Look to Windward by Iain M Banks

[Sally Ann Melia]

I have read all of Iain M Banks books, and I read Look to Windward the year it was first published in paperback in 2001.

This is a Culture book. In fact more than that it is the fifth Culture book.

To recap The ten books of the Culture are: 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.

The story of Look To Windward is a story of Culture intervention that goes horribly wrong. And it is told from the viewpoint of one soldier, one Major Quilian who during the course of a very short civil war lost his one true love. And here;'s the twist, in the Civilisation of the Chel, from where Quilian originates death is no longer final. Individual can have most parts of their bodies regrown or rejuvenated, they can backup their entire being into a soul keeper, and they can also pass into a heaven where they live on in another form.

Only here's the rub: the Chel mate for life. Quilian's one and only love dies in a vicious unexpected battle, so suddenly, so completely that there is nothing, no potential body rebuild, no soul keeper, no after life. hence Quilians' despair. although despair is a word that falls a million times short of what he actually feels.

I won't say anymore about the story, and I have not given anything away that will spoil your enjoyment.

This is a melancholy tale of regret and mourning. But like a sad song on the radio it draws you in and enlightens and educates you in the darker side of life. I've always enjoyed reading and re-reading this because the characters are so beautifully drawn, and the despair of Quilian so heart-breaking.

Recommended

 

[Rodders]

This is a melancholy tale of regret and mourning. But like a sad song on the radio it draws you in and enlightens and educates you in the darker side of life. I've always enjoyed reading and re-reading this because the characters are so beautifully drawn, and the despair of Quilian so heart-breaking.

Recommended

Nicely put. It's been a while since i read it, but I really enjoyed this episode of the Culture. This book is very much of love, loss and regret. The sadness that Quil feels and the regret and sorrow that the orbital feels for it's part in the war. Another superb ending from IMB too.

 

[Vertigo]

My take:

Continuing my reread of Banks’ Culture books with number 7, Look to Windward, and also following reading of Caroti’s excellent Culture Series of Iain M Banks: A Critical Introduction. I originally gave this book four stars but am now inclined to up that to five. How much that is due to my reading of Caroti’s book I am not sure, but I certainly found many interesting points that I had previously glossed over.

In many ways Look to Windward ramps up the all the ethical dilemmas associated with the Culture. They have intervened in a younger civilisation (albeit one that has partially sublimed) which holds stubbornly to its horrendous caste-based inequalities, and their intervention has gone disastrously wrong resulting in a massive civil war with millions dead. Now the Culture wants to make reparations but the Chelgrians want revenge.

As always, the writing is excellent; characters well drawn though possibly some of the aliens are little more than humans with fur and claws or whatever other attributes they might have. The plot is typically Machiavellian with many twists and turns and, whilst the surprises are not really all that surprising, the route to them is paved with entertaining characters whose somewhat ambiguous allegiances help to keep the reader guessing.

There are, however, some particularly interesting features to Windward. The Chelgrians are the first time we have met a civilisation that has partially sublimed and, most unusually, whose sublimed are still in contact with the unsublimed members of their species. In fact they are not only in contact but actively involved, having created a real ‘heaven’ for the Chelgrian dead to match that of their religious past. It is also the first time we have actually met unsublimed civilisations that are older than the Culture. The Homomdans, who had been the Idirans’ mentors and even fought on their side against the Culture, who then lost (graciously) and now having friendly, if still slightly strained, relations with the Culture. And the strange Behmothaurs of the even stranger Airspheres; vastly long-lived sentients that may have (probably) been created artificially by one or more of the ‘Elder’ civilisations. And even the Chelgrians, though younger, have already achieved at least partial subliming. The point being that the Culture is effectively being compared with these alternative and, in this book, not always looking at its best in the comparison. Another intriguing aspect is that previous books have never spent as much time looking at the day-to-day life of ‘typical’ Culture citizens, focusing instead on the Culture interaction with other civilisations, usually in the form of interventions. And that focus shows some of the weaknesses of the Culture utopia with people choosing to participate in dangerous sports with no chance of rescue or backup of their minds.

I have found Windward to be an even better book than I had remembered doing more to flesh out my understanding of the Culture than, probably, any other single book in the series. I have thoroughly enjoyed my reread of it, possibly enhanced by my reading on Caroti’s critique book.

5/5 stars

 

[Rodders]

A beautiful novel, to be sure and one of my favourites.

I wonder if the Chelgrian Heaven (and possibly Hell) is maintained by Veppers?