Matter

by Iain M. Banks

Book Overview

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.

"Unexpectedly savage, emotionally powerful, and impossible to forget." --The Times

In a world renowned even within a galaxy full of wonders, a crime within a war. For one brother it means a desperate flight,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316005371
• ISBN13: 9780316005371
• Release Date: February 2009
• Publisher: Orbit
• Length: 624 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.8" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Too many overly tough, misleading reviews

I'm not going to summerize the plot; there've been many good descriptions. What got me full of trepidation was criticisms about pacing and how at the end everything was rushed to an unsatisfactory conclusion, as if the author was tired of his creation. Well I just finished it and it's one of Banks' best works, I think. Yeah; it picks up and MOVES near the end and perfectly so, it narrows like the point of the spear: action is all. And why not? We'd gotten all the background, description, philosophy, diplomacy, court intrigue etc., all of which tend to slow down the narrative flow and all of which is vital. But there came a point when action is all that's required and it's handled quite excitingly and beautifully. I say beautifully because the preceding 500 pages which built up to the ending had the heft to enable me over the next several days after I finished the novel to reflect upon it, its universe, its characters, so full of context. Breathtaking; reminds me of Look To Windward, for my money the other masterpiece in the Culture series.

What makes Matter matter

Iain Banks stands far above many writers, science fiction or otherwise, because he is a master of wordcraft. He can compel you to turn the next page, make you love a character, or make you marvel at the sheer boundaries of his imagination because his writing is great. This puts him in a class of great writers and he just happens to delve into science fiction with this great talent. Among science fiction he stands among a precious few writers who can write with such sincerity, humor, depth, wonder, and skill that you forget it's science fiction. By that I mean that they create a world so credible and fun to be in that you become as much a part of it as the world we actually live in. Like Samuel R. Delaney, Ursula K. Le Guinn, and John Varley, you are taken in completely and given an amazing ride, and are ultimately told a great human story. Matter is a vast epic journey filled with amazing technology, but is not overwhelmed by it. Banks borders on magical realism in a way, but takes it to the limits of what is imaginable in a novel. He is the Gabriel Garcia Marquez of the galactic set, a virtuoso of words with an imagination that spans deciaeons and millions of light-years. There are others who can imagine universes, but few who can render them in such warm, compelling, and lurid language. This is the work of a true master.

Great story

The scope of this story is huge but very finely crafted. The details are very carefully created to add texture to the larger overarching plot. A great addition to the Culture series of books but also a good standalone story.

One of Bank's better

Bank's latest Culture novel, Matter, is one of the strongest in the series, together with Player of Games and Excession. The plot involves several perspectives on the Culture universe as Banks presents a whole hierarchy of civilisations, from a medieval society placed within an artificial world, to the different caretakers of the same world (and their conflicts with one another), to the supremes like Culture and the Morganwelt. We meet a lot of characters: a medieval prince fighting for his right to the throne, a SC agent on her way home, an ancient ship mind, a renegade from the culture and some really weird and dangerous aliens, to mention a few. Highly recommended.

Insightful view of The Culture, Contact and Special Circumstances (SC)

Having just finished reading Matter I feel quite sad. Considering the variety of books that Mr. Banks writes I don't expect to see another book of The Culture for at least two years. My reading options will be a bit barren until then. With the exception of his book Excession I consider this the best of Bank's books of The Culture. Other reviewers have give the general storyline, so I'll skip it here. The cast of characters is rich, many are from a humanoid society roughly in the equivalent of our Medieval period. This society exists inside one small level of one of the wonders of the galaxy, a Shellworld. The primary characters are all from this society, several are members of the Royal family, a few are various loyal and treacherous aids. One was a member of the Royal family, but being a mere girl it was decided by her father the King she would be best used as a political offering to a member of the Optimae. The Optimae being the term for the highly advanced and involved civilations in the galaxy. We meet her after she has adapted to The Culture, a "world" of fantastic technology, education and freedoms. Through her eyes we see The Culture a bit differently than I've seen in any previous work. She appreciates the advantages but also is aware of the tendency of citizens to use their long lives as interfering, do-gooding busybodies. A Culture person leaves the running of everything to the many Minds that manage their ships, orbital habitats and even planets. (Referring to a Culture Mind as an A.I., at least in their near omni-presence, would be consider very rude and insulting. Some Minds have been known to hold grudges). So no matter your species as a citizen of the Culture you could look forward to millennia of smug self-regard stretched before you. Our original simple girl is now a highly trained, heavily enhanced and willing agent to help when special circumstances come into play. It this case her unofficial visit to honor her fallen father notices there is much more going on. I strongly disagree with some reviews commenting that the characters are shallow. Some characters, humanoid and otherwise, are killed during the story. I felt their loss strongly. My only complaint is we spend less time traveling through the wonders that is The Culture in this book than say Excession. But I believe Mr. Bank's decision to develop the world of "primatives" living in the Shellworld's world of marvels to be a good one.