Wow! This has taken me 23 hours of listening. It's a massive book, spanning the galaxy. The premise is that (1) The Culture is the most civilised of the advanced civilisations and generally gets what it wants done, (2) there is a series of "virtual hells" in which souls are tormented, but as they are virtual they could be switched on or off, and, (3) there is a war going on to agree whether these virtual hells even exist at all, and of course it is a virtual war done according to pre-agreed rules among the combatants. Set against this, Lejara is an indentured slave, every detail of her body being tattoo'd in intricate and beautiful patterns. That's at every level, her skin, her blood vessels, her bronchii, even her DNA. Don't ask me how. Her "owner" is the evil tyrant (aren't they all?) Veppers and out to make a quick tiillion any way he can. As the novel starts, he murders Lejara, but fortunately her soul has been recorded and it is reimplanted (revented) into a new "blank" body. She sets out for revenge, travelling across the galaxy, aided by a rogue Culture ship. Whether she gets her revenge, what happens to the tyrant Veppers, what his plans are, what happens to the hells - I'm not going to spoil this for you. What I would say is that (a) this isn't the novel to read as your first SF story - it's hardened SF for hardened SF nerds and (b) the reading was excellent and if you can download if from Audible, I'd strongly recommend you do so. 8.5/10 Too many storylines which only come together very late, and even then only tangentially for some. They are also uncomfortably broken by a much too large number of pages. The book holds a high number of descriptive passages, which to me seem to carry an explicative function rather than acting as mood setters. Banks enjoys holistic contemplation and wants the reader to partake as well.There are individual strands of the story which would make great standalone books. I would have enjoyed to be allowed to get attached to and immerse myself in the stories of Prin & Chay and the Hells, the saga of Lededje, the very interesting Nsokyi and the intriguing Quietus service. But all these seem too disparate and do not aggregate well for the reader, as they all come with their own atmosphere.
What do You think about Surface Detail (2010)?
Loved all the plot sections but felt the ending was a little rushed.
—nurzahirahs
Loved it. Only 1 to go as I 'think' I havent read Transition
—jess
