Look to windward
It was one of the less glorious incidents of a long-ago war. It led to the destruction of two suns and the billions of lives they supported. Now, eight hundred years later, the light from the first of those ancient mistakes has reached the Culture Orbital, Masaq. The light from the second may not.
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60mentions
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2010–2026years
55% recommend45% neutral
Mentions per year
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- The death scene of the AI and its assassin/partner in death in Look to Windward is one of the best written things in his books.
God I wish he had written 1000 more novels. Every single one of his stories is phenomenal, even the non culture stuff. The Wasp Factory was the first of his novels I read. Imagine my surprise and elation in finding that most of his other works were absolute top tier sci-fi.
- May I recommend "Look to Windward" to you?
- Just read Look to Windward to see how wrong you are. Banks knows very well that hell is paved with good intentions.
See also Use of Weapons and Excession.
- The Freeze-Frame stories are officially called the Sunflower series. While different, they have the same alien creepiness that Watts is so good at, the extreme time frame (millions of years) makes it all the more chilling.
It's a novel plus one prequel short story ("Hotshot"), two sequels ("The Island" and "Giants"), and two short fragments. All the shorts can be found on his web site, I believe.
I also really enjoyed Echopraxia, the sequel to Blindsight. I think some people thought it was too different from what they expected; it doesn't pick up Siri Keaton's story, but tells a vaguely concurrent one. There's a Portia connection there too, by the way.
Consider Phlebas is one of my favourite Banks novels, but I know many people dislike it. If this is your first Banks book, don't write off Banks completely. Finishing Phlebas is a great stepping stone to read Look to Windward, which I personally think is Banks' best Culture novel.
What's Transference? The Ian Patterson book?
- Iain M Banks - Culture novels.
Strong warning: Start with either book 2 (Player of Games) or book...7, Look to Windward.
I strongly suggest you skip book 1 until you're comfortable with the rest of the books that focus on the Culture itself, and not some weird offshoot story that barely involves the Culture.
- Whenever I’m asked the sort of generic icebreaker questions like “what fictional thing do you wish you had” a neural lace is one of my first answers, short of membership in the Culture or access to a GSV or a Mind.
I also love Consider Phlebas. Maybe because it was the first I read, but I’ve found it to be a great comfort read. Look to Windward and Player Of Games next. Use Of Weapons is always fantastic, but less fun.
His non-sci-fi fiction is great too. I loved Complicity and have read it many time. His whisky book is fantastic.
