Feersum Endjinn Paperback – 8 Jun. 1995

I admit it I am an Iain M. Banks fan. When I found out that it was possible to purchase a hardback copy of Feersum EndjinnI, I jumped at the chance.I think his stories are just the perfect mix of engaging narrative, world building and humour. His characters are always three dimensional and realistic. Their actions are consistent and they always feel at home in their environment. At his best, I don't think anyone can touch him and even his low points are a cut above the standard Sci-fi fare. This book is set in a far future earth abandoned by the majority of humanity. The protagonists are a dead army general, a young man on a quest to find his pet ant and a woman who has been born fully grown to compete a task she is unaware of.This book is not a simple read, it demands attention from the reader and some imagination. Large sections of the book are narrated by Bascule the Teller and written phonetically in the first person. The phonetic transcription and short-cuts are similar to text-messaging and in my head, it had the flow of a cockney accent. This just adds to the fun and enjoyment of the book. The plot twists and turns as the main characters try to save earth from "the encroachment"!A great read.

I won’t even attempt to summarise the plot; you can find that in the product description. As with most of Iain M banks’ work, it takes a certain amount of effort and investment on the part of the reader, to work out what is going on initially, who the characters are and to visualise the surroundings. I found some of the concepts, particularly involving the crypt, quite complicated and I still do, actually.Most of the story takes place on (an unrecognisable) earth during a time when the technological advances of a previous age have been lost. The hints about the past civilisation add an interesting dimension. The setting is fantastic: a huge tower that goes right up into space with endless rooms and levels. One of the character’s living quarters is within the eyeball of a gargoyle!The character of Bascule steals the show! The passages of the book that he narrates are written phonetically, which at first I found annoying and unnecessary, but quickly got used to reading and found it a really effective medium for his personality to shine through. He is brave, rebellious but also down-to-earth and I really identified with him and looked forward to his sections of the novel more than any other. He is quite colloquial which adds warmth and humour to the otherwise grand and dramatic goings-on. I particularly enjoyed a part when he inhabits the body of a hawk within the crypt (makes perfect sense, honestly) and reports his conversation with a sparrow including the typical manner of speech of sparrows (frenetic and moves easily off-topic). Banks is having a lot of fun with Language.It's not my favourite Iain M Banks offering- that would be 'Use of Weapons'- but well worth a read.Is it a spoiler to say, the ending isn’t much of an ending? It is the ending to a book with unwritten sequel. Somewhat unsatisfying.

I LOVE this book. I’ve read it 3 times now, recently bought a new copy as old one went missing. It stands alone in Iain M Banks books, you don’t need to have read any others. It’s funny, frightening, sad and leaves you wanting more. Brilliant 💯⭐️💯

Just not up to his usual standard.

This is such a great book. I have always been a fan of Ian M Banks Culture books but this is not a Culture book. It's so imaginative and off the wall but filled with really interesting characters that have real depth. I would love to see this book made into a film as it would be such a visual spectacle but also such a compelling story of what humans, left behind on Earth, would do during an impending global disaster. If you like Sci-Fi at its most imaginative and quirky, this book is for you.

This isn't a Culture Novel but a foray into broader science fiction. In places this is difficult to read since the principal protagonist is written phonetically and this can make certain chapters hard work. Banks maintains a good pace and doesn't get distracted too often. He re-uses some of his stylistic tricks such as dropping a new character at random into the plot seemingly at random and then trying to work out how they fit later. In this case it works and even the ending makes some kind of sense. Worth the read and the re-read.

This is a book that must be approached with a little reverance, partly for what it achieves, and partly because of the difficult journey in getting there.I am quite a fan of Banks' Sci Fi, and always find that time improves them. Having just finished it, I would give this book 3 stars, but know it will creep its way up to 4 in a week or so.Feersum Endjinn fits closest to Surface Detail. Four seperate stories finding their way to an eventual unifying story. This is a harder book to read, because, whereas Surface Detail's unifying story begins to take shape about half way through, Feersum Endjinn doesn't get there until the last fifty pages (in fact the title only makes sense in the last sentence). This is a book which leaves us with the cliffhanger of a hairy pair of legs , a snake and three heads peering at the main character, and then returns 30 pages later to explain that this is a Mammoth (plus trunk) with a bird and a monkey on its back! A quarter of the book is also written phonetically ("Ah bitt liyke thees"), which will grate and then eventually warm on you.Iain M. Banks's baffling visual style is always rewarding ("Eh?... [5 pages]... Oh!"), and, (refernce: Nabokov) always like a small literary chess game between writer and reader. Here, though, there is more of the baffling, and new readers would be advised to start with Use Of Weapons or Player of Games. If you know Banks, then you will be more likely to press on when the urge comes over you to put it down.The end does make it worthwhile, however, and if I've seemed a little critical, I probably won't be next week.Dan Crawford