Use of weapons - Iain M Banks

BossArky

Reading this at the moment, approx 1/3 of the way through.

Should I be reading his Culture books in order or not? I read elsewhere that they don't really follow on from each other... however a colleague told me that it would be best to read them in order.

Previously I read Player of Games, plus the Wasp Factory. How does Use of weapons weight up to the others?

More opinion to follow once I get through it...

Riskymove

The Sci-fi novels by Banks are all very good...I am always in awe of his creative imagination.

The culture novels are all separate stories so order not that important but if reading in order I think you might get a better understanding of the society of the culture, references etc.

Not all are set in the culture though!!

I have read them all except the most recent, The Algebraist.The best ones imo are Consider Phlebas, Against a Dark Background and The Player of Games.


His regular Novels as Iain Banks are also good; the Crow Road and The Business in particular.

!_Brian_!

Was reading Consdier Phlebas there a while ago but got distracted my the new Rayomd E. Feist book. Seaming to be shaping up pretty decent, must get stuck back into it.

art

BossArky wrote:

Reading this at the moment, approx 1/3 of the way through.

Should I be reading his Culture books in order or not? I read elsewhere that they don't really follow on from each other... however a colleague told me that it would be best to read them in order.

Previously I read Player of Games, plus the Wasp Factory. How does Use of weapons weight up to the others?

More opinion to follow once I get through it...

"Player of Games" was I think my favorite of the Culture series, perhaps because it is very accessible and because I just like games! But "Use of Weapons" certainly was right up there too. It was the one that I thinking of long after I finished reading, would consider it the cleverest, most intelligent one he has written. "Consider phlebas is fairly good but I'd place it definitely after the other two. The other ones that come after I can't remember that well even though I read them after those other three, which is a fair indictment that they don't really reach the same standards at all. Maybe "Excession" would be about the next best I read ...

And, no, absolutely no need to read them in order as far as I recall, there's no progression through the series, they are all very independent. In fact, "Player of Games" is probably the best introduction to the whole "Culture" concept.

marcphisto

art wrote:

And, no, absolutely no need to read them in order as far as I recall, there's no progression through the series, they are all very independent. In fact, "Player of Games" is probably the best introduction to the whole "Culture" concept.

I agree. If memory serves me correctly the first culture novel was "Consider Phlebas" and the Culture wasn't fully explained in that one.

"Against a Dark Background" was my personal favourite. My next fiction book will probably be "The Algebraist". I've read and enjoyed all his Sci-Fi stuff to be honest.

You can get a brief overview of his novels here http://www.iainbanks.net/sf.htm

nesf

"Use of Weapons", for me, was the highlight of his work so far. He has written plenty good books but none topped Use of Weapons imho.

I did find some of his straight fiction unreadable though. It was only after long conversations with friends of mine from Edinburgh that I got a lot of his imagery (the bridge etc).

mcgovern

There is definitely no reason to read them in any order that I seen, though I read Consider Phlebas first, then Use of Weapons and finally The Algebraist (which was my favourite).

art

mcgovern wrote:

There is definitely no reason to read them in any order that I seen, though I read Consider Phlebas first, then Use of Weapons and finally The Algebraist (which was my favourite).

Algebraist wasn't, strictly speaking, A "Culture" novel though. Same as "Against a dark Background (if I remember correctly).

Apart from Use of Weapons, the "Culture novels are: Consider Phlebas, Player of Games, Excession and, I think, Look to Windward is the other one. (Having said that, the Algrebraist does kind of read just like one of the "Culture" novels ... )

Skrynesaver

Use of weapons can be a bit heavy in that it wanders from culture to "barbarianism" a lot, however it, player of games and Excession are (in my opinion) the most rewarding of the "Culture" series.

BossArky

Still haven't finished it .. work and other stuff getting in the way. It kind of drags.

art

BossArky wrote:

Still haven't finished it .. work and other stuff getting in the way. It kind of drags.

I think it is all sort of in the "punchline" so to speak, if I remember correctly - it's when I had finished reading it that I looked back on it more appreciatively ... though, at the end of the day, the kind of humour you are in when reading books can make all the difference too - manys the time I've decided to read that "great book" i read some years ago only to find myself wondering what the hell I was all excited about at the time!

BossArky

Yeah someone at work told me that once they finished the book they looked back on it in a whole new light. Oh well I shall trudge onwards :cool:

Johnny Storm

IMHO his Culture novels are excellent. Superb imagination. I thought the first few were the best.
His short story "State of the Art" is the closest he comes AFAIK to explaining the Culture.

BossArky

Still stuck on this, cannot get around to finishing it off.

Johnny Storm

BossArky wrote:

Still stuck on this, cannot get around to finishing it off.

Oh well. All I can say is that I really enjoyed it. Don't expect too much from the "punchline" though.

Marksie

BossArky wrote:

Reading this at the moment, approx 1/3 of the way through.

Should I be reading his Culture books in order or not? I read elsewhere that they don't really follow on from each other... however a colleague told me that it would be best to read them in order.

Previously I read Player of Games, plus the Wasp Factory. How does Use of weapons weight up to the others?

More opinion to follow once I get through it...

I dont think there is a necessity to read them in order.

I think use of weapons is one of his best.

I also like his dry wit that suffuses his work.

Fenster

The order goes:

Consider Phlebas
Use of Weapons
The Player of Games (definately my favourite)
Excession
Inversions
Look to Windward

On Inversions; I'm suprised no one's mentioned it because it is a Culture novel, albeit, not.

There's also the novella/short story The State of the Art. There's also "Notes on the Culture", which is a crash course in them.