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Any other fans of The Culture novels?
Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2018 3:53 am
by Yukaphile
Show of hands?
Re: Any other fans of The Culture novels?
Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2018 4:07 am
by phantom000
Yukaphile wrote: ↑Sun Dec 30, 2018 3:53 am
Show of hands?
*Looks around confused and then shrugs*
Re: Any other fans of The Culture novels?
Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2018 5:07 am
by Yukaphile
The Culture, from its description on Wikipedia:
The Culture series is a science fiction series written by Scottish author Iain M. Banks. The stories centre on the Culture, a utopian, post-scarcity space society of humanoids, aliens, and very advanced artificial intelligences living in socialist habitats spread across the Milky Way galaxy. The main theme of the novels is the dilemmas that an idealistic hyperpower faces in dealing with civilizations that do not share its ideals, and whose behaviour it sometimes finds repulsive. In some of the stories, action takes place mainly in non-Culture environments, and the leading characters are often on the fringes of (or non-members of) the Culture, sometimes acting as agents of Culture (knowing and unknowing) in its plans to civilize the galaxy.
Re: Any other fans of The Culture novels?
Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2018 3:06 pm
by clearspira
Yukaphile wrote: ↑Sun Dec 30, 2018 3:53 am
Show of hands?
I've been waiting for someone on here to discuss the Culture series. I think they are awesome and frankly poor Mr Banks was taken from us far too early. I think the first Culture book was going to be made into a film, but its been in development hell for some time.
My personal favourite is ''The Player of Games'' which is probably not surprising. I find the idea of a three sex species to be fascinating tbh.
For those of you here who have not read them, imagine the Federation but without a Prime Directive to the point that they actively involve themselves in other planets, without a ban on genetic engineering, and are ruled by benevolent but often underhanded robots.
Re: Any other fans of The Culture novels?
Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2018 6:36 pm
by Eishtmo
The best book is Use of Weapons. It's great in a structural sense of the writing, the twist, and the characterization.
The best book about the Culture itself is probably Look to Windward. It covers everything you would want to know while tapping into guilt and war and vengeance without it being stupidly violent.
Hydrogen Sonata is a great send off for the author. It FEELS like he knew it would be the last and it's themes are very much that.
Surface Detail is kind of the same but not quite. The goals seem much more grand than Sonata, which kind of takes away from it.
Excession takes that grand epic feel and runs with it. Yeah, it's the epic of the piece, delves into how the Minds (benevolent AIs) do their work and points out that there are always bigger fish out there.
Player of Games is a lot of fun to read, but it's not so much about the Culture as it is about the other race and how societies evolve and transform.
Matter is rougher, enjoyable, but odd. I can see why some people don't much care for it as much. Yeah, it has some moments, but it's also not quite up to par with some of the others.
State of the Art and Inversions are part of the series but more like side projects to it. Okay for what they are.
The only book I didn't really like is, well, the first one, Consider Phlebas. It's not a good introduction to the series, better if you've already gone through several of the other books, if not all of them first. Certainly after Look to Windward (both titles come from the same quote). It's not as polished as the others and lacks some of the really awesome ideas. Odd that they would want to film it, Use of Weapons or Player of Games would be so much better.
Re: Any other fans of The Culture novels?
Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2018 6:53 pm
by Yukaphile
I've started reading the eighth book, "Matter," mostly because I have it as an eBook and have to transcript it to a Word doc given that Kindle won't let me copy and paste, and I find it fascinating so far. I have all the others save the ninth and tenth books, which I intend to get soon AND OMG THE AUTHOR IS DEAD?! Shit.
Re: Any other fans of The Culture novels?
Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2018 12:19 am
by Riedquat
*raises hand*
Another one for not being much of a fan of Consider Phlebas though. For all its ideas it felt much more like a standard space opera. The rest get into the head of their setting much better.
My favourites are probably Look to Windward and Excession, although Excession is pretty inaccessible if you don't already have a grip on the series.
A non-Culture Iain Banks book, Feersum Endjinn, is well worth a read too, although it'll depend on who well you can cope with frequent sections written phonetically (personally speaking I found them easy enough to read as long as I didn't try thinking about it too hard). It's also considerably less depressing than the rest.
Re: Any other fans of The Culture novels?
Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2018 12:44 am
by clearspira
Yukaphile wrote: ↑Sun Dec 30, 2018 6:53 pm
I've started reading the eighth book, "Matter," mostly because I have it as an eBook and have to transcript it to a Word doc given that Kindle won't let me copy and paste, and I find it fascinating so far. I have all the others save the ninth and tenth books, which I intend to get soon AND OMG THE AUTHOR IS DEAD?! Shit.
Cancer in 2013 sadly. He was only 59.
Re: Any other fans of The Culture novels?
Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2018 12:47 am
by clearspira
Eishtmo wrote: ↑Sun Dec 30, 2018 6:36 pm
The best book is Use of Weapons. It's great in a structural sense of the writing, the twist, and the characterization.
The best book about the Culture itself is probably Look to Windward. It covers everything you would want to know while tapping into guilt and war and vengeance without it being stupidly violent.
Hydrogen Sonata is a great send off for the author. It FEELS like he knew it would be the last and it's themes are very much that.
Surface Detail is kind of the same but not quite. The goals seem much more grand than Sonata, which kind of takes away from it.
Excession takes that grand epic feel and runs with it. Yeah, it's the epic of the piece, delves into how the Minds (benevolent AIs) do their work and points out that there are always bigger fish out there.
Player of Games is a lot of fun to read, but it's not so much about the Culture as it is about the other race and how societies evolve and transform.
Matter is rougher, enjoyable, but odd. I can see why some people don't much care for it as much. Yeah, it has some moments, but it's also not quite up to par with some of the others.
State of the Art and Inversions are part of the series but more like side projects to it. Okay for what they are.
The only book I didn't really like is, well, the first one, Consider Phlebas. It's not a good introduction to the series, better if you've already gone through several of the other books, if not all of them first. Certainly after Look to Windward (both titles come from the same quote). It's not as polished as the others and lacks some of the really awesome ideas. Odd that they would want to film it, Use of Weapons or Player of Games would be so much better.
I really enjoyed Consider Phlebas. Seems to me that Banks had not decided if he wanted the Culture to be protagonists yet. Definitely what TVTropes calls Early installment Weirdness.
Re: Any other fans of The Culture novels?
Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2018 7:45 am
by Eishtmo
Yeah, it is probably some of that. More than that was that it was a bit more heavy handed. The entire bit with the trains was a direct response to the times and a bit too on the nose honestly. I think it was best to place the perspective from outside the Culture as it would be the most accessible for us to understand, but it went too antagonistic for it's own good. It's why I think Look to Windward does it better.
Though the end of the book, the appendix that gives the numbers for the war is probably the most important bit of world building in the entire book. It set up the scales that the Culture series operates on and without it, most of the rest of the series wouldn't quite work as well.