Subject: Review: Banks' _Consider Phlebas_

From: [email-masked] (Paul S Jenkins)
Date: 03 Aug 1998 12:03:11 -0400

_Consider Phlebas_ by Iain M. Banks
	Review Copyright (c) 1998 Paul S. Jenkins

One of the questions that novice writers are told to ask is, "What's the
worst thing that could possibly happen to your main character?"  Banks has
obviously asked this question, and he answers it on the first page of
Chapter One.  _Consider Phlebas_ opens with the protagonist suspended in a
rapidly filling tank of ordure.  By the end of page two he's holding his
breath because the excrement has risen above his nose.

This is an all-action space opera. Bora Horza Gobuchul, a 'changer' able
to alter his physical appearance using a kind of metamorphic trance, takes
the side of the Idirans in their galactic war with the 'Culture.' It's not
long before nail-biting action sequences are relentlessly piling in, each
related in breathless but intricate detail.

I came to this novel, Banks' first book in the 'Culture' series, having
read only one other of his -- _Complicity_ -- written under his Iain Banks
identity, the missing middle initial indicating 'mainstream' rather than
SF. I wasn't sure what to expect, but whereas _Complicity_ uses some
unconventional techniques, _Consider Phlebas_ is -- with a few digressions
-- a straightforward single-viewpoint third-person narrative.

_Consider Phlebas_ introduces the Culture in some detail, but the passages
describing various aspects of it seem largely irrelevant to the plot.
Banks is obviously setting up his milieu for a series of sequels. In
appendices he gives details of the war, and the subsequent exploits of the
novel's survivors. The outcome for his main character is such that the
sequels are guaranteed to be different, not just more of the same.

The scope of the novel is vast, conjuring huge civilizations, humanoid
aliens, non-humanoid aliens, artificial intelligences, sentient
spacecraft, hyperspace, anti-gravity, and all manner of generally
acknowledged SF cliches. But Banks' handling of all these is so assured,
one just sits back and enjoys the ride. His style is direct, detailed and
transparent. At about 450 pages (not counting the appendices) the novel is
fairly long, but there's a lot in it. For its ingredients Banks has
borrowed from the best, and mixed a rich stew.  Highly recommended.

%A   Banks, Iain M.
%T   Consider Phlebas
%I   Orbit (Little, Brown)
%C   London
%D   1988 (copyright 1987)
%G   ISBN 1 85723 138 4
%P   471 pp.
%O   paperback, GBP 6.99