Surface Detail, Iain M. Banks
Surface Detail, Iain M. Banks
4 Rating(s)
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Surface Detail

Author: Iain M. Banks

Series: Culture

Narrator: Peter Kenny

Unabridged: 20 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Orbit

Published: 10/28/2010

Categories: Fiction, Science Fiction


Synopsis

It begins in the realm of the Real, where matter still matters.

It begins with a murder.

And it will not end until the Culture has gone to war with death itself.

Lededje Y'breq is one of the Intagliated, her marked body bearing witness to a family shame, her life belonging to a man whose lust for power is without limit. Prepared to risk everything for her freedom, her release, when it comes, is at a price, and to put things right she will need the help of the Culture.

Benevolent, enlightened and almost infinitely resourceful though it may be, the Culture can only do so much for any individual. With the assistance of one of its most powerful -- and arguably deranged -- warships, Lededje finds herself heading into a combat zone not even sure which side the Culture is really on. A war -- brutal, far-reaching -- is already raging within the digital realms that store the souls of the dead, and it's about to erupt into reality.

It started in the realm of the Real and that is where it will end. It will touch countless lives and affect entire civilizations, but at the center of it all is a young woman whose need for revenge masks another motive altogether.

Surface Detail is Iain M. Banks' new Culture novel, a breathtaking achievement from a writer whose body of work is without parallel in the modern history of science fiction.

Author Bio

Iain Banks (1954-2013) came to widespread and controversial public notice with the publication of his first novel, The Wasp Factory, in 1984. Consider Phlebas, his first science fiction novel, was published under the name Iain M. Banks in 1987 and began his celebrated ten-book Culture series. He is acclaimed as one of the most powerful, innovative and exciting writers of his generation.

Reviews

Thought experiment time: Would a hardliner faith culture with high tech create a virtual hell to stay in power and make everyone afraid of getting inside that creepy, artificial purgatory if they misbehave? Reread 2022 with extended review Illustrative presentation for mind control This idea could b......more

Goodreads review by Bradley

A war in hell, for the fate of hell? What? Is this a Culture novel, one of huge Space Operatic dimensions, Ship Mega-Minds, nearly ascendant alien cultures and encroaching afterlifes? Wait. Afterlife? Sure! Virtual hells made for elephantine aliens with enormous virtual wars to take up their attention......more

Goodreads review by Manny

I was surprised to find that this book presents an almost perfect example of a philosophical problem that's been bothering me recently, to the extent that I even wrote a short paper about it. Briefly, and without giving away any spoilers, the core thread in Surface Detail is about the ethics of infl......more

Goodreads review by Apatt

Iain M. Banks was taken away from us too soon. He was a genius of prose, structure, characterization and all kinds of SFnal ideas (by all accounts his mainstream fiction – published under the name of Iain Banks with no M – is also so great). Reading Iain M. Banks is more challenging than most sci-fi......more