Reviews and Comments

Guy

Guy@bookwyrm.social

Joined 1 year, 3 months ago

UK. Read just about anything but have majored in fantasy and sci-fi as well as having an abnormal attraction to naval fiction.......

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Iain M. Banks, Iain Banks: The Player of Games (Paperback, 2008, Orbit)

The Culture - a human/machine symbiotic society - has thrown up many great Game Players, …

Almost gave up 60 pages in, glad I persevered

Another example of a Culture book that isn't really about the Culture. Despite my initial reservations I thoroughly enjoyed it. I can't say anything entirely unexpected happened but everything hung together well.

Iain M. Banks, Iain Banks: The Player of Games (Paperback, 2008, Orbit)

The Culture - a human/machine symbiotic society - has thrown up many great Game Players, …

Almost gave up 60 pages in, glad I persevered

Another example of a Culture book that isn't really about the Culture. Despite my initial reservations I thoroughly enjoyed it. I can't say anything entirely unexpected happened but everything hung together well.

Iain M. Banks: Inversions (Paperback, 2007, Pocket)

In the winter palace, the King’s new physician has more enemies than she at first …

Easy reading but not a classic culture book

Is it really a culture book at all? It's certainly very different to it's predecessors and while the two stories are engaging they shed no light on the culture or it's workings

reviewed Excession by Iain M. Banks (Culture, #5)

Iain M. Banks: Excession (Paperback, 1997, Orbit)

Two and a half millennia ago, the artifact appeared in a remote corner of space, …

Great interweaving of "Mind" and "Human" storylines

No rating

Loved the story and the inter Mind relationships thought keeping track of their names was challenging.

The living being stories weave in and out of the Mind lead theme very well. My favourite culture book so far.

reviewed Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks (Culture, #3)

Iain M. Banks: Use of Weapons (Paperback, 2008, Orbit)

The man known as Cheradenine Zakalwe was one of Special Circumstances' foremost agents, changing the …

Another less than straightforward Culture series book

Largely enjoyable once I'd realised that the timeline was convoluted. The ending, while unexpected was not entirely surprising.

reviewed Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks (Culture, #1)

Iain M. Banks: Consider Phlebas (2005)

The war raged across the galaxy. Billions had died, billions more were doomed. Moons, planets, …

Not an easy introduction to the Culture series but worthwhile persisting

The book is filled with interesting but, I assume deliberately, dislikeable characters. I found this challenging as I do like someone who's side I can support whereas this never really happened.

Joe Abercrombie: Before They Are Hanged (The First Law: Book Two) (Paperback, 2008, Pyr)

Superior Glokta has a problem. How can he defend a city surrounded by enemies and …

Still a good read but not quite as enjoyable as book one in the trilogy (The Blade Itself). There are several strands to the story by this point and the book hops between them in a reasonable manner, never leaving one group for too long.

Joe Abercrombie: The Blade Itself (The First Law: Book One) (2010, Orion Publishing Group Ltd.)

Fairly standard fantasy in terms of plot, characters, world etc. but I thought it was well written and certainly a romp along read. Not too much magic, the main characters are interesting on their own right and their interactions with each other and the world they inhabit are a little more involved than I'd often the case