Excession (Culture series)

This is a wonderful novel. Banks writes with an intelligence that gives life even to instant messaging exchanges between artificial intelligence space ship Minds. His ability to envision technology without getting caught up in describing how it works lets the imagination run riot, and his creates a spectacular punk ballet across an interstellar canvas that is full of mischief, surprises and fascination. There is something unconventional, almost subversive about the way Banks chooses to tell a story. His perspective is dialed back beyond what we are used to: the frame in which Human/moral/good v. evil stories take place. Instead, Banks writes without constraint, accessing a kind of wry, ironic wisdom about the plight of his characters, which is then reflected as the light of the sun on the moon, toward the world we live in. It is not an exercise in prediction the way some sci-fi is, and it does not concern itself with connecting the dots between here and there. It is extremely cool, and fun, and interesting -- and unusual.

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.

This book is well written and deep; just like any Contact novel I've read. However, I'm very glad I didn't read this one first because I probably wouldn't have read the others. The problem I have with this book is human names. Ian Banks gives his humans multiple names as a way to increase the richness of the Culture universe. However, half the time I couldn't tell who he was referring to without going back a hundred pages to find that one sentence that displayed the character's full name! At three-fourths of the way through the book, I finally realized that two characters in the book with very confusing story-lines were actually one character. It didn't make the book much less enjoyable, but it would have made me not want to read any more Culture novels because of fatigue.

So read three or four Culture novels first, then read this. Just don't forget to write down any full names you come across so you can figure out who the heck is experiencing what.

Once you strip away all of the conspiracies, supercomputers, spatial anomalies, & interstellar wars, "Excession" is ultimately a simple story:

Boy meets Girl. Boy gets Girl. Boy & Girl have reciprocal sex changes so that they can get each other pregnant. Boy (who is now a girl) gets bored and has sex with Other Girl. Girl sees Boy (who is now a girl) & Other Girl having sex. Girl goes crazy. Girl guts Boy (who is now a girl) like a fish in his sleep. Girl feels guilty and saves Boy's life at the last minute. Boy (who is now a girl) changes back into a boy. Boy leaves Girl. Girl maintains her pregnancy for the next 40 years while sulking on a deserted space ship.

It's the oldest story in the book. ;)

Bank's books are almost always memorable for being catalogs of wonders, almost to the point that you stop thinking about whether or not they work as works of literature. This book exceeds expectations both as a Culture thrill ride and as a proper, honest-to-God novel.
The thrill ride comes partially from being thrown into the deep end of the pool: Banks doesn't lumber this book with inserted digressive explanations of what's going on, so you're presented with the story as if you were a contemporary of the Culture and not some poor lost baseline pan-human who needs to have it all spelled out for him. It's almost not a novel of the Culture; it's a novel FOR the Culture.
But best of all is that real themes develop out of the actions of consistent, interesting characters that are both literary and sci-fi. The Minds are consistently a delight. He leans on none of his old crutches: the stage villains of the Algebraist or Surface Detail, the elaborate violence I've heard described as "vengeance porn", and the wildly uneven mismatched story lines that mar some of his otherwise great books of his are nowhere to be found. Instead there is a story that through wonderful unlikely, unexpected, and generally deliciously weird settings and players just tells itself. Men may always be stupid, women may always be crazy, but the machines will care.

When expecting a Banks' sci-fi book, expect only excellence.
When expecting a Banks' "Culture" book, expect seven things:
1) war, weapons, death and destruction
2) glanding different sensations to alter reality
3) drones with smart mouths, attitudes and a cunning wit
4) knife missiles slicing through baddie targets
5) quirky aliens in and out of the Culture
6) dark, grim gory scenes that will leave you cringing
7) Minds and their space vessels

Here's the breakdown of this Culture novel:
1) War breaks out between the Affront and the Culture, but there was little death and destruction. One or two deaths were satisfying enough.
2) Glanding different sensations to alter brain chemistry was prevalent throughout the book. It played no key role, but it was remarked upon enough.
3) Three of four drones made an appearance here. None of them were over the top scene catchers, but one drone did have a few choice words to say.
4) Sadly, no knife missiles were used.
5) The Affront species was humorous to read about. They seem like a hearty species to be mixed with, as long as you're not their dinner or hunting game.
6) I very much like the gritty scenes in Banks' novels, especially the island scene in Consider Phlebas. Excession had two gritty scenes (one with a death and one with grisly injury). Not up to par.
7) There were more Minds in this Culture book than any other Culture novel I have yet to read. It was bordering on mind-boggling, but the story cleared up towards the end. Reading the conversations between Minds was extremely interesting to experience (especially the Eccentric Minds).

Not all categories were up to par, but between the greatness of witnessing the Affront and the Minds. Well played out.

Iain Bank's "Excession" is a masterful piece of science fiction. It's got everything a sci-fi lover could want: gigantic spaceships, hyperintelligent AI, space battles, conspiracy, romance, engaging aliens, a mysterious powerful artifact (the "Excession"); it's the Full Monty. There's a decent story, too, but the best part is the exuberant creativity that Banks brings to his world, "The Culture." This is a dense, detailed, fully realized world, bursting with amazing technology, social arrangements, history, and sentient creatures of all kinds. Almost every page holds a surprise. This is only the second Culture novel that I've read, but man, I am hooked!

My favorite part of the book is the communication between the artificial Minds that run the ships -- and the affairs of the Culture at large. The Ship Minds are like Olympian gods, powerful and intelligent beyond human comprehension, ancient, yet still capable of misjudgment and eccentricity, pettiness and compassion. They were far more compelling characters than the humans in the book.

If flaw there be, it would be the somewhat opaque espionage hi-jinks the humans go through. One of the main characters, Ulver Seich, seemed extraneous to the story. But those are minor quibbles. The book as a whole is fantastic, one of the best I've read in a while. Buckle up and enjoy the ride!

I finally finished reading Excession. I liked the book overall, but it took me 300 pages before it was interesting enough for me to read it for long periods of time. I've had been struggling reading through it a few pages at a time before that, which probably only exacerbated my disinterest.

The ideas in the book were interesting and there was a lot of new information about the Minds and the way the Culture works in general. Events weren't as rosy (from a Culture society perspective) in the book as there were in previous books. The most notable philosophical conflict was with the Affront, a new race introduced in the book.

I've thought about why it wasn't as good to me over the past couple of days and I think the main reason I was disappointed is because the characters fell kind of flat. I didn't really like anyone in the book. Genar-Hofoen came the closest, but he still wasn't well-developed to me. Dajeil Gelian was completely unlikeable, caught in a 40 year sulk and Ulver Seich was hardly better.

The ships were mildly entertaining, but compared to Mawhrin-Skel from Player of Games, they were dull. I think there were just too many characters spread out over the book and in the end, it didn't come together for me. I'd have to put this about even with State of the Art on my list of Banks books, but I think overall it was a good book, for the history of the Culture, more than for the story (as I felt with State of the Art). Ah well.

Another of Banks' Culture novels, this one languished on my to-be-read shelf for a couple of years. Since Banks writes about a book a year, if one does not keep reading him steadily, it is easy to fall behind (as opposed to, say, Howard Waldrop).
I'm a fan of Banks mainly for his easy, breezy style and the modernist trappings of his characters. Yes, he writes space opera (when he writes SF), but this is no Star Wars--the characters are never so easily swept into categories of good and evil, nor can the science be so easily removed from the plot to reveal a western in space. A Culture novel would not be filmable, although it would be interesting to see someone try.
The title refers to a spatial anomaly that threatens to change the universe. It is big and spherical and obviously not a part of the "normal" universe, so it triggers the machinations of several conspiracies (what the Culture's Minds are best at) and a new war between the Culture and the aggressive Affront. The usual cast is there under different names: an independent human male envoy for Contact, a wronged woman, a spunky girl, some old and patient Drones, and some devious Minds. The Affront are interesting as foils to the utopian leanings of the Culture (I think I remember Banks saying that the reason he created the Culture as a utopian society was to show just how inherently unstable such a thing was).
This one jumps around a lot, switching various storylines so often that it is difficult to keep everything straight in your head, especially if you read this over multiple days. Don't. Read it in one sitting for the pure pleasure of it.

Another book set in the universe of the Culture, Bank's powerful, hedonistic galactic civilisation devoted to pleasure and doing good works. This one focuses on the machine intelligences of the Culture rather than the people, and makes it clear that the machines are people too, complete with virtues, vices, and erratic behaviour. "Excession" is hard work, but worth it. It's a complex book with multiple plot threads and it's stuffed with dazzling ideas. The Excession itself is an enormously powerful alien artefact/entity that appears and then simply sits there doing nothing; but by doing so it provokes a great many other entities into action they may regret. Banks has the writing skill to pull it off, but you really do have to be paying attention right the way through. It's not perfect -- there are a lot of ship characters in this one, not all of them clearly delineated by personality, and it's very hard to keep track of who's who at times. It does repay the effort, though. It's funny, moving and thought-provoking, and holds a mirror up to ourselves in the same way the Excession does to the people and civilisations that encounter it.

While not the best of the Culture series, _Excession_ is interesting on several levels.
First, I suspect that Banks wrote this book to highlight problems with the Culture. Sure, it's a beautiful semi-anarchy, enormously capable, everyone leads near perfect, idle lives, etc. However, suddenly something shows up that is both beyond the understanding of even the Culture Minds and is one of a kind.
Result? The Culture starts acting just like any other civilization: grasping, plotting and willing to go to almost any lengths to win the artifact. Couple that to long buried plans to trick an entire race into a war it cannot possibly win just to "teach them a lesson" and you begin to realize that maybe the Culture isn't so lilly-white after all.
Second, up until now most of the ships in the Culture novels have been little more than funny names. Excession begins to show us a bit more of how the Minds that run the Culture really function- they may be tremendously intelligent, but they're still pompous, paranoid, conniving, cliquish, depressed and just a bit crazy.
Bonus points for having possibly the best two ship names yet: the ROUs "Attitude Adjustor" and "Killing Time"
Eric Remy

Damn! Banks can weave a tale! This is one complex story. Events set around the discovery of an Excession (Something excessive) that could be a danger to all. The Excession is capable of things no culture/species in the universe is capable of doing, maybe even destroying the universe. If that wasn't enough to deal with there are conspiracies, spies, war, relationships and love.

Banks does a wonderful job of weaving the story lines together. Each character is developed so well you feel what each of them are going through (even the "traitors") and understand why they do what they do.

Even though the story deals with dark material like death, war, love and hate etc., there is still humor throughout the story.

This is one of those books that you don't want to end, but when it's over you are totally satisfied and can't quit smiling.

Banks is easily the best science-fiction author to be repeatedly stiffed for its major awards, which makes no sense to me considering some of the mediocrities that have been so rewarded (David Brin, Orson Scott Card). As always, pay close attention or else, because Mr. Banks never panders to his readers. His books are dense, ambiguous, and laced with irony, and Excession is no exception to that rule. This is one of his more playful books, however, especially in the wordplay between the various Culture Minds who constitute the novel's main characters. Though Banks's Culture books need not be read in any particular order, I would not recommend this as an introduction to his universe-start instead with Player of Games or Consider Phlebas (if you can find them). Excession is best read in a few sittings-say, a nice weekend at the beach. Stretching it out over a period of weeks may cause one to lose track of the nuances, which are typically plentiful and worth catching.

An unexpected return to the more straight forward structure of Consider Phlebas and The Player of Games. This makes Excession a very straight through read, while not sacrificing the quality of writing that I have come to expect from Mr Banks. The use of data-headers for the dialouge sections involving the ships' minds is clever and unusual. The headers were a bit confusing until I figured out what they were telling me, but I didn't find them to be a distraction as some other readers have. You don't have to read them, they serve to embellish the text, and create visual diversity.
In some respects this book is better than the more more stylised Use of Weapons and Against A Dark Background. There aren't any dead chapters, and the prose isn't spoilt by the ill-considered flippancies, which Mr Banks can only too easily resort to. The Excession is an uncomfortable paralell with the obelisk in Clarke's 2001 though. That aside it's a brilliant read.
Watch out for Inversions.

Herm, you might wonder about the summary. I'm not a writer, so there. As for the book; I must admit that it's the first book I've read for years - litteraly - of my own free will, ie. not counting work and school books. I would also like to submit, that I've been pre-exposed by my friends by their glorification of the intelligence of mr. Banks. To that point, I would like to say, that they were right. I think, that his book, 'Excession', is one of the most interesting books I've ever read. (Although it has been a while since I last read a book of this genre) I simply love the details put into his exquisitely modelled character and setting definitions, and the way that he explains things so that you could understand them as if you were part of that universe. Also the way that he explains about past events that lead to this, and what might have affected persons or Minds (read: Computer-minds, eg. the mighty ships), and the way that their personalities are explained deeply, even in detail about the last thoughts of a heroically self-destructing drone.

Iain Banks can be an intimidating writer. His command of the language and a wonderful imagination combined with a penchant for being unconventional leads to very complex plots, unusual prose styles and flat out great books.
_Excession_ is one of his Culture books, possibly his best. As is typical, there are multiple plots and protagonists but the great AI ships (Minds) play a larger role in this book than any of the others. An unusual object appears in space and touches off a race to claim it between the Culture and others (not specfied so as not to be a spoiler) resulting in some wonderfully complex situations featuring wonderfully deep and fleshed out characters. This book will have you wincing on page and laughing the next, which brings a welcome realness to the hard science fiction genre.
But with this excellence comes a warning: If you tend to skim books or not really pay attention, you may not like Banks in general and _Excession_ specifically. The prose is very dense, with important details tossed off in small sentences that caused to be stop and reread sections more than once. I heartily recommend all of Banks' work and urge the reader to give it the time and care it deserves.

One of the indicators that Iain 'M' Banks writes high quality, thought provoking, engaging SF books is the quality of the customer reviews - note the total absense of "This is the *best* SF book ever!" type quotes that are normally associated with the mass of modern SF 'trash'.
I found "Excession" to be a fulfilling book because it further explores the author's concept of an benevolent (or is it?) federation - The Culture. I have to agree with a previous review which mentions the Contact Agent(s) plot threads - I found these distracting, almost as if Bank's realised halfway through the book that he couldn't weave them successfully into the main plot; as he does so well in previous books.
I'd have to rate 'Excession' behind 'Consider Phlebus', 'Against a Dark Background' and 'Use of Weapons', but its well worth a read if you like Bank's previous works.

The book which precede's this book is _The Player of Games_. _Player_ is the reason that I chose to read _Excession_, but unfortunately, the bizarre plot twists and generally thick storytelling made this a difficult read for me.
_Excession_ picks up in the same universe where _Player_ left off and dives even deeper into the consciousness of the sentient drones/ships/orbitals which populate the Culture. This is the reason to attempt this book... these characters are fascinating. They feel human for a bit then Banks subtly reminds you that you're in the "head" of a machine. Brilliance.
The human characters is where Banks lost me. He begins with solid hooks on each of the main characters, but they often did not develop into three dimension characters that I cared about. Towards the end, I found myself praying to avoid threads which involved these characters and their confusing plotlines.
If you want a taste of "The Culture" -- read _Player_. If you want to find out more, read this, but keep a notepad out and take notes.

Most Iain Banks books are challenging reads, it's a credit to the man that he refuses to write down because he's penning SF novels and not the higher profile "literary" stuff that most of the mainstream probably recognizes him for (is he well read in this country, nobody I know has heard of him . . . what's with that?) so what you basically get with the Culture novels is SF from someone who really knows how to write and doesn't just have a degree and feels the need to share this nifty cool idea he had the other day. This book is full of cool ideas but more importantly it's a dense and slightly elusive work . . . while it's not opaque stuff isn't spelled out explicitly for the reader, there are a lot of dots to connect here. The setup is a large object has appeared from literally nowhere and interacts with the energy grip in a way that is supposed to be impossible. But this isn't the first time this object appeared and the only person who is around from that last appearance is Stored in a ship and has to be convinced to come out. That's how the plot starts. Where it ends is somewhere totally different and if sometimes you think you're reading a totally different book, that's just par for the course with Banks. The focus this time around is more on the Minds in the ships, which is good and bad. The Minds are basically human and their rapid fire conversations that take up a large chunk of the book are highly entertaining . . . however it can be daunting for readers unable to keep track of the dozens of names, especially with little strong personality to back up the Mind and make an impression. You may wish for a recap box at some point to make sure you're still up to speed. Still astute readers are rewarded with a plot that twists almost dizzingly . . . I've read a few Banks books by now and he still amazes how he manages to turn everything upside down so quickly. The action is good, the dialogue between ships crackles, the plot is mind bending and the last page deserves to be read over and over again. I can't say this is his best work, but like all his other stuff the quality is high and if new readers have the stamina, they'll find themselves pleasantly delighted.

When I first read Excession I enjoyed it but, didn't love it like the other Culture novels. It had the wit, action, and energy of the other books, but it just didn't click with me the way the others did. Then I got the urge to reread it, and what I found was something that was much better than I remembered. What makes this work is that the stars of novel are the MInds. These massive intelligent star ships with quirky personalities and that might have been what threw me off initially. You do have well drawn human, and alien characters but it's the Minds who take the center stage and they are the reason this is worth reading.

It is certainly a well-made book with excellent visual accuracy and wonderful-and-quite-original use of "Minds" that make it special. It is, in itself, interesting and captivating from beginning to end.
The few chapters with the sentient Alien drone living on a very, very dead ship has got to be one of the most memorable scenes of any book that I have ever read. The struggle for survival and the drone's clear and frank emotions take you in.
The revelations are also of great proportion. They're in every chapter and unmissable. The ending is innovative and conclusive, the investigation drawing you in.
The characters in general are very well-made and well-designed, and you can really imagine meeting the Humans, but the Drones and Minds are what make the book, in it's way, "special".
It is hard to find anything wrong with this book. I have wracked my brain hard but can't seem to think of anything that could be flawed. It is great for anyone who wants a good book and even better for lovers of any space opera.

I happened upon Excession by chance, and enjoyed it so much that I immediately picked up all of Bank`s SF books. He uses wonderful language,precise, clear, witty, just as a language lover's experience, it's worth reading. At the same time, it is a very gripping story. His use of parallel strands of storytelling and his very interesting use of time - he actually tells the story in the reverse, up to a point - would be confusing if not done so masterfully. Consider Phlebas, which is very well reviewed by some others here, was very dark and somber, while this novel is so beautifully amorally joyous for most of the characters, one of the most impressive reads in a long time. I look forward to reading the rest of his books.

This is an unusual story written very well.

The characters are all believable and well fleshed out, there are a number of standard Banks types in there particularly among the Minds but they are all interesting.

The emotional story is a distraction on occasion but is unusual enough in itself to be interesting at times and it never detracts from the main story.

There is plenty of action and quite a few twists with it never being clear who are the good guys or what the ending will be, there is also some humour and smart dialogue.

A good entertaining read.

Reading your first Iain Banks novel is like nothing else in literature. It's a little like being in the washing machine on spin cycle. You emerge dizzy but refreshed. Machine gun pacing, vivid characterization, universe-spanning cultures and, of course, The Culture. Smug, self-satisfied, hedonistic and vain, The Culture is also bifurcated between more-or-less humankind and Minds, advanced AI's that are not always tolerant of their "meat-based" co-citizens.
More than any other novel of The Culture, this one involves those Minds and, without spoilers, they turn out to be human, all too human. Banks handles very well the problem of writing dialog for beings who are far, far more intelligent and think millions of times faster than we do. As others have noted, it sometimes makes for dense reading, but it is very believable. In some ways, this is a novel about the psychology and motives of Minds.
As always, Banks laces the story with sly humor, word play and wholly believable aliens. The Affront, the most conspicuous aliens in this tale, are a wonderful invention. As always, the structure of the novel itself with its interlacing of different story lines and physical organization is a part of the story itself, although less obviously so than in the earlier _Consider Phlebas_.
The Excession of the title is the focus of the attention of most of the characters in the story, but Banks is far too gifted a writer to make it the whole story. Readers who complain about the ending may be missing Banks' most important point. Perhaps the story isn't so much about the Excession, but how the characters react to the Excession. And maybe the ending is Banks' way of underscoring that point.
As always with Banks' stories of The Culture, there is moral ambiguity and it's impossible to tell the good guys from the bad guys. For my taste, that's a lot more "real" than the moral absolutes of space operas in the tradition of E.E. "Doc" Smith.
An excellent, rollicking adventure, full of surprises, laughs and sly irony. Densely written but highly readable. Much more mature than earlier Culture novels. Highly recommended.

Before you begin reading this book flip to the back and find the epilogue. Grip the page firmly and tear the bastard out. This will significantly improve the book. When I finished the epilogue I nearly through the entire book in the fire. It's hard to believe a single page can turn a silk purse into a sow's ear, but Iain manages it.
The prologue isn't as bad as the epilogue. It's merely a cure for insomnia rather than annoying. When I was half way through the prologue I was tempted to put the book away and get something more interesting. I forced myself to continue as Iain has had numerous successful books and 'Excession' won the British SF award. There had to be something more to it then the drivel I was reading.
Once you've waded through the prologue and start the book proper it become less tedious, unfortunately it becomes almost unbearably pretentious. Pages are wasted with totally irrelevant symbols and meaningless strings of numbers. It seems once you've made a name for yourself you can indulge any little vanity you want and still get it published. Fortunately in the latter part of the book even Iain seems to have got sick of the attack of pretension he begins with.
The story itself is interesting and imaginatively written, but because of the tedious prologue, pretentious writing affectation and hackneyed epilogue I can't give it more then three stars and was tempted to give it two stars. If this is a fair example of Iain's work I won't be racing out to read his others.
Now that I've finished bitching about the book I'll give you a bit of a run down of what happens, in case you want to inflict it upon yourself.
There is this thing called the Excession that just turns up one day. It is clearly an alien object of some sort with more advanced technology then the other members of the 'Culture' (This is not the first Culture novel).
Everybody wants to find it (it keeps zipping around to annoy people) and take it over. To this end various groups hatch plots. The ship minds want it, the humans want it, and the Affronter want it. There are subgroups and plotters within each of these groups as well. And apart from everyone wanting it they also want to stop everyone else from getting it. as you can imagine this makes for an excessively complicated plot.
Iain follows all the threads he begins logically and intelligently, and then draws them all together at the climax. If it wasn't for the beginning, the end and the pretension, all off which could be deleted without affecting the story, then it'd be a four star book.

Good science fiction is rare, requiring as it does a sound knowledge of science as well as the capacity to speculate intelligently. And that's even without the capacity to write well. Ian Banks is that rare creature possessed of all these virtues.
Set within a far future when humankind's main concern is the indulgence of every whimsical fancy, 'Excession' is concerned with the effects of a cosmic event so extravagant in power and so unprecedented in its implications, that even the super-intelligences of the Culture's great star-ships are captivated in awe. Sub plots concerning the engineered precipitation of war and a revolt against the dead hand of Culture orthodoxy weave coherent threads through Banks' grand scheme.
But it is the ships that captured this reader; with names like 'Attitude Adjuster' (which is deemed capable of obliterating entire star systems) and 'Meatf****r' (which had the temerity to intrude into a human mind), these entities dominate Banks' remarkable galactic civilization in this readers' mind.

I strongly recommend Excession to the more demanding SF reader, as a work of consummate skill through which the author's intellect and message so brightly shine. A masterpiece!

Page after page of thrilling action, Space ships the size of small planets doing battle with the sort of tactical agility Alexander the Great would have been proud of. You get to the end of the Chapter and realise that everything you have just read took place in just three milliseconds. Mind Blowing Sci Fi that realy is "state of the art." A brilliantly crafted story interlaced with edge of the seat action. Only Iain Banks novels are this exiting, for me Exession has the edge over Use of Weapons and Consider Phleabas. I can't wait to get my hands on the next one. Highly reccomended.

This is an inventive novel describing a far future of autonomous AIs that inhabit their own spaceships, create vast virtual reality simulations, and also engage in intriguing conversations and political machinations with other AIs. Unfortunately, the plot moves at a snail's pace. What makes the book worth reading, however, is the fascinating comparison between the humans who are still around and the ubiquitous artificial superintelligences. (There are also some not so cuddly aliens thrown in for contrast and for comic relief.) Some readers may find themselves wishing that the machines and humans could meld, keeping the best of both and getting rid of the rest. That, of course, is one of the great challenges facing us in this new century and this novel can stimulate our thinking and discourse.

If you were to take the average Roman citizen circa 100AD and present him with a collection of short stories by brilliant twentieth century writers, chances are that he would find much of the content confusing, astounding or downright unbelievable. A similar feeling may be had by readers of Excession who are not familiar with Iain M. Banks previous works of science fiction. Mr Banks tells of a culture where technology is advanced to a point that it is borderline fantasy. While a good deal of his science fiction looks likely to become science fact, some of his concepts are unabashed plot devices.
Unlike much of his non-sci-fi work, the prose here is beautifully straightforward and succint. There are romantic tragedies, collossal space battles, political intrigue and dealings between artificial intelligences. All this produces a spectacularly well written book that is actually several very different stories anchored around one particular event, the "Excession".
I literally could not put this book down. The pacing is perfect, the characters very deep and the technology almost sinful. Throughout the novel I had the feeling that I was going to be in for some kind of major twist or surprise in the end. I was not dissapointed. The final confrotation was the most sensational piece of space operatics that I have ever read and it left my head buzzing.
For people who like their science fiction with an edge, Iain M. Banks does for the next few millenia what William Gibson has done for the near future.

Many of the previous reviewers have said it all. Still I would like to add that Banks has been for me a beacon of light in a dark world. His works have satisfied me as few authors can do. He speaks to one's mind, plays on one's emotions and doesn't flinch when describing evil. His humor is exhilarating. Although I already own a small paperback of this novel, I found a used hardcover from the store UK and have ordered that one.

Ok take an enthusiastic diplomat, a wacked-out interstellar government, a fleet of smart-alek ships, a spoiled girl and... GO!!!!
There were times in this book where I got the feeling that something was amiss. I found myself asking "is he serious or just trying to make a joke?" or "umm, what are they talking about?" and even "hey, are you making fun of me?" Yes, I was just that confused in some parts.
It starts off promisingly enough. The ambassador Genar-Hoefen is visitng the Affront, a race like psychotic Klingons. Then he is called away to investigate a mystery in the fabric of space-time, the Excession. What is this Excession? Well the book is pretty vague about that (the nonsensical epilogue only serves to muddle things more) and I was left wondering just what happened.
Some of the book was just plain silly. The idea that you could change sex by just thinking about it was odd. I won't even go into the idea that a pregnant woman's zygote is stored in his/her testicle when transformation is complete. Apparently ships have artificial minds that make them sarcasitc and wise guys and they have their own rights (or something). Oh yeah, and there was a talking birds too. However, along with the silliness come surprising creativity and even some cool ideas (the best of which are not well developed). I just wanted a little more explanation.
If you like wierd stuff and don't confuse easily, try this one out. However you have been warned.

Debates about which of Banks novels are the best to start with, given their complexity, appear in every review. I have now read them all (currently in the last third of Surface Detail which is just flat out excellent--If you are a newbie, I think that Consider Phlebas is the best place to start and then read them chronologically when they were printed--I read Consider Phlebas on a vacation to Fiji and did not come out my burry for the three days it took me to read it). Yes, it takes some time to get the big picture which comes into view as you get more familiar with the Culture and Bank's tendency to play out multiple intertwined plot lines in multiple time frames. Yes, it is sometimes a bit confusing following the plot lines. Just read on, it comes together, magnificently. Excession is just a total mind blower, a totally satisfying read, challenging but completely comprehensible, with profound ideas and great drama. As you get a larger view of what the Culture is about, his work changes the way you think about human possibilities. Yes, Bank's work changes the way you think.

This book is an excellent story: complex characters, sweeping themes, amusing twists and The Culture.

This story's characters are more abut the Ships than people but it's typical Banks majestically sweeping saga. Some people don't like the Ships (too omnipotent someone at an airport bookshop said to me) but I think they're great.

Like all Iain M. Banks novel the storyline is vast and takes a while (like a third of the book) to really take shape. Like all goods stories it's hard to put down and you're left wanting more and there's the whole Culture series to get your teeth in to.

Again, Banks introduces concepts and ideas that are complex and unique and it takes some time for the reader to get to grips with foreign concepts, not in a C.J.Cherryah way, but in a "this is a new and unique idea" way. Banks is a master of this in nearly all his books and this one will leave you with a broader mind that has expanded to accommodate his plot, which is a true blessing from a book and something not many authors achieve.

Some of the Culture books are a bit scrappy, but this one really shines.

Ok take an enthusiastic diplomat, a wacked-out interstellar government, a fleet of smart-alek ships, a spoiled girl and... GO!!!!
There were times in this book where I got the feeling that something was amiss. I found myself asking "is he serious or just trying to make a joke?" or "umm, what are they talking about?" and even "hey, are you making fun of me?" Yes, I was just that confused in some parts.
It starts off promisingly enough. The ambassador Genar-Hoefen is visitng the Affront, a race like psychotic Klingons. Then he is called away to investigate a mystery in the fabric of space-time, the Excession. What is this Excession? Well the book is pretty vague about that (the nonsensical epilogue only serves to muddle things more) and I was left wondering just what happened.
Some of the book was just plain silly. The idea that you could change sex by just thinking about it was odd. I won't even go into the idea that a pregnant woman's zygote is stored in his/her testicle when transformation is complete. Apparently ships have artificial minds that make them sarcasitc and wise guys and they have their own rights (or something). Oh yeah, and there was a talking birds too. However, along with the silliness come surprising creativity and even some cool ideas (the best of which are not well developed). I just wanted a little more explanation.
If you like wierd stuff and don't confuse easily, try this one out. However you have been warned.

Debates about which of Banks novels are the best to start with, given their complexity, appear in every review. I have now read them all (currently in the last third of Surface Detail which is just flat out excellent--If you are a newbie, I think that Consider Phlebas is the best place to start and then read them chronologically when they were printed--I read Consider Phlebas on a vacation to Fiji and did not come out my burry for the three days it took me to read it). Yes, it takes some time to get the big picture which comes into view as you get more familiar with the Culture and Bank's tendency to play out multiple intertwined plot lines in multiple time frames. Yes, it is sometimes a bit confusing following the plot lines. Just read on, it comes together, magnificently. Excession is just a total mind blower, a totally satisfying read, challenging but completely comprehensible, with profound ideas and great drama. As you get a larger view of what the Culture is about, his work changes the way you think about human possibilities. Yes, Bank's work changes the way you think.

This book is an excellent story: complex characters, sweeping themes, amusing twists and The Culture.

This story's characters are more abut the Ships than people but it's typical Banks majestically sweeping saga. Some people don't like the Ships (too omnipotent someone at an airport bookshop said to me) but I think they're great.

Like all Iain M. Banks novel the storyline is vast and takes a while (like a third of the book) to really take shape. Like all goods stories it's hard to put down and you're left wanting more and there's the whole Culture series to get your teeth in to.

Again, Banks introduces concepts and ideas that are complex and unique and it takes some time for the reader to get to grips with foreign concepts, not in a C.J.Cherryah way, but in a "this is a new and unique idea" way. Banks is a master of this in nearly all his books and this one will leave you with a broader mind that has expanded to accommodate his plot, which is a true blessing from a book and something not many authors achieve.

Some of the Culture books are a bit scrappy, but this one really shines.

Warning sign: by page 200, NOTHING has happened either in this book or in the author's head to give us a hint where the story will go. The above blurb: "...Banks is a true original...whose brilliant speculative fiction has transported us into worlds of unbounded imagination and inimitable revelatory power" is the real Affront. It kills me how readers of science fiction are so easily pleased by any piece of kitsch that centers around, like wow, a rip in the fabric of spacetime. Totally. Throw in some multi-limbed aliens who like to play squash, and bingo--some jacket-blurb flack is telling us we're in the presence of a major imagination. Too bad the delete key is beyond him. Obviously Banks has gotten to a point in perceived stature where no editor had the guts to pack this junk in a FedEx overnight with instructions to cut it in half and come up with a real plot.

The previous reviewers got it right, a good book, but not Bank's best work. It lacked the sad grit that makes Banks different than the rest. I had thought it would be nice if he ended on a high note, but I was wrong. I found it well worth the time to read, and I think it was a good book by all accounts. Don't let us fans put you off because we feel that he hasn't done his best, his worst is better than most

What drives me to read science fiction is to make contact with well-built, convincing fictional universes where interesting plots take place. The literary talent of the author simply does not matter as long as he or she has the ultimate talent of telling an interesting story. Indeed, arcane luminaries of the Science Fiction genre, such as Isaac Asimov and Arthur Clarke, almost invariably have a plain, objective narrative style.
Well, this is my first book by Iain M. Banks, but so far I can say that he goes in the opposite way: the style of his book is baroquely sculpted and each character is exhaustively (yet subtly) worked upon. Even though, the plot and setting told/described with such a literary richness is simply crappy.
Iain M. Banks' Culture universe resembles some idiotic science fiction cartoon or movie (such as "The Jetsons" or "The Fifth Element") turned into a book. In some ways, it also resembles "The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy", but the problem is that it is not exactly intended to be comical. As for the plot, there is basically no strong central narrative line, nothing that makes the reader (or at least me) cares about what will happen in the next page or how the book will end. As a matter of fact, it is a remarkably boring, tiring reading, and I took perhaps two or three more times to finish this book than the average for a compendium of the same size.
Putting it shortly, Iain M. Banks seems to be an author for someone who loves form but does not demand content.

Plunging into Iain M. Banks’ ‘Excession’ may leave many readers cold. The book stars with Dajeil Gelian, held within an enormous starship ‘Sleeper Service’, which supposedly went rogue from the Culture, an advanced society controlled by all too-human starship Minds. They exists in an uneasy truce with an alien Affronter empire. The Elench are human, coexisting with the Culture. What triggers the sudden scrambling by everyone is the emergence of an alien sphere, supposedly coming from a different universe that potentially opens opportunities for those able to control it. The starship ‘Sleeper Service’ heads for this mysterious object to save everybody from themselves.

I found this book whimsical, satirical, and often highly convoluted and confusing. Iain M. Banks throws into the mix ship Minds that are more human than the humans, with exaggerated human failings, something I found difficult to swallow for entities supposedly guiding humanity’s Culture. Throw in starship names like ‘Problem Child’, ‘Peace Makes Plenty’ and ‘Shoot them Later’, left me bemused. The underlying theme of the book is nothing more than a superficial tale of a frustrated romance between Dajeil Gelian and Byr Genar-Hofoen, and the Mind running ‘Sleeper Service’ who attempts to bring them together. I did not find anything brilliant in this novel.

...because there are already many long reviews:
- If you like Science Fiction and are unfamiliar with Banks, I envy you; you're in for a compelling and utterly satisfying read. I disagree with others who comment that it is not the best Banks book to read as a first. It was my first and I can only compare the experience to reading maybe Asimov's 'Foundation' or something similar for the mind-stretching newness and creativity that just grips you and bowls you over. The only drawback to reading it before his others will be the disappointment of trying to match the experience.

Excession is among the five best books I have ever read. This is the first of Ian Banks' books that I have read and I couldn't put it down. It does take a bit to become immersed in the plot but once there, it's absolutely fantastic. The ideas will stretch the limits of your mind and leave you with a new perspective on the universe.

Excession is one of my favorite books from Iain M. Banks, this man has an amazing imagination. I love Scifi and especially Space Operas, and this book contains so many elements that I found fascinating and interesting: The huge self-sufficient town-sized intelligent space-ships, interesting plot, the whole concept of Culture that Banks has created - everything works perfectly in this book. This was my second book from Banks (the first was The Use of Weapons that I read some time ago) and after reading this I knew I had found a new great Author for my top five list. Fantastic work!

I found Excession a disappointing, if entertaining, read. I've read two of his other Culture novels -- Player of Games and Consider Phelbas -- and found them both intriguing and thought-provoking. Excession, however, has no real main plot but a thousand sub-plots that lead nowhere, serve no clear purpose, and end with a colossally boring anticlimax. All I got from this book was a renewed sense of loathing for the Culture (I've loved to hate them since the dungeon scene on the Planet of the Gerontocrats in Consider Phelbas) and a sneaking regard for the "bad guys", the gasbag Affront.

There were enjoyable sections in this book, but there were also lengthy portions that were either dull, confusing or both. I was bewildered by all the sentient ship names and I lost track of some of the characters. Although, I must admit, some of the ship names were clever and amusing. Also, the Affronters were somewhat interesting.

I found the relationship between Genar-Hofoen and Dajeil a bore and , unfortunately, this was one of the main plot lines. The ship "Sleeper Service" was making a great effort to bring them back together to repair its previous failed attempt at matchmaking. This struck me as absurd. The conspiracy to trick the Affronters into attacking the Culture was an interesting idea, but not enough to salvage the whole book.

There were also some rather atrocious run on sentences that I had to reread to fully understand. Some may call that sort of writing "challenging" , but to me, it just shows insufficient attention to style. The author should work hard so that the reader doesn't have to.

The "climax" was a let down. We get one page at the end explaining that the excession was a vistor from other universes , a sort of sentient bridge, that decided our universe wasn't yet ready to join the others. OK, the "we are not ready to join them" idea has been done before and I hoped for something more original after wading through the preceeding 500 pages.

This is one awesome book! Bravo Mr. Banks! I have enjoyed all of the "culture" books, with this being by far the best. Lots of action. Loads of creativity. Humorous dialogue and plot twists galore keep you guessing right until the last page as to what exactly is going on. In this day of seemingly endless space saga series and movie/TV tie-ins, Banks books stand out as spectacular examples of stand alone novels that nontheless deal with a pre-crafted future society. Read it, and then read it again to pick up the minutae of detail that makes this a most worthy read!

This book is on par with "The Illuminati Trillogy" for strangeness. Borrow it, read it, sit with an ice pack for a week eagerly anticipating the next punch in the head. Cause every so often another messed up bit of plot twist or snarled logic is going to jump out and hit you from the recesses of memory. Its like carrying a bomb around in your head! Other than the mental torture and too many plots in one book it was good. I recommend it for those masochistic moments.

I love this (and other Banks books) for exactly the reasons others don't. They are full of detail and information. This makes this one thick and slow, but I can slowly savor the stories, digesting them over time. If you can not pay attention, watch TV instead.
Consider this: it is actually several different novels that take place at the same time around an event that really does not matter the book or the characters in it. Look at what they do, how they do it & read the strings of computer gibberish. (There is information in there, just like real computer gibberish that goes on in the usenet.) Yes, you may not get it. I did, and I loved it.

Reading Excession soon after 'Consider Phebas' amplified the disappointment I felt with this book. CP was a fast-paced, absorbing yarn set against a rich, detailed background. In Excession the background has become the book's central character. Whilst the Culture universe is fascinating it does not constitute a plot in itself.
There is a comparison which comes to mind: The excellent Dune series which started with a fantastic story and ended as a political and sociological case study of a fictituous universe.

It's as if Banks, like Herbert - Dune's creator, has become more interested in creating a cerebral word than telling the stories which occur in it.

If you fancy reading a book full of conversations between computers which are written half in English and half in some meaningless gibberish concocted by the author after spending the night with a bottle of Scotch, then this is the book for you. Tedious, unfocussed, all-over-the place rubbish. Scarcely believeable that it was written by the same pen as the beautiful "Consider Phlebas" or even the highly effective "Player of Games". A big letdown.

Remarkably warm and human SF by a writer whose talents transcend genre fiction, yet who still delivers hardcore cutting-edge science fiction satisfaction.
Before this book, science fiction novels left me with the feeling you get after eating a whole bag of Doritos.

Over the last few years, Iain Banks has become one of my favorite, if not THE favorite, science fiction writer. I think this book is probably the best of his novels that fall under the 'Culture' universe that he's created, along with CONSIDER PHLEBAS and THE PLAYER OF GAMES. All of his earlier Culture novels are still available on the store.uk even if some of them are out of print here, and worth the effort to order.

This was the first Culture book that I have experienced, and I must say that I enjoyed it immensely. Banksies' technique is to introduce vastly different plot elements in the beginning, and then to draw as many of them as possible together by the end. Just as in Feersum Enjinn, Banks seems to drop mind-boggling ideas like bird-seed all over the place, effortlessly.

This book had many interesting concepts but there was too much not relevant to the story and it is somewhat confusing trying to keep all the players in their proper place. It would have been a much better book if it were a few hundred pages shorter.

Banks' "Culture Universe" is definitely intriguing, the backdrop for potentially great stories such as "Player of Games". This book looks promising from the start, but then you realise that you're halfway through the book, and nothing much has happened. By the end, still nothing has happened. Missed opportunity for a good story.

Unlike other Culture novels we have here some disconnected plots, charactres not very interesting, a lot of infodumps and chatter between ships with whimsical names, leading nowhere. A strange disappointment.

The problem with Bank's writing is that, like any good literature, it acts at many different levels, and it requires an astute reader to keep up with it. The episodic nature of the book can be difficult to read, but sets up the subtexts masterfully. You will have to think to read this book, but it is well worth it. However, I would give it but two stars for those who just want a quick pulpy space opera.

If you pine after an exciting exploration of a future, alternate time, or other place, one dominated by (often clashing) galaxy-spanning civilizations, inhabited by myriad races and diverse cultures, guided by vast artificial intelligences (Minds), where the technological limits placed on an individual are largely determined by imagination (or lack thereof), a setting realized in a diverse backdrop of twisting plots, violent upheavals, and gripping missions, then look no further.

Excession is that good... the other Culture books are as good or better.

If someone were to write a science fiction novel in which the mutants invaded the earth and then just went away again I suspect most of us would feel slightly disappointed. Elevate the theme to a super-galactic scale and have a mysterious dark star and a similar satellite putting in an appearance sufficient to give proof of terrifying power and then just have them disappear again likewise leaves me feeling uncertain that 450 pages were worth the trouble of wading through.

It needs no saying that Iain (M) Banks is exceptionally gifted both as a novelist and as a writer. He can keep a huge cast of characters and an enormous complex of sub-plots under control, and the quality of the narrative and the dialogue is never less than highly proficient and professional. All the same, I have an uneasy feeling that this great doorstopper of a book is a bit of a pot-boiler. Space-opera is such a familiar genre by now that any author, however talented, has to tread warily to avoid self-parody. Right from the first few pages I sensed the better and the not-so-good sides of this novel. The first theme of the artificial planet and the lonely lady in her tower by the sea seemed very effective if hardly new or original, but Banks also seemed rather stuck for a way to achieve distinctiveness in the writing. An effective style at the start is always a problem for novelists, and their `solution' is often, as here, a bit of Fine Writing. The trouble with Fine Writing is that it can easily become ridiculous, and I found myself trying to repress my giggles here. The vocabulary is affected and precious, and the larding of hyphenated words made me want to turn it into something like Swinburne, such as

They were steady, the waves, as they broke on the grey-slope,

Hollow grey-slope of shingle that bordered the flood;

And they beat on the shattered up-ground carapaces

And the light-blighted sea-wrack and water-smoothed wood

and similar rubbish.

However I ploughed on eagerly, and I was treated to a familiar repast. Three civilisations, two of them humanoid the other a race of hearty tentacled monsters with a penchant for blood sports, coexist in an uneasy and easily upset peace. Their battle-fleets rush to and fro at speeds outpacing mere light, and the physics underlying such prodigies is explained in the familiar vocabulary of hokum, e.g. `It de-coupled its engine fields from the energy grid and plunged those vortices of pure energy deep into the fabric of its own Mind'. By the third millennium I must say I expect a bit more effort from a science-fiction author than that. There are of course also love interests and sexual encounters, and these I found to be of quite ineffable tedium. Sentient and intelligent machines, spaceships, satellites, drones and whatnot abound too, and the whole effect on me was of a generous but rather dull and predictable meal - more of the usual, better served up no doubt but rather routine fare for all that.

It may simply be that I have read too much of this kind of thing, and certainly it was only the name of Banks that decided me to read this. Younger readers and those whose appetite for it is still fresh may well find it more interesting than I did. Right to the end I was looking for some real touch of originality or vision, something to make the book distinctive, but all I found was competence. That's at least something, I suppose.