Matter: Culture, Book 8

fantastic read thru the worlds of sci-fi. This is perhaps the one book in the culture series that would do well as an adaptation to the big screen. Or one can hope.

I've finally finished "Matter", the latest "Culture" novel by Iain M. Banks. It's been three years since his last book, "The Algebraist", about which I had very mixed feelings. Like many of Banks' readers, I was hoping for a return to a more confident kind of story-telling, without the inconsistencies that had marred "The Algebraist".Overall, I enjoyed it a great deal. Structurally, it has a familiar pattern: three journeys, party in space but mostly of self-discovery, that lead up to a singular point of crisis. Sounds a bit like "Lord of the Rings", doesn't it? Unlike "LotR", the protagonists are three siblings, but as in Tolkien's work the journeys are the main point of the tale. The revelation of the true nature of the crisis, and the climactic confrontation, are compressed into the last few pages. The dénouement is crudely perfunctory; a brief epilogue that follows an appendix, and almost seems to parody the close of Tolkien's "Return of the King".Although the narrative is populated with familiar elements from earlier "Culture" novels, "Matter" keeps scratching some of the itches that affected Banks in "The Algebraist". There is a cynical undercurrent about the illusion of "progress", together with a determined attempt to destroy any comfortable identification that we might make between ourselves and any particular part of his menagerie. Perhaps you remember the wonderful quote by Sir Martin Rees, the British astronomer: "It will not be humans who witness the demise of the Sun six billion years hence; it will be entities as different from us as we are from bacteria."Banks confronts us with a universe whose population spans a vast spectrum of capabilities, of intentions, of possibilities. And with that variety there is inevitably going to be confusion, frustration and mutual incomprehension. As in "The Algebraist", there are dead ends and unexplained elements. This is an important aspect of Banks' world that needs to be conveyed, but some of the protagonists' confusion winds up spilling over to the reader."Matter" feels more explicitly violent than earlier books by Banks; it's as if he's been reading Scalzi and other mil-sci-fi writers. This is not a criticism, just an observation. There is a deliberate "compare and contrast" between traditional warfare - think 17th century Europe with a dash of steam-punk - and conflict in a future of robotic weaponry and smart, morphing armour:"In the unlikely event we do get involved in a serious firefight and the suits think you're under real threat," Djan Seriy had told the two Sarl men, "they'll take over. High-end exchanges happen too fast for human reactions so the suits will do the aiming, firing and dodging for you." She'd seen the expressions of dismay on their faces, and shrugged. "It's like all war; months of utter boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror. It's just the moments are sometimes measured in milliseconds and the engagement's often over before you're aware it has even begun."("Matter", p.474)So if "The Algebraist" was a three-and-a-half star book, "Matter" is a solid four-star effort, and as I think about it over the next few days I may add another half star. Definitely recommended; I hope we don't have to wait another three years for the next one.

I read Matter eleven years ago (02-Oct-2011), and I remember very little of it. I remember why I read it, and I remember that I was disappointed.I read it because I'm a huge science fiction fan and, of course, I had heard Iain M. Banks praised to the skies. In particular, he was described as a sort of John the Baptist to Ursula K. Le Guin's Jesus -- that is, when SF was in the Dark Vale of the so-called Golden Age, meaning the time when John W. Campbell Jr.'s protégés ruled the genre and conventional literary values played no role, Banks was a lonely voice in the wilderness shouting that it was possible to write good SF. Well, I thought, if he's anywhere near as good as Le Guin, sign me up. I asked around and it was suggested to me that Matter was a particularly fine example of Banks's work.Perhaps it is. I wouldn't know, because after reading Matter I felt no urge to read more of Banks's work. (I think I did read one more, can't remember which now.) I was disappointed. Matter was OK SF, but IMHO no more than OK.

As usual when checking out what other people have to say, I am rather astonished to see the glowing 5 star reviews of a book like this. Especially given its place in a series of works set in the Culture universe, it makes this book have an easy basis for comparison with the author's other novels.This book is rather pedestrian as Iain Banks goes... for instance, at one point a character voyages on a series of Culture ships, and the reader is treated to a list of ship names, and the character's reaction to them as being silly. No attempt is made to characterize them, and the net effect is one of the author mailing it in and taking the easy road. Inventing some names, throwing them at the reader, and proceeding. No attempts are made to flesh out our loved machine entities. It strikes me as lazy.The first half of the book... almost nothing happens. We are left following three major characters each of whom is demonstrably incompetent: one of whom is adept at running away, one of whom is oblivious, and one of whom is very good at naval gazing and taking rides on space ships. None of them is intriguing or sympathetic. I found myself cheering for the major human villain, who starts out showing some dimensionality but ends up cartoony and moustache-twirling. "Take no prisoners!" the bad guy states. After indicating how the enemy soldiers should be put to death, Banks should have put in a "Muhahahahahahahaha!" to complete the image.Where did the nuance go?Overall it leaves me thinking... where is the story? Why do I care about these people? I really do not. After encountering this author, I immediately purchased every one of his existing books, and ever since I have bought his next book without checking a review or reading anything that would spoil the experience for me.No more.This book is in no way as bad as Gabardale but the author has broken the faith. The genius that is behind the Wasp Factory is just writing like one fat and content.Banks has made the cardinal sin with this book: it's boring. Banks is my favorite author and 200 pages in I found myself putting the book down to read some Neil Asher. I should be flogged for this, but, sorry 5* reviewers this is a snoozefest. And that brings up the wonder of what a truly great novel can be rated when people give lethargy inducing work like this with 5*... maybe I am getting jaded, but this author has some truly fantastic work and I fail to see how anyone familiar with his repertoire can put this snoozer on the top of the list.Buy the book and read it for completeness. But if you were a fan of the old Iain Banks who seems to have lost his way around Gabardale, he is still somewhere out to lunch and mailing it in.

The first book in the culture series is still the best in my opinion. It starts at a strong run and never stops. Matter almost a fantasy novel for a long while as we learn about the population of Sursamen which is at war. We see betrayal, conspiracy, an heir of the throne on the run. By the standards of most other writers it’s brilliant. Compared to Rankin’s other books though it felt more predictable. Extra layers of intrigue were woven above and around the more mainstream plot to explain gods and disembodied voices. In the latter half the story plays to Rankin’s strengths and I enjoyed seeing the interplay of high technology and court intrigue. It took a while to get there though. I’m looking forward to reading further in the series.

er by Iain M. BanksMy rating: 5 of 5 starsI have read all of Iain M Banks Books and this one Matter #8 in the Culture series is a good strong tale of familial strife set against the background of impossible planet sized structure.To recap The ten books of the Culture are: Consider Phlebas, 1987; The Player of Games,1988; Use of Weapons, 1990; The State of the Art, 1991; Excession, 1996; Inversions, 1998; Look to Windward,2000; Matter,2008; Surface Detail, 2010; The Hydrogen Sonata, 2012.The tale of Matter is the tale of a strange homeland called a Shellworld. This is described on p63 as:The Shell Worlds are mostly hollow. Each had a solid metallic core fourteen hundred kilometres in diameter. beyond that, a concentric succession of spherical shells.Each of the shells forms a level of the Shell world, and distinct civilisation live on each including water worlds, gas worlds, fixed stars and moving stars. The levels are connected by vast lifts, and sometimes the custodians of the Shellworld allow the inhabitants of different levels to pass from one to another, sometimes with evil intent.As always with Banks culture stories e have an amazing unthought-of science fiction setting, and this is just the start. A prince is falsely accused of fratricide, who has to flee... So starts a long journey to find a long lost sister and ultimately to save his world.I really liked this book. I liked the artefact at its heart. I like the way it is only partly understood, and quarrelled over by great powers of the galaxy. I loved the story of the innocent fleeing finding himself on the most amazing pan-galactic road trip.Highly recommended.

Having read the entire Culture series twice, I would thoroughly recommend them to anyone. And I will return to them.Saying that, Matter didn't improve on the reread. And, my first impression was correct in that it is the weakest of the full length Culture books.I'm not advising you to avoid it. Just don't judge the others on this one if it's your first.

“Matter” is a tale of political intrigue, medieval war, betrayal, injustice, and honour. Oh, and galactic scale.It tells the tale of three siblings who have taken different paths in life and how they end up, as a result of a family tragedy, struggling for the same thing; the honour of their family name.In telling this tale Banks has created a new concept in cosmic habitats; the Shellworld. The Shellworld is a planet (in this case, artificial) that has 16 internal levels of which 14 are habitable. I can see the more nerdy among us working out the scale of a Shellworld using the parameters provided sporadically throughout the text; each level 1,400km high, 2million towers on each of the 14 habitable levels to support the level above. (Ok! Yes! I did start thinking about sketching out a Shellworld cut-away diagram and estimating the size of the Shellworld. Problem was, I didn’t spot an estimate for the thickness of the ceilings/floors, and there was nothing relating to the density of the material to assist in the calculation of the gravitational strength on each level.)The Shellworld is likely to generate as much interest as Niven’s Ring World and Shaw’s Orbitsville. Of course, Bank’s Shellworld is much more stable.Enough of the “nerdy” techno-babble.The Shellworld is simply one element of “Matter”, and is merely a backdrop to the story, albeit pretty crucial to the ultimate dénouement.“Matter” takes one of the siblings on a journey of self-discovery involving his being snatched unexpectedly from his privileged lifestyle to a life where he can trust no-one, he is powerless to shape his own destiny, and where he has become a figure of shame.His brother is unwittingly entrapped and experiences his own growing moments that force him to mature in ways he had not expected.The third sibling, Djan Seriy Anaplian, has travelled far away as part of, if you would excuse the pun, a cultural exchange. She has been away from her Shellworld home for fifteen years when word reaches her of the family tragedy that is central to the entire book.As in every IMB novel, there are wonderful alien life forms. Iain has shown great imagination in developing their physiology, environment and technology. In a number of his other novels the aliens have portrayed strongly human personalities, but in “Matter” many of them are very alien. Having said that however, “Matter” is one of Iain’s most human Culture novels.Other topics dealt with in the book are the morality of killing other people, the sense of matrimonial entrapment, and the whole concept of religion and its role as a useful tool in controlling the populace.Iain’s ending to “Matter” was somewhat different from what I had expected, but interesting nonetheless, and, as so often is the case in Culture novels, on a grand scale.On several occasions I have seen Iain say that he has tried, but not succeeded at writing a powerfully political novel. While “Matter” is not powerfully political, it does have many parallels with current world affairs and the role of technologically advanced civilisations involved in warfare with less advanced civilisations.This was one of those books I was really sorry to finish. I relished the opportunities to sit down and surround myself with the universe Iain had created. It was a real joy.

It's better than the average scifi book; worse than the average Iain M. Banks book. I think it tried to explore some interesting concepts, but quite unevenly, and there are two big pitfalls - firstly, the use of Culture / SC super high tech gadgets as a magic wand to overcome plot obstacles, and secondly, the use of an alien culture that looks suspiciously like feudal, medieval humans, providing a contrast against the high-tech hard scifi. It's like an episode of Star Trek: TNG where the writers got lazy and decided to set most of the episode in the holodeck.Banks has written some great female leads, but the medieval-princess-turned-SC-agent is not one of them. Holse could have been interesting - I spent most of the book wondering if he was some kind of well-hidden spy - but by the end he's just a wafer-thin character who uses future technology as a crude magic wand. The shellworlds are a nice idea and could open up all kinds of possibilities for a story, but the implementation here feels... simplistic.Read "Against A Dark Background" instead, or "Use Of Weapons", or something like that. If you've already read them, that's fine; read them again instead of reading Matter.