It could just be where my head is at this dreary February, or I spent too much time comparing it to other Culture novels, but...I liked this book. Which surprised me because I expected to love it. I've gotten pretty good at spotting which Culture novels are going to click with me and which will fall flat and I was just sure, sure this was going to be fabulous.

Don't get me wrong - I enjoyed some bits quite a lot! Overall though my review from midpoint went down by a star at the end. Most of the Culture books have a circuitous route to the point and a certain 'fade into silence' quality at the end, but for some reason Hydrogen Sonata was less impressive while doing it than, say, Look To Windward. And it was certainly no Player of Games.

That said it was not as nihilistically depressing as Consider Phlebas, and had more likable characters than Surface Detail, so it ranks about mid-point in the matrix of Culture books I've liked/not liked, been moved by/not been moved by and I am left with an overall 'well that was nice'.