The Culture series
Iain M. Banks (Orbit Books)
Iain M. Banks died more than 11 years ago, but remains a titan of modern science fiction. He wrote 鈥渓iterary鈥� works under the name Iain Banks, but added the 鈥淢鈥� for his 14 sci-fi offerings, which are known for an audacious, ground-breaking take on the space opera that transformed the genre.
If you have never read any of these books but love 鈥渉ard鈥� sci-fi, is it worth diving in now?
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Short answer: yes. Longer answer: Banks鈥檚 sci-fi, at its best, is staggeringly inventive, beautifully written, dramatic and often very funny. His stories are packed with ideas, warships with minds very much of their own, alien races, charismatic drones and intergalactic politics.
That said, time is a stern judge. I have read celebrated 鈥渃lassics鈥� of sci-fi and found them startlingly misogynistic, homophobic and racist 鈥� even for their time. There is nothing so serious to worry about here, but Banks鈥檚 novels haven鈥檛 aged perfectly. I reread five for this column, and even as a dyed-in-the-wool fan, I couldn鈥檛 avoid the fact that, for books set in a future where men and women are meant to be equal, they don鈥檛 always read that way.
Take Excession, where there are jokes about an alien race for which rape is part of everyday life. This is dealt with in a 鈥渏olly鈥� manner, with the novel鈥檚 hero worshipping the aliens and wanting to do everything they do. It is stuff that wouldn鈥檛 get through an edit these days, I guess.
Iain Banks added the 'M' to his name to write sci-fi. His take on space opera transformed the genre
You will make up your own mind about whether to proceed. If you do, I would start with his 10-book 鈥淐ulture鈥� series. These don鈥檛 need to be read in order, though I suggest starting with The Player of Games, which is exciting and does a good job of setting out the universe these stories occupy.
Although there isn鈥檛 a lot of spaceship action, you get the idea that superintelligent, sentient ships (aka, 鈥渢he Minds鈥�) make the big decisions, but are benevolent towards humans. The Culture is a 鈥減ost-scarcity鈥� civilisation, so no one has to work. This can be dull, so Gurgeh, our hero and probably the best (human) player of games in the Culture, volunteers for Contact, an enterprise that deals with non-Culture civilisations.
Other fans argue for starting with the first published novel in the series, Consider Phlebas. The humans in the Culture are often quite alien, and Horza, this novel鈥檚 protagonist, is a good example. He is a Changer who can transform into a copy of another human.
As to which Culture book is best, there is no consensus. Earlier reservations aside, I choose Excession. It has multiple points of view and plot strands. We also have spaceships and drones, action from the Special Circumstances unit (an offshoot of Contact), plus fascinating conversations between gangs of ships. Not to mention Culture warships firing on each other and a threat to the central society of the series from an 鈥渙utside context problem鈥�, in other words, a far superior civilisation. So much going on and all brilliantly handled. Wow.
I have slight reservations about two of his sci-fi works. The State of the Art is really a novella, for fans only I would say, although it gives us the only peek at the Culture interacting with Earth. Then in Feersum Endjinn, a non-Culture work, part is written phonetically, which I limped through when I first read it. But in today鈥檚 audio form that may not matter much.
Anyway, a very happy Iain M. Banks experience to you, should you choose to dive in.
Emily also recommends鈥�
The Wasp Factory
Iain Banks (Little, Brown)
Emily H. Wilson is a former editor of New 杏吧原创 and聽the author of the Sumerians trilogy, set in ancient Mesopotamia. The聽second book in the series, Gilgamesh, is out now.聽You can find her at emilyhwilson.com, or follow her on X @emilyhwilson and Instagram @emilyhwilson1
