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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780553575378
ISBN: 0553575376
Label: Spectra
Manufacturer: Spectra
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 512
Publication Date: February 02, 1998
Publisher: Spectra
Release Date: February 02, 1998
Sales Rank: 24641
Studio: Spectra
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Iain M. Banks is a true original, an author whose brilliant speculative fiction has transported us into worlds of unbounded imagination and inimitable revelatory power. Now he takes us on the ultimate trip: to the edge of possibility and to the heart of a cosmic puzzle....
Diplomat Byr Genar-Hofoen has been selected by the Culture to undertake a delicate and dangerous mission. The Department of Special Circumstances--the Culture's espionage and dirty tricks section--has sent him off to investigate a 2,500-year-old mystery: the sudden disappearance of a star fifty times older than the universe itself. But in seeking the secret of the lost sun, Byr risks losing himself.
There is only one way to break the silence of millennia: steal the soul of the long-dead starship captain who first encountered the star, and convince her to be reborn. And in accepting this mission, Byr will be swept into a vast conspiracy that could lead the universe into an age of peace...or to the brink of annihilation.
Amazon.com Review:
It's not easy to disturb a mega-utopia as vast as the one Iain M. Banks has created in his popular Culture series, where life is devoted to fun and ultra-high-tech is de rigueur. But more than two millennia ago the appearance--and disappearance--of a star older than the universe caused quite a stir. Now the mystery is back, and the key to solving it lies in the mind of the person who witnessed the first disturbance 2,500 years ago. But she's dead, and getting her to cooperate may not be altogether easy.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
I'm glad I didn't start with Excession, but built up to it by reading some of his other books. I can sympathize with one reviewer who found it incomprehensible, with little action. I loved it, and think it is the most humorous of them (which may not be saying much). I'd recommend reading some of Banks's earlier books before you try this one.
Rating: -
It helps to enjoy this book if you're the type of person who wonders equally at the technology, the themes, the math, the characters, and the possibilities. Banks' imagination is really going full-blast here with sentient spaceships (sometimes going 'eccentric', doing their own thing) and all of the creative, fantastic inventions that inhabit his far-future world.
I will be the first to admit that it's not the easiest read at first. Get past the first 40-50 pages though, and you'll ... Read More
Rating: -
I finally finished reading Excession. I liked the book overall, but it took me 300 pages before it was interesting enough for me to read it for long periods of time. I've had been struggling reading through it a few pages at a time before that, which probably only exacerbated my disinterest.
The ideas in the book were interesting and there was a lot of new information about the Minds and the way the Culture works in general. Events weren't as rosy (from a Culture society perspective) ... Read More
Rating: -
When expecting a Banks' sci-fi book, expect only excellence.
When expecting a Banks' "Culture" book, expect seven things:
1) war, weapons, death and destruction
2) glanding different sensations to alter reality
3) drones with smart mouths, attitudes and a cunning wit
4) knife missiles slicing through baddie targets
5) quirky aliens in and out of the Culture
6) dark, grim gory scenes that will leave you cringing
7) Minds and their space vessels
... Read More
Rating: -
I read this about six years ago in dental school. Since then have read a great deal of Sci Fi- some good some mediocre. I picked this up again the other day, and man does this guy rock. He writes sf with a depth of imagination and seriousness of purpose that you won't find anywhere else. This is going to sound sweeping, but many sf writers are just a joke compared to Banks. I told my wife that reading Banks is like listening to Jimi Hendrix play guitar. No understatement.
So if you ... Read More
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