What I Like About the Culture (So Far...)

Today I finished reading my fourth Culture novel (Iain M. Banks,) and rather than review every single one, (I reviewed Use of Weapons a while ago,) I decided to make a quick list of things I like about the series and that SF fanatics would enjoy.

Awesome things about the Culture:

- Highly imaginative environments that traverse a multitude of territories including space, oceans, catacombs, biological environments within behemoth creatures, cities, towns etc.
- Brilliance of characters that develop alongside their respective antagonists, often blurring the good/evil line like any good story.
- Accurate technological explanations that are scientifically sound enough for the realist, yet subverted enough to allow for tonnes of imagination and for the unrealistic to take root (especially on subjects such as interstellar gravity effects on celestial bodies.)
- Comical dialogue between various sentient beings and species, as well as with near-sentient robotic characters.
- Complex story-lines that deal with often relatable circumstances as far as real-world politics is concerned that make their respective protagonists even more relatable.
- Dazzling technology that just adds to the cool factor of the novels!

Culture Novels- Order of Publication:

Consider Phlebas (1987)
The Player of Games (1988)
Use of Weapons (1990)
The State of The Art (1991)
Excession (1996)
Inversions (1998)
Look to Windward (2000)
Matter (2008)
Surface Detail (2010)
The Hydrogen Sonata (2012)

*As a quick note, having finished Look to Windward (2000) don't read that particular novel first because it practically serves as a sequel to the first novel Consider Phlebas (1987.)

*Look out for other SF titles from Banks that aren't necessarily set in the Culture!

The Culture Novels: A Selection