By: Iain M. Banks Publisher: Pocket Books Average Rating: Binding: Mass Market Paperback Label: Pocket Books Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 496 Publication Date: November 01, 2002 Release Date: October 29, 2002
The Twin Novae battle had been one of the last of the Idiran war, and one of the most horrific: desperate to avert their inevitable defeat, the Idirans had induced not one but two suns to explode, snuffing out worlds and biospheres teeming with sentient life. They were attacks of incredible proportion -- gigadeathcrimes. But the war ended, and life went on.
Now, eight hundred years later, light from the first explosion is about to reach the Masaq' Orbital, home to the Culture's most adventurous and decadent souls. There it will fall upon Masaq's 50 billion inhabitants, gathered to commemorate the deaths of the innocent and to reflect, if only for a moment, on what some call the Culture's own complicity in the terrible event.
Also journeying to Masaq' is Major Quilan, an emissary from the war-ravaged world of Chel. In the aftermath of the conflict that split his world apart, most believe he has come to Masaq' to bring home Chel's most brilliant star and self-exiled dissident, the honored Composer Ziller.
Ziller claims he will do anything to avoid a meeting with Major Quilan, who he suspects has come to murder him. But the Major's true assignment will have far greater consequences than the death of a mere political dissident, as part of a conspiracy more ambitious than even he can know -- a mission his superiors have buried so deeply in his mind that even he cannot remember it.
Hailed by SFX magazine as "an excellent hopping-on point if you've never read a Banks SF novel before," Look to Windward is an awe-inspiring immersion into the wildly original, vividly realized civilization that Banks calls the Culture.
Resistance is Character Forming Iain Banks was born in Scotland in 1954 and published his first book - "The Wasp Factory" - in 1984. He has since divided his writing career between writing 'standard' fiction - as Iain Banks - and Science Fiction, as Iain M. Banks. "Look to Windward" was first published in 2000, and was the sixth of his Sci-Fi books to feature the Culture.
The Culture is a symbiotic society - part humanoid and part artificial intelligence. The artificial intelligence element to the Culture can be sub-divided into two parts - Drones and Minds. For the most part, a Drone's intelligence will be roughly similar to a humanoids. Minds, on the other hand, are significantly more powerful than both humanoids and drones. They tend to act as the controlling intelligence behind, for example, the Culture's ships and Hubs (artificial habitats). Minds are also largely responsible for making decisions at the very highest levels of society - only a very small number of humanoid Referrers would be intelligent enough to join the process.
In the first Sci-Fi book Banks wrote, "Consider Phlebas", the Culture was at war with the Idiran Empire - a war they eventually won, though not without a great loss of life. Although 800 years have now passed, "Look to Windward" could be considered a sequel of sorts. A single battle, towards the end of the Culture - Idiran War, had brought the destruction of two stars. The loss of life was not restricted to the combatants, as both systems had supported life. The light from the first star's destruction has only now reached Masaq, a Culture Orbital. Hub, Masaq's controlling Mind, is observing a period of mourning, between the two supernovae - for reasons that become clear later in the book. However, there have also been hints of a very special occasion to mark the arrival of the light from the second star.
Not all of Masaq's residents are Culture citizens, however. One is Kabe Ischloer, a Homomdan who is accorded the title of Ambassador by those on Masaq. (Kabe is a modest, likeable character and occasionally admits to being a journalist). Physically, Homomdans are similar to the Idirans - three-legged, about three metres tall and glisteningly black. In fact, the Homomdans were allied to the Idirans in the early days of the Culture - Idiran war. Another is Mahrai Ziller, a very famous Chelgrian composer. (Chelgrians are nearly as tall as Homomdans, fast, strong and fur-covered. Having evolved from predators, they also seem to enjoy a fight). Ziller, however, is somewhat atypical for a Chelgrian, and his presence on Masaq is a little more controversial than Kabe's. There had recently been a civil war on Chel, known as the Caste War...and, unfortunately, there had been a certain amount of Culture involvement behind the scenes. However, Ziller found Chel society repulsive - despite belonging to the highest, most privileged caste, he has declared himself Invisible and effectively defects to Masaq.
Ziller isn't the only Chelgrian to appear in the book, though - it also features Quilan, a member of Chel's highest caste and a veteran of the Caste War. He has subsequently take holy orders, and is occasionally referred to as a 'Griefling' - largely because he hasn't been able to come to terms with the death of his wife in the war. However, Quilan is later offered a way to deal conclusively with his sense of loss and is sent on a mission to Masaq. Officially, his orders are to persuade Ziller to return home. (Ziller, on the other hand, suspects the Quilan has actually been sent to assassinate him and steadfastly refuses to meet the Major). In truth, Quilan's orders are a little more wide-ranging...and, thanks to his SoulKeeper, he isn't even travelling alone.
Before I'd picked up "Consider Phlebas", it had been a long time since I'd read any Sci-Fi - the main reason I picked it up was of how highly I rate Banks' 'standard' fiction. While it was easily good enough to convince me that it might be worth reading more of the Culture books, "Look to Windward" has convinced me to work my way through the entire series. With Banks, things aren't entirely straightforward : the Culture might be the good guys, and they may mean well, but they aren't entirely pure and flawless. Quilan, on the other hand, should probably be considered one of the main villains - yet he proves a likeable character, and it's hard not to sympathise with him at times. It would have been nice to have seen Uagen Zlepe's story a bit more fully told, but that's about the book's only flaw for me - and it's a minor gripe at that. Excellent stuff, highly recommended.
The Power of Despair I don't think I have ever read a Sci-Fi book that was this emotional. Exciting, inspiring, dissociating, transcendentally inducing... Certainly... But not as emotional... The book explores the unrelenting weight of dark despair on even the most advanced creatures. There is a good dose of Banks' aliens and Banks' plot twists. As other reviewers mentioned, there is not the intense violence of some of the other books. The development of the character Quilan is sublime. It is totally weird how Banks can cause you to feel empathy towards a totally alien creature. It almost makes your gut ache in places. Intense book!
Rewriting the plot in the last 5 pages, not so good Ian Banks' Look to Windward takes its time to develop its story. Banks revels in the universe he has created and will not be rushed to deliver his plot at the expense of painting a complete and complicated picture of his far-off future. Banks invests his technology and societies with grandiose detail and those descriptions do go a long way towards placing his story, though at times they can be long-winded and repetitive. But where Banks really shines is in creating characters to inhabit these well articulated settings. Banks has a particularly good grasp on articulating the alien nature of a character while giving his reader enough common ground to still be able to relate to the character. The tripod ambassador and the simian anthropologist in Windward are both intriguing, but especially compelling is the Hub of Masaq' Orbital, particularly as Banks lends it more and more personality towards the close of the novel. However, despite Banks' facility with setting and character, the plot of Windward was plodding and predictable. The only major plot twist was completely without precedent and in fact contrary to everything that the reader had been able to perceive for all but the last five pages of the book. Such shifts in plot are not so much twists as retroactive plot rewrites particularly unsatisfying to readers who have stuck with Banks' slow development of character, plot and setting throughout the balance of the book. That said, Windward was my first taste of Banks' Culture novels and I found it to be a very good introduction to the Culture, if not a great novel overall.
expectations unmet, but still satisfied 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
With this latest installment in Banks' Culture books, how does it rank with the above expectations? 1) Not much war takes place in this book, but it does mention two past wars (Culture vs. Chelgrian & Culture vs. Idirian). Possible death is bountiful in a few of the chapters and actual death is far and few between... until the very satisfactory last few pages. 2) Glanding is occasionally come across, but just in one or two sections. 3) There is a drone as a main character on the Orbital of Masaq', but it seems too sophisticated so cop an attitude and spit out some wit. 4) knife missiles are mentioned twice, but, sadly, no one dies 5) The Chelgrian species is explored pretty well, more so than a lot of other aliens in Banks' novels. The single Homomdan species was barley touched upon. Perhaps this could be further explored in the future. 6) just one part of Look to Windward made me cringe a bit, and that part was only a page or two long. 7) minds are a central theme, focusing on the mind of the Hub of the Orbital Masaq'. Look to Windward really explores the Hub's mind in detail and all things a Hub is capable of. Silly names for space vessels will not leave you disappointed (especially the 'quote a Culture Ship' game between two characters).
Reviewing the list above, the entire novel fell short of my expectations, but that doesn't leave Look to Windward hanging out to dry. This book is more exploratory in the "human endurance" of a Chelgrian and the "emotions and thoughts" of a Hub Mind. Hard Sci-fi is also throw in the mix for a delightful (but a bit lacking) sci-fi novel from Banks.
Revenge can be sweet or Lethal Eight hundred years ago, during the war between the Culture and the Idiran's the current Hub of Masaq' Orbital was part of a force that destroyed two stars (The Twin Novae Battle) and ended a war. The Chelgrians have just signed an armistice that ended their Caste War (which was instigated by the Culture) in which over 5 billion souls perished. Quildan, lost his love and half his body during this war. Ziller, the greatest composer on Chel, has gone into self-exile on the Culture Orbital Masaq'.
The two Chelgrians are on a collision, which will culminate in a genocidal act of suicide, when Ziller's symphony to honor the light from Twin Novae reaching Masaq. What and how the act will be accomplished is unknown but the secret has been discovered by the xeno-anthropologist Uagen Zlepe who is studying a Behemothaur halfway across the galaxy. Can he get back to Culture space in time.
Banks has created an amazing universe, populated by exotic creatures and worlds. Reading the narrative is almost as much fun as trying to figure out who everyone is and what part they will play in coming battle.
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Trevor
Megaton Man
