Excession by Iain M. Banks

Culture series #5

A Unexplained Thing appears in space and is quickly a catalyst to schemes and plans by the Culture, Elench, and Affronters.

This was way better than The State of the Art. Banks just doesn’t do well in short stories. This was a good entry into The Culture universe, but wasn’t as riveting as the first 3 books in The Culture series. I hope the last 4 books are even better.

There were lots of little subplots that made things very confusing. It also got confusing at time because of all the Culture ships involved. The first 3 Culture books were better because the world was big, but the action focussed on the politics, and double dealing of certain characters. This book was a huge Space Opera. There were few characters we really got to know well, and way too many Minds/Culture ships to keep track of in the story.

The Culture books don’t need to be read in order, but do not read this one before you’ve read others because you’d be hopelessly lost.

Rating: ★★★★

Book #3 in my #ReadingChallenge2021