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Banks’ first ‘Culture’ novel is his first foray into the world of science-fiction. Those of you who are observant, and are browsing “Books by Author” will have noticed an Iain Banks and an Iain M. Banks in the author list. Although these are the same person, this is intentional, and at the author’s behest. He writes regular fiction using the former name, science-fiction using the latter.
Consider Phlebas is the story of part of the war between a race of humanoids called The Culture, and a race of three-legged immortal warriors called the Idirans. The Culture have become a decadent society, with machines to do all the work, and all materials in plentiful supply. They survive by engendering a feeling of having a purpose, and to this end have ‘helped’ less-well-developed species come on. It’s rather like the influence of the Vorlons in the TV series Babylon 5, or the opposite of the Prime Directive in Star Trek. Conversely, the Idirans are a religious people, who have taken it upon themselves to convert the entire galaxy to their way of life. These two aims met and confronted, but not over a particular piece of territory, more their very existence in the universe. The Culture-Idiran war resulted in massive bloodshed, and both sides periodically forgot why they were fighting.
Consider Phlebas focuses on a lost Culture “Mind” (a super-powerful sentient computer), which fled in a partially-constructed spaceship from a Culture War Factory that was under attack. The Idirans want to capture the Mind to study it and use it, and the Culture simply want it back. The Mind fled to a ‘dead planet’, which although uninhabited, is protected by a powerful force, and this prevents any ordinary person from going in to recover it. Only members of the “Changer” race are allowed onto the planet, and so we open (post-prologue) with the Iridians recruiting a Changer to go get the Mind. The book then falls into a narrative pattern, following the Changer through his trials and tribulations, occasionally venturing to different scenarios, tracking different people through the story arc. There are, for example, trips to a Culture Orbital and discussions with Culture thinkers, as the book explains the Culture’s role in the war, and their efforts to recover the lost Mind.
Our Changer hero falls in with a ship of space pirates, and follows them around the galaxy, quietly earning their trust and learning their ways. He attends a game of ‘damage’, which is played in places that are about to be exterminated, and for very high stakes, including the lives of the players. Eventually he takes control of the ship from the existing captain (by killing him and then emulating him), and we go to the dead world.
Consider Phlebas is very much a thriller, and a page-turner, egging the reader on further and further through the story. Banks’ trademark descriptive style is plentiful, and his conception of distant worlds, races and cultures is truly remarkable.
The book builds to a climactic finish, and is on the whole very enjoyable to read. But there’s something missing. Perhaps it’s because I’ve read the much later Look to Windward, which is so much better, in all respects, that Consider Phlebas seems a bit rough in comparison. It’s almost as if Banks’ science-fiction authoring has improved immensely over the intervening years, and that since I’ve read a 2001 version, the 1988 version is on the primitive side. At any rate, whilst Consider Phlebas was good, it wasn’t fantastic, and so gets…
7/10
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