Matter, Iain M. Banks, Orbit

The biggest problem every new Iain M. Banks book faces upon publication are the inevitable questions "how does it stack up against 'Consider Phlebas'?" & "how does it stack up against 'Against a dark background'?"

Matter stacks up well.

This books has the depth of character and richness of detail that are hallmarks of Bank's craft. In addition to the brutal pragmatism that frequently crops up too. There are a couple of small space battles that may satiate slightly those of that bent.

The book is structured around a number of stories followed as threads through the book which come together at the end. It is a common style and there were a couple of occasions where I wished the editor had been a bit more demanding with cuts to speed up the story.

The books starts with a trumped up war, in which a king dies, witnessed in secret by his heir. This leads the heir to flee and start a quest for his sister, who has just started a quest back to visit her home world. The sister intends to pay her respects to her father and her youngest brother, who will be the new King. If he lives long enough!

But the sister is an agent of the Culture's Special Circumstances section. In the world to which Anaplian returns, nothing is quite as it seems; and determining the appropriate level of interference in someone else's war is never a simple matter.


The end came abruptly. I wonder if the epilogues in Banks' books aren't demanded by his editors. And in typical Banks style it was brutal. Perhaps I really mean realistic, if it possible to use that term about Sci-Fi. Banks does not write for Hollywood. Although elements of the "cast" have happy endings, as a whole the heroes do not ride off into the Sunset together. Although this book might be his most filmic. And in some lights the ending does speak to an American audience with its ending.

I read a number of series. Whilst reading this book, I came to consider why. To a certain extent there is the guaranteed level of writing quality; the familiarity with the milieu or background; and not forgetting laziness on my part - it can be a hit or miss affair finding new writers to read. But I've started to consider when reading books that follow the same characters or the same cultures (pun intended, sorry) whether they can be read as standalone books. Matter could be. It will help to have read some of Banks' other Culture novels, but it isn't compulsory or necessary. I didn't spot any characters who followed on from other books. But I also didn't try to check up on that either. I'm soon going to be reading my next book(s)!