Surface Detail

Once again I was completely immersed in the universe of Iain M. Banks: both in the Virtual and the Real, although the lines tend to blur frequently. He does not spare us in his depictions of the virtual hells - even Hieronymus Bosch would feel queasy at times - but his quirky inventiveness shines throughout.

The first-time visitor to the Culture would probably feel overwhelmed by the cornucopia of Minds and intelligent life forms, pan-human and otherwise. I would recommend an introduction through 'Look to Windward' or 'The Player of Games' before attempting this, his greatest work to date. I have read every book of his and this is the first audiobook of the series that I've listened to. I had thought it would be an impossible task for a single narrator to cover the incredible range of characters, but Peter Kenny has done a fantastic job fleshing them out. I did not want it to end. Can't wait for the next one!

I enjoyed revisiting the Culture once again with this almost thriller. Peter Kenny's narration once again makes this a gem.

Like all of Iain M Banks' Culture novels that I have read, this one was vast, mind blowing and in parts hilariously funny. The best part about Banks in audio is that my mind can wander during detailed descriptions of space (or other) battles, and not have lost the thread when the interesting (to me) stuff starts up again.

The narrator gave a unique voice characterisation to every one of the many major and minor characters, making sections of the story that I think I may have skimmed in print utterly engaging in audio. I'm sure the book has its faults, I've seen other reviewers complain about Veppers being a cardboard cutout pantomime villain, and they're right. I just didn't mind though, so much did I enjoy the personalities of the rest of the characters, especially the ships' Minds.

Loved it.

Playing with the concept of life after death in the advanced Culture we've met in 'Consider Phlebas' Banks brings a new twist to his Culture novels. While his other novels were almost all tragedies, this novel comes over more philosophical and succeeds in making the reader think about concepts like 'soul, consciousness, mind' and 'being.' While the story is most of the time straight forward, Bank's captivates with interesting characters that he bring together in an unexpected way. Peter Kenny's interpretative reading is topnotch. I never opted out and he kept the characters very alive and interesting. This audio book comes highly recommended.

This is a very pleasant listen. The narration, concepts and language were all excellent. However, I was not enthralled by the plot and I found that I "could put it down". I would still recommend this book to you if you are a SF fan.

Great narration brings Banks’ characters to virtual life in another space epic from Banks who has lost none of his inventiveness. Brilliant and witty as ever...