Against a dark background - Iain M.Banks

BossArky

This book is sitting on my window sill waiting to be read. Is it a good first Banks book? (as I haven't read any of his others yet ... but have heard great things about "The Player of Games" and "The Wasp Factory").

tSubh Dearg

Personally I think that Player of Games is the best of his Sci-fi books to get started with. It's really well put together and has a great plot. It also gives you a good insight into the Culture, the civilisation that a lot of his Sci-fi books are based around and in.

For his other fiction either The Wasp Factory or The Business would be good introductions IMO. I loved both of them, though I got a bit freaked out in The Wasp Factory but that's just cause I'm such a girl sometimes I really enjoyed The Business and plan on reading it again in the near future.

BossArky

are all of his books set in the same world then?

tSubh Dearg

Not all, but a lot of the Sci-fi ones are based around this civilisation called The Culture. But it's a huge civlisation and you never meet the same characters or even the same planets/space stations/ships etc. Each book takes place at a different point in their development afair, it's been awhile since I read them.

BossArky

ok I shall try to read a few, books join the queue.

peter1892

I'm not overly familiar with his SF stuff, but I've read a few of his regular fiction books. I'd recommend 'Complicity' 'The Crow Road' & 'The Wasp Factory'. 'Espedair Street' is good if you've got an interest in rock music.

He recently published 'Raw Spirit' in which he travels Scotland in search of 'the perfect dram', and visits various distilleries sampling single malt whiskies. A fun read.

Karoma

I read The Wasp Factory first. I found it off-putting. I haven't gained the enthusiasm to give any more of his books a chance despite rave reviews of 'Crow Road'.

peter1892

Karoma wrote:

I read The Wasp Factory first. I found it off-putting. I haven't gained the enthusiasm to give any more of his books a chance despite rave reviews of 'Crow Road'.

That one is very weird in places, Complicity has some nasty stuff in it too but a lot of his other books, while quite dark, don't involve the 'stomach churning' moments that you get in 'The Wasp Factory'.

utopian

I find that all the sci-fi ones blend together except for "Player of Games", which I enjoyed.

As for the non-sci-fi, I gave up after attempting to read "The Business", which is awful tripe. The "Wasp Factory" is good, if overrated.

Banks is a talented enough writer, but he strikes me as being extremely lazy.

peter1892

utopian wrote:

Banks is a talented enough writer, but he strikes me as being extremely lazy.

Sometimes his books seem to end quite abruptly - as if he runs out of ideas so just finishes the story (The Business being a good example IMO).