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Review #3038 - Dated: 24th of June, 2009 Author: Tucker |
This was my first encounter with Iain Banks' work and I was so hooked I simply had to go out and buy up all the back titles I could track down. Since then, I have kept a weather eye out and have managed to accumulate a fair percentage of his works, with a *very* heavy leaning towards any of his 'Culture' series.
A stunning author, this book really brought his 'Culture' universe alive for me in much the same way that Neal Asher did with his 'Polity' universe... and I have to wonder at the stunning synchonicity of both universes. Humanity under the benevolent rule of a higher-order artificial intelligence we created, humanity (in both it's physical and digital forms) spreading across the face of our galaxy, and the slow but stead subversion and subsumption of (nearly) all the alien cultures we encounter.
Overall, a stunning book with some utterly unexpected twists, especially at the end.
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