Excession
by Iain M. Banks
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Book Reviews of Excession
Book Review: This was a tough one to get through
Summary: 3 Stars
I am fascinated by the imagination and style of Iain Banks and I found his "The Bridge" extraordinary."Excession" was confusing and a bit tedious to wade through.
I very much liked his portrayal of the alien Affronter race and of the "Minds" of the starships, but the plot barely held me and rather petered out at the end.
It is helpful for the reader to know that the curious conversations presented in reduced bold type are taking place between the artificial intelligent minds of the conscious starships.
I have several more Banks novels on my night stand and I hope that they prove less formidable and more intriguing.
Book Review: Great
Summary: 5 Stars
I love this (and other Banks books) for exactly the reasons others don't. They are full of detail and information. This makes this one thick and slow, but I can slowly savor the stories, digesting them over time. If you can not pay attention, watch TV instead.Consider this: it is actually several different novels that take place at the same time around an event that really does not matter the book or the characters in it. Look at what they do, how they do it & read the strings of computer gibberish. (There is information in there, just like real computer gibberish that goes on in the usenet.) Yes, you may not get it. I did, and I loved it.
Book Review: TEDIOUS
Summary: 2 Stars
There are whole pages in this book containing sentence fragments burried in random computer gibberish like this: //8367309//!2384#@459003000. I got the point the first time Mr. Banks--YES THESE ARE COMPUTERS TALKING TO EACH OTHER! I get it already, so drop the silly gimmick. Unfortutely, the author seems to have forgotten his audience is...HUMAN. The only reason I didn't give "Excession" a 1 is because it contained some cool ideas about dual hyperspace planes I havn't encountered before. Forget "Excession" and read Peter F. Hamilton's "The Reality Dysfunction" series. It delivers.Book Review: It's a comedy.
Summary: 5 Stars
I've read all of the science fiction (and most of the "straight" fiction) by Iain M. Banks, and I think that this is the funniest of them all. Despite a huge pile of bought and unread books awaiting attention, as soon as I'd finished "Excession" I just had to reread it. Don't worry too much about the plot (just let it wash over you - it will all fall into place) but just enjoy the humour of the writing. Leave aside your preconceptions (the good guys aren't all that good, the bad guys aren't all that bad and the "supercomputers" aren't all that intelligent) and enjoy!Book Review: The most imaginative Sci Fi novel I have ever read.
Summary: 5 Stars
Page after page of thrilling action, Space ships the size of small planets doing battle with the sort of tactical agility Alexander the Great would have been proud of. You get to the end of the Chapter and realise that everything you have just read took place in just three milliseconds. Mind Blowing Sci Fi that realy is "state of the art." A brilliantly crafted story interlaced with edge of the seat action. Only Iain Banks novels are this exiting, for me Exession has the edge over Use of Weapons and Consider Phleabas. I can't wait to get my hands on the next one. Highly reccomended.