by Iain Banks
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Product Description
Iain M. Banks is a true original, an author whose brilliant speculative fiction has transported us into worlds of unbounded imagination and inimitable revelatory power. Now he takes us on the ultimate trip: to the edge of possibility and to the heart of a cosmic puzzle....
Diplomat Byr Genar-Hofoen has been selected by the Culture to undertake a delicate and dangerous mission. The Department of Special Circumstances--the Culture's espionage and dirty tricks section--has sent him off to investigate a 2,500-year-old mystery: the sudden disappearance of a star fifty times older than the universe itself. But in seeking the secret of the lost sun, Byr risks losing himself.
There is only one way to break the silence of millennia: steal the soul of the long-dead starship captain who first encountered the star, and convince her to be reborn. And in accepting this mission, Byr will be swept into a vast conspiracy that could lead the universe into an age of peace...or to the brink of annihilation.
Amazon.com Review
It's not easy to disturb a mega-utopia as vast as the one Iain M. Banks has created in his popular Culture series, where life is devoted to fun and ultra-high-tech is de rigueur. But more than two millennia ago the appearance--and disappearance--of a star older than the universe caused quite a stir. Now the mystery is back, and the key to solving it lies in the mind of the person who witnessed the first disturbance 2,500 years ago. But she's dead, and getting her to cooperate may not be altogether easy.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Another installment of the history of Culture..., 2008-11-29
Excession, by Iain M. Banks, is the 1996 installment of the Culture series. Culture is the collection of intelligences, organic and machine, that voluntarily accepts a peaceful coexistence. Culture "civilization" has no need for a militarily expansionist structure; it has all the energy and materials needed to develop ships holding hundreds of millions of inhabitants in empty space. There is simply no need to conquer another planet, or take over another civilization.
Unfortunately, other civilizations don't share this philosophy. Thus, Culture has its "Special Circumstances" section to deal, both reactively and proactively, with aggression toward Culture and Culture's interests (primarily peaceful coexistence).
The Idirans nudged Culture away from its coexistence goals, and Special Circumstances geared up to deal with them. Culture was successful, and after the Idirian War, Mind-controlled warships were stored throughout the galaxy in hidden havens like Pittance.
In Excession, three things happen. An Excession, an extraordinary, unexplainable event/entity, pops into existence. It is assumed to originate from another Universe. Its presence threatens peaceful coexistence, particularly with the Affronters, a violence-loving civilization that also has eyes on the Excession, and on the perceived threat from Culture (that Culture would even attempt to keep Affronters from the Excession was interference enough). Finally, among the ancient and powerful Minds in Culture, there appears to be a renegade faction with secret aims and goals... a conspiracy within.
Banks' Excession is complicated, convoluted, and complex. It was hard (for me) to keep track of the characters and Minds as the plot rotated around its various subroutines, and a few of the characters wee simply not believable. But there was an "event horizon" that, once crossed, grabs the reader's interest and won't let go.
To Culture fans, you won't be disappointed.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 My favorite Banks Culture book, 2008-03-22
I'm glad I didn't start with Excession, but built up to it by reading some of his other books. I can sympathize with one reviewer who found it incomprehensible, with little action. I loved it, and think it is the most humorous of them (which may not be saying much). I'd recommend reading some of Banks's earlier books before you try this one.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Hard sci-fi at it's best..., 2007-11-21
It helps to enjoy this book if you're the type of person who wonders equally at the technology, the themes, the math, the characters, and the possibilities. Banks' imagination is really going full-blast here with sentient spaceships (sometimes going 'eccentric', doing their own thing) and all of the creative, fantastic inventions that inhabit his far-future world.
I will be the first to admit that it's not the easiest read at first. Get past the first 40-50 pages though, and you'll be glad you did. Charles Stross writes in a similar style, though with more contemporary wit than in The Excession, but these two authors are similar enough that if you like one, you'll probably like the other.
If you really want to dig in deep to a new, imaginative, hard sci-fi universe, then this Culture novel by Banks should satisfy. Don't expect an easy, thoughtless summer-read though.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Excessively long, 2007-10-05
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.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
exploring Minds and the wealth of the Culture, 2007-09-19
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.
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