E-books/audiobooks: Excession, Changes, The Poisoned Island
Excession is a 1996 science-fiction novel by Iain M. Banks (or Iain Banks in his literary incarnation). His Culture series has grown ever more ornate.
by Iain M. Banks
(read by Peter Kenny)
Hachette Digital
(audiobook)
Excession is a 1996 science-fiction novel by Iain M. Banks (or Iain Banks in his literary incarnation). His Culture series has grown ever more ornate. The Culture is a utopian (or possibly dystopian) society founded by the hyper-intelligent "Minds" in which humans are bewitched by pleasure: they basically spend much of their time doing nothing and taking drugs. (Perhaps Banks should re-name it University?) In Excession, competition comes from the Affront, which rivals the Culture in hedonism, but more terrifying is the artefact, a mysterious object that is causing violent chaos. But why? Conflict is the order of the day in this fourth instalment of the series: our hero Byr Genar-Hofeon goes head to head with Ulver Seich, an ambitious young woman. Peter Kenny reads the complex, baroque goings-on with smooth, calm authority. He gamely reproduces the alien and robotic characters that populate the plot: one avatar sounds eerily like Woody Allen. Enjoyable but you may want to start with book one, Consider Phlebas.