The egalitarian, interstellar society, the Culture faces the twin threat of a developing war and an `Excession'. The latter is described as the kind of event that has a similar effect on a civilisation that a full stop has on a sentence. In this instance it is an enigmatic, moon sized, black sphere that appears to be -circumstantially and impossibly- older than the universe itself. Against this backdrop a variety of sub-plots begin to collide including half-millennium old conspiracies, rogue star-ships and a four-decade long bout of depression.
I've always enjoyed Iain Banks' sci-fi. His contemporary fiction -whilst always entertaining- seems to suffer from being too much of its time; many of his early novels already seem a tad dated due to the many time-specific references. The same detail heavy descriptions, when applied to a sci-fi context, make his fantastical environments believable and relatable. That same creative and engaging world-building is on display here. This is an author completely and comfortably in control of his writing.
Now twenty-five years old, the Culture has become a rich playground for Banks. It has a texture and depth that is now so well established, he is able to develop themes with real finesse whilst developing a rollicking good plot. As ever, there is real wit in the names and exchanges of the Culture's genius artificial intelligences, the Minds. If anything, the wonderful wordplay and banter between these city-sized egos makes the human characters seem rather pallid and uninteresting and it is certainly the sections of the book featuring the meat based characters that dragged a little for me.
Nevertheless, this is a smashing addition to Banks' output. Lasers are fired, civilisations brought to the edge of extinction and between all that the moral limits of anarcho-democratic societies are explored, the extent to which the ends justify the means considered and the comparative relevance of personal and pan-galactic tragedy contrasted.
I suspect that you have to already be inclined toward books with spaceships and reactionary, right-wing societies composed of tentacle bearing aliens to really enjoy this novel. That seems a real pity as `Sleeper Service' is a more complex and captivating character than you would find in many literary works, despite being a seventy kilometre long rocket-ship. And I challenge anyone not to love a battleship called `A Frank Exchange of Views'.

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Excession (Engelska) Pocketbok – 15 Maj 1997
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Iain M. Banks
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- InversionsIain M. BanksPocketbok
- The State Of The ArtIain M. BanksPocketbok
- Look To WindwardIain M. BanksPocketbok
- MatterIain M. BanksPocketbok
- The Hydrogen SonataIain M. BanksPocketbok
- Iain M. Banks Culture - 25th anniversary box set: Consider Phlebas, The Player of Games and Use of WeaponsIain M. BanksPocketbok
Viktig notis
PEGI-märkt produkt. Mer information om åldersgränser finns här
Produktinformation
- Utgivare : Little, Brown Book Group; Ny utgåvan (15 Maj 1997)
- Språk : Engelska
- Pocketbok : 464 sidor
- ISBN-10 : 185723457X
- ISBN-13 : 978-1857234572
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Rangordning för bästsäljare:
#42,625 i Böcker (Visa Topp 100 i Böcker)
- #5,958 i Skönlitteratur
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Kundrecensioner
4,6 av 5 stjärnor
4,6 av 5
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Populäraste recensionerna från andra länder

TWB
4,0 av 5 stjärnor
Sci-fi that deserves an audience beyond the genre cul-de-sac
Granskad i Storbritannien den 1 november 2012Verifierat köp
7 människor tyckte detta var till hjälp
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Översätt omdöme till Svenska

A. Whitehead
5,0 av 5 stjärnor
Complex and clever SF, but with a human side as well
Granskad i Storbritannien den 1 februari 2013Verifierat köp
Thousands of years ago, the Culture encountered an Outside Context Problem. A perfectly black sphere materialised out of nowhere next to a trillion-year-old sun from another universe. It did nothing and vanished. Now it has returned, and both the Culture and a hostile alien race known as the Affront are desperate to uncover its secrets.
Excession was originally published in 1996 and is the fourth novel in Iain M. Banks's Culture series. As with all of the Culture books, it is a stand-alone novel sharing only the same background and setting, with minimal references to the events of other books and no characters crossing over.
A plot summary of the novel makes it sound like Banks's version of a 'Big Dumb Object' book, a novel where the characters are presented with an enigmatic alien entity and have to deal with it (similar to Rendezvous with Rama or Ringworld). However, this isn't really what Excession is about. Instead, the novel operates on several different levels and uses the titular artifact as a catalyst for a more thorough exploration of the Culture and its goals, as well as a more human story about relationships and change.
Excession is the first book in the series to explore the Minds, the (mostly) benevolent hyper-advanced AIs which effectively run and rule the Culture (as both spacecraft and the hubs of the immense Orbital habitats). Previous novels had portrayed the Minds as god-like entities whose vast powers allowed the various biological species of the Culture to live peaceful lives of post-scarcity freedom. Aside from their whimsical sense of humour and tendency towards ludicrous names, the Minds had not been fleshed out much in the previous novels. Here they are front and centre as several groups of Minds attempt to deal with the Outside Context Problem, or Excession, and find themselves working at cross-purposes. One group of Minds appears to be involved in a conspiracy related to the object's previous appearance, whilst another is trying to flush them out. Another Mind appears to be operating on its own, enigmatic agenda. There are also Minds belonging to the Elench, an alien race closely aligned with the Culture but who may have different goals in mind in relation to this matter.
Banks depicts communications between the Minds as something between a telegram and an email, complete with hyperlink-like codes (in which can be found some amusing in-jokes). Following these conversations is sometimes hard work (especially remembering which ship belongs to which faction), but worth it as within them can be found much of the more subtle plotting of the novel.
The stuff with the Minds and with the alien Affront (think of the Hanar from Mass Effect but with the attitude and disposition of Klingons) is all great and somewhat comic in tone, but the book also has a serious side. Several human characters are dragged into the situation as well, and it turns out two of them have a past, tragic connection that one of the Minds is keen to exploit. It's rather bemusing that Banks drops in a terribly human drama into the middle of this massive, gonzoid space opera, but the juxtaposition is highly effective, giving heart to a story that otherwise could drown in its own epicness.
Excession (****½) is, as is normal with (early) Banks, well-written and engaging, mixing well-drawn characters (be they human, psychopathic floating jellyfish or Mind) with big SF concepts. The book's only downside is a somewhat anti-climactic (though rather clever) ending. The novel is available now in the UK and USA.
Excession was originally published in 1996 and is the fourth novel in Iain M. Banks's Culture series. As with all of the Culture books, it is a stand-alone novel sharing only the same background and setting, with minimal references to the events of other books and no characters crossing over.
A plot summary of the novel makes it sound like Banks's version of a 'Big Dumb Object' book, a novel where the characters are presented with an enigmatic alien entity and have to deal with it (similar to Rendezvous with Rama or Ringworld). However, this isn't really what Excession is about. Instead, the novel operates on several different levels and uses the titular artifact as a catalyst for a more thorough exploration of the Culture and its goals, as well as a more human story about relationships and change.
Excession is the first book in the series to explore the Minds, the (mostly) benevolent hyper-advanced AIs which effectively run and rule the Culture (as both spacecraft and the hubs of the immense Orbital habitats). Previous novels had portrayed the Minds as god-like entities whose vast powers allowed the various biological species of the Culture to live peaceful lives of post-scarcity freedom. Aside from their whimsical sense of humour and tendency towards ludicrous names, the Minds had not been fleshed out much in the previous novels. Here they are front and centre as several groups of Minds attempt to deal with the Outside Context Problem, or Excession, and find themselves working at cross-purposes. One group of Minds appears to be involved in a conspiracy related to the object's previous appearance, whilst another is trying to flush them out. Another Mind appears to be operating on its own, enigmatic agenda. There are also Minds belonging to the Elench, an alien race closely aligned with the Culture but who may have different goals in mind in relation to this matter.
Banks depicts communications between the Minds as something between a telegram and an email, complete with hyperlink-like codes (in which can be found some amusing in-jokes). Following these conversations is sometimes hard work (especially remembering which ship belongs to which faction), but worth it as within them can be found much of the more subtle plotting of the novel.
The stuff with the Minds and with the alien Affront (think of the Hanar from Mass Effect but with the attitude and disposition of Klingons) is all great and somewhat comic in tone, but the book also has a serious side. Several human characters are dragged into the situation as well, and it turns out two of them have a past, tragic connection that one of the Minds is keen to exploit. It's rather bemusing that Banks drops in a terribly human drama into the middle of this massive, gonzoid space opera, but the juxtaposition is highly effective, giving heart to a story that otherwise could drown in its own epicness.
Excession (****½) is, as is normal with (early) Banks, well-written and engaging, mixing well-drawn characters (be they human, psychopathic floating jellyfish or Mind) with big SF concepts. The book's only downside is a somewhat anti-climactic (though rather clever) ending. The novel is available now in the UK and USA.

Graham
4,0 av 5 stjärnor
Brilliant Exploration of the Culture universe
Granskad i Storbritannien den 23 augusti 2020Verifierat köp
I'm sure I read this before, but I could remember hardly any of it. I didn't find it a straightforward read, as there are so many characters (both biological and 'Minds'), and I found it difficult to work out who was doing what to whom at times. Still it all worked out in the end (I think), and I now have it in my collection to read again.

Dr Ward
5,0 av 5 stjärnor
A modern sci-fi master piece
Granskad i Storbritannien den 24 mars 2013Verifierat köp
Some of Ian Bank's culture novels can be a little ho hum, and a new reader would be left wondering what all the fuss was about. Bank's likes to explore all the little backwaters of the culture, and this is to be commended, but what you need as a new Bank's reader is a tour de force, demonstrating what a straight up fantastic writer he is.
The books, IMHO, to start with are Excession and the The Player of Games.; Then you can attempt Look to Windward or the Hydrogen Sonata while getting the point. Excession is extremely good, hard sci-fi, brilliant human story, epic concepts and distances, lots of culture minds and ships (always good), strange and slightly comic aliens - ideal. So start with this - Excession, it will please you.
The books, IMHO, to start with are Excession and the The Player of Games.; Then you can attempt Look to Windward or the Hydrogen Sonata while getting the point. Excession is extremely good, hard sci-fi, brilliant human story, epic concepts and distances, lots of culture minds and ships (always good), strange and slightly comic aliens - ideal. So start with this - Excession, it will please you.

Richard Curtis
5,0 av 5 stjärnor
Ripping sci-fi Yarn - classic Banksie
Granskad i Storbritannien den 21 maj 2014Verifierat köp
Right from the start, you know that this one's going to be a page-turner: mysterious appearance of inexplicable phenomena at far reaches of galaxy; political wranglings by the Culture's eccentric Minds to get to it first and be the ones to exploit the first contact; dodgy and unpredictable secondary races/species that want in. individuals caught up in it all, etc... A sort of intergalactic version of the battle to colonise Antarctica, only with immensely greater potential consequences for the known Universe.
It reads brilliantly, it keeps one interested, its prose style is right on the mark for the genre and it's dotted with examples the author's quirky humour. If you've not read any of the other Culture novels (and why not?), let this be your first.
It reads brilliantly, it keeps one interested, its prose style is right on the mark for the genre and it's dotted with examples the author's quirky humour. If you've not read any of the other Culture novels (and why not?), let this be your first.