Excession by Iain M. Banks

[Werthead]

Excession by Iain M. Banks

Thousands of years ago, the Culture encountered an Outside Context Problem. A perfectly black sphere materialised out of nowhere next to a trillion-year-old sun from another universe. It did nothing and vanished. Now it has returned, and both the Culture and a hostile alien race known as the Affront are desperate to uncover its secrets.

Excession was originally published in 1996 and is the fourth novel in Iain M. Banks's Culture series. As with all of the Culture books, it is a stand-alone novel sharing only the same background and setting, with minimal references to the events of other books and no characters crossing over.

A plot summary of the novel makes it sound like Banks's version of a 'Big Dumb Object' book, a novel where the characters are presented with an enigmatic alien entity and have to deal with it (similar to Rendezvous with Rama or Ringworld). However, this isn't really what Excession is about. Instead, the novel operates on several different levels and uses the titular artifact as a catalyst for a more thorough exploration of the Culture and its goals, as well as a more human story about relationships and change.

Excession is the first book in the series to explore the Minds, the (mostly) benevolent hyper-advanced AIs which effectively run and rule the Culture (as both spacecraft and the hubs of the immense Orbital habitats). Previous novels had portrayed the Minds as god-like entities whose vast powers allowed the various biological species of the Culture to live peaceful lives of post-scarcity freedom. Aside from their whimsical sense of humour and tendency towards ludicrous names, the Minds had not been fleshed out much in the previous novels. Here they are front and centre as several groups of Minds attempt to deal with the Outside Context Problem, or Excession, and find themselves working at cross-purposes. One group of Minds appears to be involved in a conspiracy related to the object's previous appearance, whilst another is trying to flush them out. Another Mind appears to be operating on its own, enigmatic agenda. There are also Minds belonging to the Elench, an alien race closely aligned with the Culture but who may have different goals in mind in relation to this matter.

Banks depicts communications between the Minds as something between a telegram and an email, complete with hyperlink-like codes (in which can be found some amusing in-jokes). Following these conversations is sometimes hard work (especially remembering which ship belongs to which faction), but worth it as within them can be found much of the more subtle plotting of the novel.

The stuff with the Minds and with the alien Affront (think of the Hanar from Mass Effect but with the attitude and disposition of Klingons) is all great and somewhat comic in tone, but the book also has a serious side. Several human characters are dragged into the situation as well, and it turns out two of them have a past, tragic connection that one of the Minds is keen to exploit. It's rather bemusing that Banks drops in a terribly human drama into the middle of this massive, gonzoid space opera, but the juxtaposition is highly effective, giving heart to a story that otherwise could drown in its own epicness.

Excession (****½) is, as is normal with (early) Banks, well-written and engaging, mixing well-drawn characters (be they human, psychopathic floating jellyfish or Mind) with big SF concepts. The book's only downside is a somewhat anti-climactic (though rather clever) ending. The novel is available now in the UK and USA.

 

[TheTomG]

One of my favorite Banks books, love the Minds in it, the whole sense of humor he has, and love The Grey Area (to give it its polite name, not its not-so-polite nickname.)

 

[Sally Ann Melia]

Excession by Iain M Banks

Sally Ann Melia reviews Excession by Iain M Banks, a fantastic story pitting Culture ships one against the other, while in the middle are the most fun aliens you will ever meet the Affront.

I have read all the novels of Iain M Banks and I read Excession first in the year it was published in paperback in 1997, and I have reread this book several times since.

This is a Culture book, for those of you who may not be familiar with Iain M Banks, he created a great civilisation called The Culture. And though he never set put to write a Trilogy or a series, the universe he created was so popular he returned to it again and again. The full list counts ten titles: 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.

So Excession is #5 in the series. This is a fun book. This is a lot less dark than say Use of Weapons and certainly there is no tragedy as in Look to Windward. What we have is a straight forward adventure Genar-Hofoen who lives with the Affront and aggressive expanding civilisation and their bid to claim a space artifact called the Excession. This puts them in conflict with a number of AI or giant Artificial Intelligence machines called Minds who also want to have this artifact.

There's a lot of machine talk, space ships with outrageous names, and some seriously fun sports and outlandish games provided by the Affront which have all the entertainment value and high spirits as a bunch of battle-weary dwarfs on an extended stag night.

This one will make you smile, particularly the ending. Genar-Hofoen has a nice problem to solve. If you could have anything you wished for? What would it be?

 

[Allegra]

Re: Excession by Iain M Banks

This one will make you smile, particularly the ending.

You are absolutely right. The smile it left me lingered long. This is one of my favourites (which are many) of Mr. Banks. One of the things I like very much about his writing is his books' ending, so stylish, so touching and so tasteful, it makes you just sit there and savouring....

 

[picklematrix]

Gonna read excession soon. The first three were excellent.

 

[Rodders]

It has been a long while since I read this, but I do remember it being hugely enjoyable and I loved the idea that the Excession was interested in the Minds, but not the Humans that created them.

Time for a re-read, I think.

 

[Vertigo]

I've been thinking about a re-read of all his Culture books and indeed maybe all his SF books...

 

[BAYLOR]

I would love to see them do a Culture Tv series.

 

[Pyan]

I would love to see them do a Culture Tv series.

I can't think of anything I'd like less than an attempt at a Culture TV series.
I'd have to watch it, just to see what it was like, but I know it would just add to the long list of disappointments in the book-to-TV/film genre I've seen. To be honest, there's not that much room there, what with The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Golden Compass, I, Robot, The Bicentennial Man, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the 2005 Hitchhikers Guide, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, the Percy Jackson series, etc, etc...

I've been thinking about a re-read of all his Culture books and indeed maybe all his SF books.

Do it! I've read the whole Culture series again and again, and they're among the few books that I find as fresh on a re-read as the first time - there's continually bits that come as a "What?!" moment, and details that I can't recall ever having noticed before.

 

[Vertigo]

I can't think of anything I'd like less than an attempt at a Culture TV series.
I'd have to watch it, just to see what it was like, but I know it would just add to the long list of disappointments in the book-to-TV/film genre I've seen. To be honest, there's not that much room there, what with The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Golden Compass, I, Robot, The Bicentennial Man, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the 2005 Hitchhikers Guide, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, the Percy Jackson series, etc, etc...


Do it! I've read the whole Culture series again and again, and they're among the few books that I find as fresh on a re-read as the first time - there's continually bits that come as a "What?!" moment, and details that I can't recall ever having noticed before.

I've just re-loaded the first few onto my reader! So yes a re-read starting. I'll probably skip State of the Art as I just can't seem to get into short stories and I wasn't impressed on my first read of it. I really don't think the short story plays to Banks's best. I expect it will take a while as I'll be interleaving them with my on-going reading but I'm looking forward to it.

I'm not sure they would work all that well on TV. You'd loose a lot of the humour that relies on the printed word, such as the communications between the Minds.

 

[BAYLOR]

I can't think of anything I'd like less than an attempt at a Culture TV series.
I'd have to watch it, just to see what it was like, but I know it would just add to the long list of disappointments in the book-to-TV/film genre I've seen. To be honest, there's not that much room there, what with The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Golden Compass, I, Robot, The Bicentennial Man, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the 2005 Hitchhikers Guide, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, the Percy Jackson series, etc, etc...


Do it! I've read the whole Culture series again and again, and they're among the few books that I find as fresh on a re-read as the first time - there's continually bits that come as a "What?!" moment, and details that I can't recall ever having noticed before.

I just bout a copy of Excession. for $ 7.99 good price . Ive just read the firs few pages . Hm, interesting opening.