Matter
by Iain M. Banks
|
List Price: Our Price: $16.07 You Save: $9.92 (38%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.06 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Matter
Book Review: My new favourite Culture novel
Summary: 5 Stars
"Matter" is a novel of energy, wit, and vision, all of which I found somewhat lacking in Mr. Banks' recent mainstream novel "The Steep Approach to Garbadale"; he's probably not going to change his publishing habits, but it seems clear he's having a lot more fun, and arguably is more fully engaging himself, with his sf work.
"Matter" deals with civilizations of different technological levels interacting with each other. In fact, it reads in part like a superior fantasy novel, with its low-tech action and daring escapades on what are more or less dragons. And there is intrigue, betrayal, loyal friends, self-discovery--all in all a meaty broth for the reader to sup upon.
But what pushed the novel up to five stars for me was something that sf is perhaps uniquely able to provide: a sense of genuine wonder. The book teems with strange aliens, gargantuan contructs, and delightful conveyances that are vividly and convincingly described. Some readers might object to the space given to such descriptions. There is a particular strain of sf and fantasy reader who frowns upon wide description and tangential diversion, proclaiming these to be 'filler,' or 'self-indulgent,' as if a novel must be a break-neck race toward the conlusion. I say, let the author indulge himself. One of the reasons I love this genre is to see first-class imaginations working in a high gear. That is what "Matter" offers.
Book Review: Six hundred pages of pleasure and stimulation
Summary: 4 Stars
It seems that everything that reviewers have complained about here are things that I actually liked about "Matter."
(1) Length. I had no problem reading the nearly six hundred pages, and gladly would have read more. Those who found much of the material irrelevant should wait for the Cliff's Notes. The question of what is and is not important is, after all, one of the book's main themes.
(2) The fact that it's not "Consider Phlebas" or "Use of Weapons." Good. I'm sure that Banks would be bored with writing the same book over and over again, and I'd be bored reading it.
(3) The ending. Most books can't manage even one terrific ending. This one provides TWO. Granted, it may not be what most readers might have expected. But that's the point. Those who become too invested in the petty doings of a barbarian culture deserve to be reminded that they really DON'T amount to a hill of beans in the pan-galactic scheme of things--and rather sharply.
And on the purely positive side, the book contains things that every reader should like. Culture. Cheeky AI's. Neat weapons. An endless supply of REALLY alien civilizations. Moral ambiguity and inscrutability.
If Banks' next Culture book is completely different that this one, and is at least six hundred pages long, I bet I'll be completely satisfied as I was with this one.
Book Review: Does it Matter?
Summary: 3 Stars
It's dangerous to make suppositions about the motives of a writer, but this book gives me the impression that Banks didn't really want to write another Culture novel, until he noticed that his bank account was getting a mite low. What's bad about Matter isn't that it's a bad book--it's just not a very good one, and it certainly doesn't measure up to this writer's potential.
In fact, with the help of a really capable (read "with the temperament of a junkyard dog") editor and couple of rewrites, this could have been a fine novel. It just needs a lot of work that it never got. As others have remarked, this tome seems far too long. (Though I've read books with more pages that seemed far too short.) For example, when a writer tells of a pompous politician delivering a long-winded, insincere eulogy, he could elect to handle this by giving the opening sentences, and saying, "...and the pompous windbag went on in this vein for what seemed an eternity". Instead, Banks actually reproduces the speech in its entirety. Unforgivable.
I did almost hurl the book after about 60 pages, but then the discovery of the stow-away drone by the female culture agent gave me a chuckle. The chuckle gave birth to hope...which eventually faded back into near-boredom. And yes, the plot skids to a dead stop at the end.
Buy the paperback.
Book Review: Little new matter, still good stuff
Summary: 4 Stars
I've just finished reading the book and I'm left with somewhat mixed feelings. For one thing, it's too long. Even more than the other Culture novels, it takes a while to really get going. I also share with another reviewer the impression that Banks is starting to repeat himself; in particular, the pair composed by a Special Circumstances female agent and her blood-lusty combat drone seems taken straight from "Use of Weapons". In my humble opinion, the two other Culture novels I'm more reminded of, "Look to Windward" and "Excession", are better crafted novels. Still, I really enjoyed the unpredictable last third of the book (whence the four stars), and some of the ideas are really good. Banks' alien bestiary acquires some new remarkable fellows (such as the Oct, the unhinged "most untranslatable" civilization), and it is a pleasure to witness the gusto with which he still roams the galactic far reaches and deep time in order to serve us new wonders and vistas (although too much of the book is spent just describing said things). I also appreciate the continuous refinement of the Culture, of its moral stand, its political and social workings and its place in the greater scenario. Last but not least: the master's signature features -- dark humour, witty characters and violent plots --are still live and well, for which we may rejoice.Book Review: OK, but not up to his usual standards
Summary: 3 Stars
I have been a Banks fan for some time. This is perhaps the first book of his that I was not completely spellbound by. It's OK, but just doesn't have the zing that I have come to expect. I could forgive the long and fuzzy plot if the characterizations were OK. For example, compared to previous aliens (The Idirians, The Dwellers, the Affront, etc.) the denizens of this book just don't cut it. Even the "oct", whose tortured grammar should lend themselves to the Banksian writing style, are sort of flat and you never really care about them one way or the other.
As other reviewers have pointed out, there are endless pages of boring stuff on a primitive people called the "Sarl" but a lot of potentially interesting things that get glossed over. A sense of mystery is great - like when you are left wondering exactly what the galaxy would be like after a billion years in "Look to Windward", or who the "greater reviled" were - but this is ridiculous. What was it with the "WorldGod", or the lost city, or the Iln, etc. There is a fine line between a novel with a few carefully chosen mysteries and a poorly-plotted novel with nothing but loose ends, and I think that this once Mr. Banks has stepped over it.
Not a bad read for the beach, but that's about it.