Culture Series by Iain M Banks

The Culture Series (also known as the Culture Cycle) is a collection of science fiction novels by Iain M Banks. The stories all center around a utopia of various humanoid races called "The Culture" which is managed by a number ofvery advanced artificial intelligences.

The main running theme is the dilemma that the idealistic group faces when dealing with other civilisations that to not share the sames ideal, goals and sometimes exhibit very different behavior.

reviews in the series

The State of The Art

by Iain M Banks

The State of The Art is an anthology collection by Iain M Banks.

The State of The Art is a collection of eight stories with the story The State of The Art making up one hundred of the two hundred pages. As can be expected with Banks all of the stories are well written and interesting, but I will stick to the main story, not that the other stories aren't worth writing about, but The State of The Art is the most interesting.

Most of "The State..." takes place on (...

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reviewed on Thursday 25 January 2001

Look to Windward

by Iain M Banks

Look to Windward is a Culture series novel by the award winning author Iain M Banks.

To think that it has been nearly a year since I read any Banks last – not strange that I had to consume this one over a single weekend.

Sometimes a book is just so good, that it becomes hard to review properly, without reverting to long sentences overflowing with superlatives (which quickly becomes boring). I know that I've used this excuse before, but that doesn't make it less ...

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reviewed on Tuesday 01 August 2000

Use of Weapons

by Iain M Banks

Use of Weapons is a science fiction novel by the renown author Iain M Banks.

Buying Bank's Use of Weapons was a long shot - a friend had recommended the danish translation of Player of Games, but the (American) bookstore where I mail order most of my books didn't have PoG stocked, so I decided to try another Banks book (I have been wanting to read something by him, for quite some time, but just haven't gotten around to it).

Use of Weapons is about a mercenary w...

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reviewed on Tuesday 01 June 1999

Inversions

by Iain M Banks

Inversions is a Culture series novel by the noted British author Iain M Banks.

If I had to sum up Inversions with one word it would probably be "Different". It's released under Iain M. Banks which usually means that it's a Science Fiction story. You have to look really closely to find anything that by any stretch of definition can be called Science Fiction. I'm not saying that it isn't just that you have to look closely. There are some small references to The Culture, but ca...

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reviewed on Sunday 02 May 1999

The Player of Games

by Iain M Banks

The Player of games is a Culture series novel by the noted author Iain M Banks.

I've been looking for Player of Games (PoG) for quite some time now (it has been out of print for some years) but finally I got lucky and found it in Gatwick Airport - So the big question for me was whether or not it would live up to my expectations. It did - almost.

PoG isn't as strong a book as Use of Weapons and it isn't as funny and fast paced as Against A Dark Background, but it...

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reviewed on Saturday 01 May 1999

Excession

by Iain M Banks

Excession is a science fiction novel in the Culture series by the British author Iain M Banks.

I feel kind of ambiguous about this book – one thing is certain it will never be my banks favourite, but on the other hand it's a must read if you are interested in the Culture.

First of all I found it hard to follow, all too often I found myself in doubt as to who was who (or maybe what was what). There is a lot of characters in this book and all of them seem important...

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reviewed on Monday 01 March 1999