“The State of the Art by Iain M. Banks Culture #4

I really like the Culture. If there was a future society I would want to live in, it would probably be The Culture. I have been putting off reading this book though because I wasn’t all that interested. I grit my teeth though, and got through this so I can get to the other part of the Culture series.

This is the weakest Culture book I’ve read so far. It’s a book of short stories. Banks does not do well in short form. His books are intricate, long, and detailed, but that is the antithesis of short stories. The mid-range length story, The State of the Art, was sort of an interesting premise but didn’t achieve the heights Banks has hit in the previous 3 Culture books.

One interesting thing about this book were the illustrations. I love books with illustrations. They certainly added some visual appeal to the book.

All-in-all, if you like Banks’ Culture series, you have to read this for completions sake, but it is not a very joyous or memorable book. Read it, and move on.

Rating: ★★

Book #128 in my My 2020 Reading Challenge #BookReview #Books #SciFi #ScienceFiction #IanMBanks #ShortStory #TheCulture”,