The Algebraist

The Algebraist, by Iain M. Banks, is a sweeping science fiction odyssey following the adventures of Fassin Taak. In the book's main plot, Taak is charged with obtaining information that could save his home system from an attack by a vast enemy armada. Unfortunately, Taak isn't sure if the required information exists and even if it does, he will have to get it from the Dwellers, an almost infinitely old race of aliens who reside in gas giants and consider "quick" races, such as humans, as little more than curiosities. The Algebraist follows Taak's efforts to find the critical information, along with the lives of his friends and enemies as they are swept up in the coming conflagration.

The Algebraist is a monstrous tome, my paperback version coming in at almost 700 pages. In it, Banks explores almost every part of his new universe: government structures, intergalactic history, deep character histories, etc. For a hard-core sci-fi fan, this could be enjoyable. Much of the wonder that comes from reading sci-fi is taking part in new worlds and civilizations. But for less dedicated fans, this book will seem ponderous and needlessly slow.

The sad thing is, even dedicated sci-fi readers may have the same problem. Banks explores everything in such detail that often times I found myself immensely frustrated with the lack of progress in the story, if not simply skipping over entire sections. Descriptions are given which have no bearing on the plot. An entire sub-plot between two of Taak's friends adds nothing to the overall story. The ending feels rushed and unresolved. And, while Banks clearly tries to draw Taak intimately and deeply, the character stills comes off as spare and flimsy.

Quite simply, Banks has fallen into the trap that catches too many of his fellow sci-fi authors: he fell in love with a world idea but didn't really have an actual story to tell. If you are a Banks fan, give the book a try. Otherwise, you're better off giving this one a pass.

I've been struggling for days to even get through the first 100 pages (btw, the plot of the book isn't even revealed until page 100). This book just moves so slowly. There are elements in this book that could be interesting, but there are too many books that I really want to read to waste my time reading something that I am struggling to get into.

Banks's foremost non-Culture novel and in my opinion his best work so far, it is a must read for any Sci-Fi fan. Not one for spoiling the plot I will only say that it has certainly earned its spot on my "favorites" bookshelf next to Asimov's, Heinlein's, and Hamilton's best works.

I finished it and stared uncomprehendingly at the book in my hands. I'd completed the last page and I don't know what I'd just read. Did I miss something important that pulled it together somehow? So I spent a couple of days randomly reading parts of it until I got something of a gist. First I was just confused--then I got angry. The time I spent reading this is time I'll never get back, and somewhere along the line I'm going to wish I'd been doing something else.

Let me first say I am a frequent SF reader, and I'm incredulous this book was considered for any prize at all. Ponderous, with half-hearted explorations of too many ideas, this book left me empty. I never could grasp what thread was going anywhere and that made for a directionless plot. Finally, I got the significance of seemingly random pieces such as the search for the ship in the very beginning, who was the searcher, and who was the prey. The characters were thinly developed, and I just couldn't for the life of me find anyone to connect with. Man! I've never worked harder to pull a story together for myself, than in reading this tome. I felt cheated, though: how come the author couldn't have been more help?

Can't say I'd recommend it. Too long, too formless, too haphazardly constructed for me to put anybody else through reading it. I read it so you don't have to.
Thank me later.

The Algebraist

This is one of the weaker science-fiction novels by Iain M. Banks. Definitely not as good as "Excession" or "Look to Windward".

It's not that the story and the idea behind it lack of substance. Chronologically placed some millennia before "the culture", human kind is much less developed than we're used to from other culture novels and in fact still quite barbaric. This is apparent by the pseudo-militaristic government and an almost religious abhorrence towards artificial intelligence that some time ago culminated in the so called machine wars. As a sadistic emperor invades the protagonist's system a desperate search for a, allegedly, secret wormhole network ensues. Alas, the entrance to the network is known only to dwellers, a sentient gas giant species, living by billenia and notoriously unreliable.

So, a vastly rich area for a space opera to develop. However, "The Algebraist" failed to live up to the expectations I had when I started reading. The plot is not well paced, with several open ends. Although there are a lot of interesting story lines, only few are brought to a satisfying end. And the protagonist and some accompanying characters lack depth and his counter part, the sadistic emperor, do not convince in their motivation. I also missed the one to two page section where the "evil" one is brought to his deserved, albeit unpleasant, end which so far have been telltale to Bank's stories.

But what bothered me most is that the often announced "alieness" and "weirdness" of the Dwellers was not very alien at all. They entertain themselves much like a human would do (free and unruly use of narcotics, races resembling a war and an occasional brawl) and their indifference towards "slow" races, resulting from their enormous life-span, is more like ignorance; also a human trait. Not very alien and not very entertaining. Since the story develops round the dweller's wormhole network and the attempts to get them cooperating this begged for a good description of dwellers and their motivation but that didn't materialize.

Even as a fan of Iain M. Banks, I found this novel tedious. All in all, I had the impression that "The Algebraist" probably was an early manuscript that Banks delivered in order to satisfy a pesky publisher.

Iain M. Bank's The Algebraist was nominated for science fiction's highest award in 2005 and one of my favorite sci-fi authors, Peter F. Hamilton, the creator of the Night's Dawn space opera, has cited the fellow British writer as an influence and inspiration. So I greatly looked forward to reading Banks' latest science fiction work, especially considering the title has something to do with mathematics, my regular day job. Banks is an unusual author in that he is well-known (and commercially successful) in both "genre fiction" as well as general fiction.

Reviews on the web of The Algebraist are not uniformly glowing, although almost all refer to its ambitious nature and sharp wit.

For one thing, the book is 434 hardcover pages, not quite Hamiltonian-length but still quite an imposing size for a bit of a relaxing read. Frankly, I'm surprised I finished it, at all. It's simply not worth the amount of time it takes to read.

My fourth grade teacher once told me a long time ago that if I felt that I was about to give up on a book to skip 50 pages and keep on reading. I tried this strategy with The Algebraist and it did allow me to finish it, but not enjoyably.

GRADE: B.

This book is a little lighter than the other Culture books to my mind. The writing is excellent, the story deep, the characters complex, as in all Banks books. The main difference is that this story unfolds faster than many of Banks's books and also this one has some truly humorous moments, as do many of his books, to the point you're left feeling light hearted and "tickled pink". A fun story though still hard SF and not a trivial book at all.

Although I'm only a little more than halfway through Iain M. Banks latest ( I'm going intentionally slow enjoying every sentence ), it's clear " The Algebraist " is as exciting and well wrought as any of his earlier SF.
Highly recommended.

This novel is stunning, elegant and coherent - a journey to be remembered. If you like sci-fi at all then you owe it to yourself to read at least some of Ian M Banks' work, and this one will not disappoint!