhaps they simply haven't been presented with something they wanted badly enough before.
Excession is definitely rather different to the previous Culture novels but that change is quite refreshing.
An Out of Context Problem
The motivating event in this novel is the Excession itself, described as an Out of Context Problem, which is defined as something that is so far outside of a society's norm that it can't be predicted or anticipated.
In this case, given the vast technological sophistication of the Culture itself that means the Excession is a completely alien …
Iain M. Banks highly advanced human (and AI) civilization, The Culture is rather unusual amongst modern science fiction in that it is presented as something close to a post scarcity utopia. Excession deviates from that presentation by showing that maybe the almost godlike (by human standards) Minds aren't quite as morally perfect as they might at first seem. Perhaps they simply haven't been presented with something they wanted badly enough before.
Excession is definitely rather different to the previous Culture novels but that change is quite refreshing.
An Out of Context Problem
The motivating event in this novel is the Excession itself, described as an Out of Context Problem, which is defined as something that is so far outside of a society's norm that it can't be predicted or anticipated.
In this case, given the vast technological sophistication of the Culture itself that means the Excession is a completely alien object of unknowable power levels. Which makes it in a sense a Deus ex Machina only it creates the problems rather than solving them.
When this mysterious sphere is discovered the Culture takes immediate action, which is to say various groups of Minds take action. But they are not the only people interested in the Excession, the Affront, a highly hostile species also sees opportunity.
What follows then is a lot of manipulation and plotting as the various factions try to maneuver themselves to be in a place where they can gain the benefit of whatever technology has created the Excession.
A Tour Of The Culture
Because this is very much a galaxy spanning problem that affects the entire Culture the novel covers a lot of characters and locations. Where previous books have generally focussed their attention on just a few, here we jump around frequently.
We also get to find out what the Minds are up to and that's another thing we haven't seen that much of in the past. As I mentioned the general presentation has been that the Minds are benevolent controllers of the Culture although from time to time we've been given hints it's not quite that simple.
Here we see just how not simple things really are. For a start there's no single controlling entity in the Culture, rather there are little cliques and groups all trying to sway things in the direction they think is best. And while humans aren't disregarded, they also don't get to make any of these decisions.
In previous stories the human characters have generally been working for Special Circumstances and while certainly manipulated to greater or lesser degrees have also been difference makers. Here though most of the humans we meet are living rather directionless lives. Even the ones recruited by Special Circumstances don't really seem to have much purpose and are little more than pawns in a much larger game.
The Affront
The major alien civilisation in Excession is The Affront a technologically advanced civilisation that seems to have come to a cultural dead end. While very alien in their physiology, Banks portrays them as extremely humanoid in psychology.
These aliens are simultaneously jovial and good natured while incredibly cruel. They take excessive pleasure not only in hunting but in the bullying of their juniors and subjugation of members of their own species.
In fact they are so obviously evil that at first the society seems like a simple caricature, but that's not accidental. The Affront mainly exist to further explore how the Culture works. On the surface The Affront shouldn't be allowed to exist, but the Culture is so enlightened that they find themselves unwilling to interfere even when faced with blatant evil.
Well, most of them do. There is a group of Minds who sees things differently.
Petty Personal Problems
While we do dot around a lot in this book there is one major sub-plot that centers around the human characters of Dajeil Gelian and Genar-Hofoen. These two had previously had a relationship which ended badly (Dajeil tried to kill Genar) and consequently Dajeil goes on a 40 year sulk.
You might be able to tell that I wasn't very impressed by this subplot. While the two characters are quite well explored they both prove to be rather shallow and uninteresting. One of the fundamental issues I have with The Culture is that its inhabitants are so free from limits (lifespan, physical materials, wealth) and yet as a result seem almost entirely directionless. Dajeil and Genar-Hofoen illustrate this nicely.
Mostly while reading these sections of the book I just wanted to get back to the Minds and their political intrigue.
Who Should Read It?
Do you like Iain M. Banks? Do you like thought provoking space opera? Do you like your action to be accompanied with some moral dilemmas and complex characters? I'd say this one is for you.
Did You Like It?
Yes, it may actually be my favorite of all the Culture novels I've read to date. While I've seen criticism that some of the in jokes are impenetrable to new readers I think the heavy action quotient will make it a little more familiar to most SF readers and thus easier to warm to.
Impenetrable if you haven't read the other Culture books, but a very welcome exploration of the lives of the Minds and a society run by machine intelligences with god-like powers. I still don't get why they curse so much, though.
The first half of Excession was a bit of a slog, but it pays off in the second half.
The audiobook version I got had a British narrator that huffed and puffed allot making me flinch.
Banks writes complicated plots that leave you unsure who is the good guy and who is the bad guy and I love that. I also love the Ship names.
But all the Ship names and strange culture people names are hard to keep track of. This is not helped by the fact that when listening to audiobooks I have a harder time remembering character's names.
With all the scheming and double crossing I was left confused by the end.
Dense, and a bit slow going at times, but the ending tied it all together nicely. Solid. A Culture book where the main characters are mostly Minds is an interesting and brain-expanding concept, and he pulled it off quite well. I might rate this higher if it didn't succeed Player of Games and Use of Weapons, because let's be honest, pretty much anything that follows Use of Weapons is going to be a disappointment.
