UK Holidays - Matter

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Manufacturer: Orbit

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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780316005364
ISBN: 0316005363
Label: Orbit
Manufacturer: Orbit
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 608
Publication Date: 2008-02-27
Publisher: Orbit
Studio: Orbit

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Editorial Reviews:

In a world renowned even within a galaxy full of wonders, a crime within a war. For one brother it means a desperate flight, and a search for the one - maybe two - people who could clear his name. For his brother it means a life lived under constant threat of treachery and murder. And for their sister, even without knowing the full truth, it means returning to a place she'd thought abandoned forever.

Only the sister is not what she once was; Djan Seriy Anaplian has changed almost beyond recognition to become an agent of the Culture's Special Circumstances section, charged with high-level interference in civilisations throughout the greater galaxy.

Concealing her new identity - and her particular set of abilities - might be a dangerous strategy, however. In the world to which Anaplian returns, nothing is quite as it seems; and determining the appropriate level of interference in someone else's war is never a simple matter.

MATTER is a novel of dazzling wit and serious purpose. An extraordinary feat of storytelling and breathtaking invention on a grand scale, it is a tour de force from a writer who has turned science fiction on its head.

Spotlight customer reviews:

Customer Rating:

Summary: Sprawling, but I love it all
Comment: I DO love Iain Banks, and reading this book reminded me of why this is so. It's been a while since I last read one of his SF works, and I just adore the way he deals with far-future huge galactic civilization technology stuff... it becomes completely transparent, and the book is really about people (or intelligences) and how they deal with their "world" and each other. But still there is a deep, geekly enjoyment of future tech. It makes me think of the "advanced tech being indistinguishable from magic" meme, and yet one believes in Banks' technology.

He also does great big amazing action sequences involving future tech better than anyone else I've ever read.

This book deals a lot with people from a more primitive culture having to interact with those of much more advanced cultures, and it's fascinating to read just for the joy of picturing a medieval Prince dealing with members of an insectoid space-faring alien culture. While I did find the book sprawling and sometimes unfocused, I just enjoy the things Banks does so much that it was very worth reading.

Love the finale, even though it was abrupt after the lengthy travels. Wonderful wrap-up and suggestion of what is to come.

Customer Rating:

Summary: My new favourite Culture novel
Comment: "Matter" is a novel of energy, wit, and vision, all of which I found somewhat lacking in Mr. Banks' recent mainstream novel "The Steep Approach to Garbadale"; he's probably not going to change his publishing habits, but it seems clear he's having a lot more fun, and arguably is more fully engaging himself, with his sf work.
"Matter" deals with civilizations of different technological levels interacting with each other. In fact, it reads in part like a superior fantasy novel, with its low-tech action and daring escapades on what are more or less dragons. And there is intrigue, betrayal, loyal friends, self-discovery--all in all a meaty broth for the reader to sup upon.
But what pushed the novel up to five stars for me was something that sf is perhaps uniquely able to provide: a sense of genuine wonder. The book teems with strange aliens, gargantuan contructs, and delightful conveyances that are vividly and convincingly described. Some readers might object to the space given to such descriptions. There is a particular strain of sf and fantasy reader who frowns upon wide description and tangential diversion, proclaiming these to be 'filler,' or 'self-indulgent,' as if a novel must be a break-neck race toward the conlusion. I say, let the author indulge himself. One of the reasons I love this genre is to see first-class imaginations working in a high gear. That is what "Matter" offers.

Customer Rating:

Summary: In places boring, unstructured and ultimately unsatisfying
Comment: I'm a huge fan of Iain M. Banks' Culture novels but this one just lost the plot. It feels like he really wanted to write a historical thriller but was forced into crowbarring the story into a Sci-Fi novel. The worst crime of which this book is guilty is that in places it's just plain boring. Pages of pointless exposition which don't really lend themselves to the story..which in itself is really a road to nowhere anyway...the ending feels tacked on (then a big monster comes...and we kill it...the end). At this point Neil Asher's 'Polity' books are better 'Culture' books than the real ones...and that's sad!

Customer Rating:

Summary: Not quite up to the standard of his other books
Comment: For whatever reason, I just couldn't get into this novel like I could the other Culture novels. Banks's sentence structures seemed winding and vague, so at first I thought this was the problem. I went back and checked against an older novel (Player of Games), and found that the grammar in that was very similar, though. Lots of semi-colons, em-dashes, and asides.

So why was this one so much harder to get into? I think the problem is that while Banks's writing style works okay for Sci-Fi, it doesn't work so great for the more "fantasy"-esque sections of this story which focus on the royal family of The Eighth level of Surmasen. Those were the parts that I consistently had a hard time getting into.

That said, I did eventually get into the swing of things around page 100 or so, and am currently enjoying it. This one just took a while to pick up, unlike other Culture novels, where I've been hooked from the get-go.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Disappointing...
Comment: I'm a huge Iain (M. or no M.) banks fan, and with an upcoming 16-hour flight I was so excited about Matter...
Flight was OK, but "Matter" is disappointing.

The plot progresses in leaps and crawls, in familiar (and beloved) Banks fashion, but the ending - usually a Banks stronghold- is harried and contrived.

It seems that Matter serves as some sort of index for the other Culture books- many gizmo's and scenes are mentioned again, but the lack of development or any real sense of urgency left me dissatisfied.

Still, I will buy whatever Iain Banks produces in the future :)

Cheers to all

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