I've only read one Banks (Consider Phlebas) and two Hamiltons (Fallen Dragon, A Second Chance at Eden) so my opinion may not count for much but, while I liked all three books to some extent, I preferred all but one chapter of Banks' novel to Hamilton's and intend to read more Banks and, other than maybe additional shorter works/collections, don't intend to read any more Hamilton. I agree with Grunkins if he means "scope" in the sense of "coverage" rather than "concept". Hamilton seems to be a kitchen-sink novelist meaning that Fallen Dragon basically said everything it could possibly say about its protagonist (including lesser storylines) and its major storyline. It wasn't so much that any particular part was too long-winded, but that there wasn't much selection. Whereas Banks had, I think, three extended set pieces which really were too long but I hope that problem is corrected in later books - and, aside from that, he selected his material better. I also found Hamilton to be imaginative and "wide-screen" but Banks seems equally wide-screen and much more colorful and quirky and has a more "fun" (not "frivolous") imagination, for the most part. Banks has a way of making things very vivid in a way that sticks in the mind while Hamilton was less vivid. That said, Hamilton has some nice touches in his shorter work so it wouldn't surprise me if some of his other novels were more interesting. But Fallen Dragon was just really too little bang for word-count buck.
And I agree with clovis-man - I've also only read two Ashers (Gridlinked, The Engineer Reconditioned) and I think five Reynolds and I'd put both of them above Hamilton. Not sure where they relate with Banks yet. And I always mention Baxter's Xeelee stuff in this context, which I'd put above them all, I think.
IOW, all of these authors have more stuff sitting in the closest of my TBR piles except Hamilton and I'm probably most looking forward to Baxter, then maybe Banks or Asher, and then probably Reynolds.
) far more than Banks. I didn't enjoy the Knights Dawn books nearly as much; in fact, had I read them before the Commonwealth books, I might never have gone on to read any more of his work. Banks' books (which I also love) are not short but are a lot shorter than Hamilton's and generally more accessible; I would recommend The Player of Games as a starter book (the reading order of the Culture books is generally unimportant). For other 'serious' modern SF authors I would also consider Neal Asher, whom I also love.
