Every single one of my SF-reading friends is completely berserk for Iain Banks. I am myself a mostly-lapsed SF reader, so when this book -- the first in the culture series -- came up for cheap on the kindle I snatched it right up.

This is just a terrible book. Bad writing. Slow, heavy handed, predictable plotting. Completely irrelevant tangents for hundreds of pages in the plot, and flat flat flat characters that don't really have any motivations or even, seemingly, emotions.

When I went back to my SF reading friends and said "what the hell?" every single one of them said "oh no don't read that one! Its terrible! Read Player of Games or Use of Weapons!"

So there you go. If you're interested in Banks or in the Culture books go elsewhere first.

One star for some fairly good action scene writing, especially in the beginning, and one star for bits of humor scattered throughout. But mostly: ugh.