Iain M. Banks

FICTION

Released: Oct. 9, 2012

THE HYDROGEN SONATA

by Iain M. Banks

"Sheer delight."

Addition to Banks' wonderful space-opera series (without the middle initial, he also writes impressive mainstream novels) about the far-future galactic Culture (Surface Detail, 2010, etc.), a liberal-anarchic, multispecies civilization guided and sustained, more or less invisibly, by Minds, artificial intelligences that take such physical forms as spaceships and habitats. Read full book review >

FICTION

Released: Aug. 1, 2001

LOOK TO WINDWARD

by Iain M. Banks

"By turns imposing, ingenious, whimsical, and wrenching, though too amorphous to fully satisfy."

Another of Banks's far-future Culture yarns (Inversions, 2000, etc.). Read full book review >

FICTION

Released: Feb. 22, 1989

THE PLAYER OF GAMES

by Iain M. Banks

"Predictable, certainly, and less imaginative than Phlebas, but technically much more solid: honorably crafted work, often engrossing despite some sluggish patches."

Following Consider Phlebas (1988), another distant-future yarn featuring the Culture—a tolerant, relaxed, moneyless civilization unobtrusively directed by superintelligent machine Minds. Read full book review >

FICTION

Released: Nov. 8, 2000

THE BUSINESS

by Iain M. Banks

"Sprinkled with erudite puns ("Was I a Freudian? . . . no, I was a Schadenfreudian") and topical references: a smart, breezy, entertainment--something John Grisham might have written if, say, he were a better stylist with more imagination."

From the usually thought-provoking, even disturbing, Banks (A Song of Stone, 1998, etc.) comes a clever, well-paced, but surprisingly slight business thriller. Read full book review >

FICTION

Released: Feb. 1, 1997

EXCESSION

by Iain M. Banks

"Not Invented Here and Shoot Them Later) don't compensate for the absence of real characters."

From versatile Scottish writer Banks, another sf yarn about the tolerant, diverse, far-future Culture (The Player of Games, 1989, etc.). Read full book review >

FICTION

Released: Sept. 1, 1998

A SONG OF STONE

by Iain M. Banks

"Not for the squeamish, but those looking for a confrontational work will find this a daring, deeply unsettling meditation on the very human face of evil."

A grim, mordant portrait of the corrosive effects of moral corruption and a generalized atmosphere of violence, played out against the brutal background of a Bosnian-style war. Read full book review >

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Iain M. Banks