Welcome to KIWIreviews - product reviews
•  click here to return to the homepage  •
Welcome visitor.Join us or log in

Product reviews on kiwireviews.nz : Sunday 6th October 2024 - 19:52:25

QuickSearch for:    What is QuickSearch?
QuickJump to:    What is QuickJump?
logon name: p/w:  

I want to:

You Are Here...

Home > Categories > Books > Sci-Fi > The Hydrogen Sonata review

« Mr Chen's Emporium reviewMr ChenRed Rocks reviewRed Rocks »

Score: 9.3/10  [1 review]
4 out of 5
ProdID: 3624 - The Hydrogen Sonata
Written by Iain M. Banks

The Hydrogen Sonata
Price:
$34.99
Sample/s Supplied by:
Click to search for all products supplied by Hachette

Disclosure StatementFULL DISCLOSURE: A number of units of this product have, at some time, been provided to KIWIreviews by Hachette or their agents for the sole purposes of unbiased, independent reviews. No fee was requested, offered nor accepted by KIWIreviews or the reviewers themselves - these are genuine, unpaid consumer reviews.
Available:
October 2012

The Hydrogen Sonata product reviews

The Scavenger species are circling. It is, truly, the End Days for the Gzilt civilization. An ancient people, organized on military principles and yet almost perversely peaceful, the Gzilt helped set up the Culture ten thousand years earlier and were very nearly one of its founding societies, deciding not to join only at the last moment. Now they've made the collective decision to follow the well-trodden path of millions of other civilizations; they are going to Sublime, elevating themselves to a new and almost infinitely more rich and complex existence.

Amid preparations though, the Regimental High Command is destroyed. Lieutenant Commander (reserve) Vyr Cossont appears to have been involved, and she is now wanted - dead, not alive. Aided only by an ancient, reconditioned android and a suspicious Culture avatar, Cossont must complete her last mission given to her by the High Command. She must find the oldest person in the Culture, a man over nine thousand years old, who might have some idea what really happened all that time ago. It seems that the final days of the Gzilt civilization are likely to prove its most perilous.

Check out Hachette onlineClick here to see all the listings for Hachette Visit their website Follow them on Twitter Check them out on Facebook They do not have a YouTube Channel They do not have a Pinterest board They do not have an Instagram channel They do not have a TikTok channel



Tags:
aliens   artificial intelligence   culture   evolution   iain m banks
Other listings you may be interested in:
The AlgebraistThe Algebraist
Rating: 9.0
The Player of GamesThe Player of Games
Rating: 9.8
Use of WeaponsUse of Weapons
Rating: 6.3
Against a Dark BackgroundAgainst a Dark Background
Rating: 9.5
Feersum EndjinnFeersum Endjinn
Rating: 8.5
InversionsInversions
Rating: 8.0
MatterMatter
Rating: 7.5
ExcessionExcession
Rating: 9.8
Surface DetailSurface Detail
Rating: 9.8
The Expanse - 1 - Leviathan WakesThe Expanse - 1 - Leviathan Wakes
Rating: 9.5
Lotus Lane 4: Mika - My New LifeLotus Lane 4: Mika - My New Life
Rating: 10.0
An Island of Our OwnAn Island of Our Own
Rating: 9.8
Sci-Fi Junior High #1Sci-Fi Junior High #1
Rating: 9.1

Product reviews...

Everyone is welcome to post a review. You will need to Join up or log in to post yours.

Click here to read the profile of tucker

Review by: tucker (Karl)
Dated: 17th of October, 2012

Link to this review Report this review

 

This Review: 9.3/10
Value for Money:
Score 9 out of 10
Level of Realism:
Score 9 out of 10
Rereadability:
Score 9 out of 10
Lose Track of Time:
Score 10 out of 10

25 years ago, Iain M. Banks first ontroduced us to "The Culture" in the form of "Consider Phlebas" which I admit I haven't yet managed to track down a copy to read. However, since I first encountered his "culture" universe when I stumbled across a copy of "The Algebraist" I have been hooked, to the point of back-tracking copies of most of his other "Culture" titles and soaking them up. In this story, Banks has offered us a tiny insight into the Sublimed races, and how they interact with the mundane universe we dwell in. It brings new light to the title "Excession" which, at the time I read it, really didn't make a whole lot of sense.

Full of intrigue, political manoeuvring, betrayal, subterfuge, and a lot of "Ship Minds", this was a bit of a deviation from Bank's normal "Culture" stories, where a human Culture citizen or Agent is the main character. In this story, our protagonists are a member of a society on the verge of Sublimation, and a stack of Ship Minds trying to figure out the big deal about "The Book of Truth" - the holy book of the Gzilt, the society about to Sublime. Oh, and trying to uncover a dark secret that goes back 10,000 years to the very founding of The Culture itself. All of which revolves around a single individual who really doesn't want anything to do with anyone right about now.

When I first realised that this book was quite a radical shift off the usual run of Culture novels, I wasn't too sure how I was going to like it... Ship Minds are funny characters, following a logic so precise, yet based upon a set of rules I can describe only as "irreverently benevolent despotism towards anything organic" - which makes the story something hard to attach to at times. But if you stick with it, this is a gripping read and I certainly hope Banks has a lot more Culture novels to offer. I fervently hope that rumours that this may be the last are wrong. It would be a stunning end to the saga... but I would feel the loss keenly.

Overall, another excellent addition to the Culture universe, and an interesting new perspective that keeps this storyline fresh despite being set in a very well-established universe. I can only wonder what Banks will dream up next!

Random listing from 'Books'...

Score: 10.0
Product reviews for listing 8983: The King's Medal -  Written by Maria Gill

Product image for The King's MedalPoppa reveals a war medal in his hand to his grandson. Manu asks, "Did you win it?"

"Sort of, a King gave it to me," the old man says. He then tells Manu how his Anzac platoon rescued the Greek King, Prime Minister, and the rest of their party on a Greek Island during World War II.

It's a perilous journey trekking from one side of the island to the other, trudging up a ravine, across the White Mountains, and through a ... more...

Go to the listing

General Disclaimer...

Protected by Copyscape Plagiarism Checker - Do not copy content from this page. Creative Commons Licence All trademarks, images and copyrights on this site are owned by their respective companies.
KIWIreviews is an independent entity, part of the Knock Out News Group. This is a free public forum presenting user opinions on selected products, and as such the views expressed do not necessarily reflect the opinion of kiwireviews.nz and are protected under New Zealand law by the "Honest Opinion" clause of the Defamation Act of 1992. KIWIreviews accepts no liability for statements made on this site, on the premise that they have been submitted as the true and honest opinions of the individual posters. In most cases, prices and dates stated are approximate and should be considered as only guidelines.

"Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do, and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."
George S. Patton (1885 - 1945)