Subject: Against a Dark Background

From: [email-masked]
Date: 9 May 1994 19:00:44 GMT

I read with enjoyment two of Iain M. Banks' earlier works, THE PLAYER OF
GAMES and CONSIDER PHLEBAS.  Though both were written concerning the
same advanced space-faring civilization (the Culture), they differed
widely in tone and storyline.  AGAINST A DARK BACKGROUND is not a story
set in the Culture -- and that is only the beginning of the differences
between this work and the two previously mentioned.

Events here are not on the galaxy-spanning level of the Culture novels,
but on a much smaller scale.  We are taken to the planet Golter in the
Thrial system and introduced to a world that seems to be an
amalgamation of capitalism and litigation run amok.

The Golterians have over the countless millennia tried every conceivable
political system and found them all wanting.  They've discovered and
used technologies of almost unbelievable complexity only to disdain,
disregard, or prohibit them.  Nominally this is all overseen by the
World Court.  But underneath is a continual but seemingly pointless
struggle between various legal, financial, and religious entities.

One of these religious entities wants to repossess a weapon of antiquity
that they regard as an an irreplaceable religious icon; the Lazy Gun.
Failing this they want to kill the last living female member of the
family line they hold responsible for stealing it -- the Lady Sharrow.
This is ostensibly the crux of the matter; the Lady Sharrow must find
the last remaining Lazy Gun and return it to the Huhsz religious
fanatics before they find and kill her.

There are plenty of subplots, twists, and turns along the way.  There
are action scenes, sibling rivalries, political and social insights,
and various attempts at humor.  The Lazy Gun itself seems to pop right
out of a Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams slapstick scene.  And it
probably stands as a symbol of what is wrong with this work.

For there is something wrong.  The novel doesn't rise to the levels
Banks has set in his other novels.  Within the first 75 pages I found I
was treading water just waiting for it to get better.  Before the end
of the book I was turning pages simply to find out how it ended; there
was little in the writing itself that gave pleasure.

The Prologue starts out in the usual Banks style, but it is probably
the highlight of the book. After those first six pages it's all
downhill.  I can see the skeleton of the story and its similarities to
Banks' other works, but it's as if he handed that skeleton to a
different, less talented writer to flesh out.  There are many often
pointless flashbacks that give the story a disjointed feel.  There are
whimsical attempts at humor, like the Lazy Gun, that just seem out of
place.  And the whole novel runs along willy-nilly lacking a cohesive
vision.

I wouldn't recommend this book. If you've enjoyed Banks' previous
novels you'll be disappointed.  If you haven't read anything by Banks,
don't start with this novel.  It could turn you away from a writer who
has written several excellent novels.

%A  Banks, Iain M.
%T  Against a Dark Background
%I  Bantam Spectra
%C  New York
%D  1993
%G  ISBN 0-553-29225-0
%O  paperback, US$4.99