Consider Phlebas

Back in 2010 I met author Iain M Banks via Waterstones when he released Surface Detail, his penultimate SF novel. I read it in 2012 and found it to be a massively complicated, long, zany and violent book – enjoyable to a degree but way too heavy. 

Other readers told me it wasn’t a good place to start with Banks’ work. Years later I decided to look into his work again; several fans told me to start with Consider Phlebas – his first SF novel and the first in his Culture series, of which Surface Detail is included. 

Then, a few months ago, my employer did a deal with Waterstones and we got a bit of money off, so I looked at my book list on my valued Omninotes app and managed to find Consider Phlebas in store. I started reading it not long after, in late April, and tapped through it very steadily. I’ve been busy. 

Again, this one is a heavy, hard Sci Fi book following Horza, an enemy of state sentenced to death in a quite grotesque manner, rescued at the 25th hour by a ragtag bunch of interstellar renegades, hoping to find a supercomputer that can help them win a war. What the crew of this new ship don’t know is that Horza is also a Changer, a species that can mimic other people, and is a threat to anyone who rules with force. If the crew realise this, they’ll kill him. 

So begins a twisting, ceaselessly inventive tale involving numerous species, planets, ships, transportation devices and a doomed love affair. 

I enjoyed it. I understood it as best as I could. Far better than Surface Detail. 

I have another book of his, Matter, in my to-read pile.