io9
Iain M. Banks is the master of narrative zoom and pan: one minute he'll bring you in very close to a tiny moment in one person's life as she mourns the death of a brother, and the next you'll be spinning in deep space staring at a supermassive artificial world created by liquid-breathing aliens, millions of miles long, made of enormous braided tubes. Which of these minutes matters more? In Banks' new novel Matter, both do — and both are also tragicomically inconsequential. What always pleases about Banks' science fiction novels, many of which are set against the backdrop of a pan-galactic, A.I.-centric, socialist-libertarian society called The Culture, is that Banks always delivers substance and spectacle. You'll get the ethical questions, the sorrowful depictions of war, and the meditations on social evolution. But you'll also get world-shattering explosions, weird-ass aliens, and ancient technologies that are purely there to be fucking cool.
The novel centers on three siblings, Anaplian, Ferbin, and Oramen, the children of a king who rules one of the levels in a Shellworld — an ancient alien artifact that is essentially a set of nested spheres where various creatures have set up shop by pumping in the atmospheres, hanging artificial "stars" on runners in the ceilings of each level, and going about their business. The siblings are part of a group called the Sarl, whose technological sophistication has reached that of ninteenth century Europe. While Ferbin and Oramen, the boys, are groomed for positions of political power among the Sarl, Anaplian has nothing to look forward to but marriage. So she's not entirely unhappy when her father gives her away to a group of aliens from the Culture, who take her far from home, educate her, give her cool bio-upgrades, and train her as a member of Special Circumstances, the Culture's equivalent of the secret service.
But when the king is assassinated by a former trusted adviser, and both Ferbin and Oramen's lives are threatened, Anaplian decides to return to her backwater Shellworld home and set things to rights. She's accompanied only by a super-intelligent weapon and an A.I. spaceship with mysterious loyalties, and her mission is an off-the-record assignment from Special Circumstances to figure out why a minor space-faring civilization known as the Oct has become so deeply interested in an artifact buried deep within on of the Sarlian levels of the Shellworld.
The novel is as complicated and perfectly-structured as a Shellworld itself. There are wars within wars, and intrigues among the low-tech Sarl have reverberations that could be felt halfway across the galaxy among so-called Optimae civilizations who control vast volumes of space. Matter is ultimately about what happens when developing civilizations clash with developed ones over possessions neither one understands. Told with Banks' usual nihilistic humor and flair for outlandish description, this is a novel that will grab you by the shorthairs, scream at you about realpolitik, and then smack you on the head with a laser blast. And of course, you'll love every minute of it.
Matter is already available in the UK, and though its official release date in the US is February 27, it's already out in most US bookstores. Or you can order now.
Comments
February 27th? That's more than a WEEK from now.
WHAT IS THIS SHIT?
I'm going to go to my tent and sulk.
I am in the US, and got my pre-ordered copy from amazon today, fyi
@braak: Looks like Amazon has it in stock and is sending it out. So you could order today and have it tomorrow!
@Annalee Newitz: Good review Annalee -- I was in the UK this past weekend and used the opportunity to pick this up. Spent the weekend reading (aided by 11+ hours in the plane back to NYC) finishing it off. Highly recommended.
@Annalee Newitz: Done.
If I don't have it by tomorrow, I'm holding YOU accountable.
He is, without a doubt, my favorite writer.
i LOVE him.
I would quibble that the Culture only seems libertarian (for meat-people), as they're more-or-less pets of the A.I.s.
Still, it would be an awesome place to live, and Banks is extraordinarily good.
-Kle.
Barnes and Noble also lists it as available, so you might be able to get one from your local RIGHT NOW! I will be checking mine (4 blocks away...tee hee) ASAP.
Apparently it's also in stock at Borderlands, so San Francisco folks can head over to the Mission and pick up a copy.
Ok, i'll bite.
But you better be right. This book had better put snow crash, golden globe, and enders game all to shame to live up to this review.
The Culture, like some of the other high-tech libertarian future societies out there, is so real is some very important story-telling ways. There is enough
humanity in Banks' Universe to relate too, with all its retardations firmly in place. Did anyone read the Glenn Cook novel that had an alien race that built ships in measures like AUs? I could google it. I think it was the Star Fisher trilogy.
@nutbastard: Well I didn't like Enders Game, and I didn't think Golden Globe or Snow Crash were especially good books from normally-great Varley and Stephenson, so maybe this won't be quite to your taste. Still, I would recommend it because it sounds like you have an appreciation for space opera and that's what Banks does best.
Snow crash is so different, though. It's all Earth, comic and magical. I highly recommend the audio version.
Banks is someone who knows how to use the language and is sometimes verbose, but on purpose, just because he likes to play with sentence structure. I like a bit of florid prose, especially when mixed with humor. His descriptions can be complex, which I also like. If our future is to be anywhere near a nice as the Culture, then we're going to have to give up a lot of our responsibilities to machines. Fine with me.
@Jeff-Minor: Yeah, you're right. It's not space opera. Actually Stephenson doesn't write space opera at all! What I hated about Snow Crash was all the magical stuff. I actually stopped reading a few pages from the end because it made me so grumpy. But I loved Diamond Age.
@Annalee Newitz:
Snow Crash not good?
Snow Crash not GOOD?
SNOW CRASH NOT GOOD?
BLASPHEMER!
(marks another black mark on Analee's record)
@Plague: Look, I hate The Simpsons too. I don't always go with the flow.
I did a double take at my Barnes and Noble yesterday when they had 10 copies in stock. I ran home and ordered it from Amazon, who was showing a street date of 2/27, but also said now shipping.
Yay!
Got my copy from Amazon yesterday; saw it in Borders this afternoon. So clearly the 2/27 laydown date is provisional.
@Annalee Newitz: Are you sure you stopped reading a few pages from the end? Because I read the whole thing, and it certainly FELT like someone had torn out the last chapter.
@Annalee Newitz:
Annalee - would you say it was ok to read this if you haven't read any of the other Culture novels yet? After all of the glowing reviews I'd like to dip my toes into some Banks.
@dijou: Yeah, it's a totally stand-alone novel. You can dive right in.
@nutbastard:
I predict it will be better than them, and I like them well enough.
Snow Crash was uneven, and annoyed me by having a bunch of poor-versimilituse moments. It was good, but not his best.
Ender's Game was good, but facile - sort of like golden-age Asimov. Kind of a sixth-grade book.
Golden Globe was also good, but not Varley's best. I think Banks is the equal of Varley's best, and better than Neal Stephenson. O.S. Card isn't really in a league with either of them, though he's done some good work.
Ymmv, of course.
-Kle.
"Versimilitude".
-Kle.
@Annalee Newitz:
Do you also dislike peanut butter, beer, fast driving, Death Metal, and [adult swim]?
I dont think we could get any more polarized if you do!
Space Opera... not so much. IMO Golden Globe and Steel Beach are the only varley worth reading. Titan trilogy was pure dreck! Red thunder - Drivel! And you are the first person i've ever encountered who didn't like enders game. to each there own, i guess, but above all, when im reading a book, i want to be stimulated and entertained - i dont give two wet farts about "themes".
Zodiac and Cyptonomicon were also very good, although from an entertainment standpoint, Zodiac takes the cake. Diamond Age, not bad, not great.
Space opera... sort of. I cannot, absolutely cannot stand unexplained "magical" technologies being used as plot devices. Is this going to be a "Tek Jenson" adventure?
For the record, i threw neuromancer across the room 40 pages in for being absolutely way too much like the movie "Hackers" in its depiction of "Hacking".
At least stephenson knows his way around the CLI...
@Klebert:
i first read EG in 6th grade, and it's just always stuck with me. OSC, i agree, is a much less compelling author, but a very good story teller.
what would you say varleys best was?
@nutbastard:
Ophiuchi Hotline, his short stories. Persistance of Vision was a very good collection. I liked Titan / Wizard / Demon, but they weren't especially focussed.
-Kle.
Just finished "Matter" late last night. And while I'm still "chewing it over" (Banks is not an author one digests in one reading), it is another diamond in the crown of the greatest ongoing achievement in SF (or literature in general, to hell with labels). Banks is the Beethoven of SF. The man constantly amazes and delights.
I've read SF for nearly 50 years now (vitually all the greatest stuff from the beginning till the 80's), and there is no one IMHO who comes close to Banks in sheer talent, intellectual brilliance, and ability to be profound, humorous, and topical simultaneously. His Culture novels are the easily the greatest achievement in "Space Opera." They make most other's attempts look amateurish by comparison.
I just finished this book. I love Banks, but it sucked balls.
@bjarmson:
@icanseeforever:
Somewhere in the middle on this. I think it was good, a bit rushed in the end, strong characters with the exception that Anaplian really strained credibility. I generally love Banks, but I would say this book is just an average Culture novel. Maybe not even average if you liked Feersum (I did.)
I think Reynolds may be passing him by a bit. (though nothing in Reynolds' oeuvre compares to Consider Phlebas or AADB).
A (UK) noob on this site, but just a couple of things.
Firstly, great review - I'm 2rds of the way through Matter, and even though I'm nowhere near the payoff/money-shot/etc, the review was great - accurate, vibrant and enthusiastic. Thank you very much.
2ndly, Space Opera is a great title but I think it only really applies to Consider Pleabas. Most of the other Culture novels are much more focused. Yes, sometimes (as in the one about the black body sphere - sorry I'm a bit inebriated right now) the scale spans star systems, but the ideas and situations are always very circumscribed.
Anyway, Matter is great, but rather long. If you want to get a handle on the flavour of the Culture universe then I think (after the histrionics of Consider Pleabas which introduces it all - Obitrals!!!) The Player of Games is a masterpiece. The State of the Art is great (SHORT stories), and the black body sphere encroaching from another dimension ( Excission! Finally! I think...) is the piece de resistance...!
BTW: Reynolds is great, but rough by comparison (imho, etc)
The strangest thing I felt while reading Matter is how joyless it is, compared to the rest of the Culture series: even Phlebas had sort of a juvenile gung-ho energy in it. This one is grim from start to finish.
Also, it's like Banks was both reinstating and redefining this universe, what with all the infodumps told just this bit different from beforetimes (terms such as "Dataverse" are new, I think, and a bit out of place; The Culture is consistently diminished, quantitatively at least; etc.).
And I don't think Matter will merit as much re-reading as his other books. The main characters' quest is rather a mechanical thing to be that interested into, and it lasts nearly 75% of the book. That it turns into a SF doomsday technothriller so near the end… well, it is exciting, and one feels the rush, but one feels it not being that original except for the technobabble involved.
I don't know: is this the depressing one?
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