Consider Phlebas - Iain M. Banks

Consider Phlebas (Culture #1) – Iain M. Banks

The war raged across the galaxy. Billions had died, billions more were doomed. Moons, planets, the very stars themselves, faced destruction, cold-blooded, brutal, and worse, random. The Idirans fought for their Faith; the Culture for its moral right to exist. Principles were at stake. There could be no surrender.

Within the cosmic conflict, an individual crusade. Deep within a fabled labyrinth on a barren world, a Planet of the Dead proscribed to mortals, lay a fugitive Mind. Both the Culture and the Idirans sought it. It was the fate of Horza, the Changer, and his motley crew of unpredictable mercenaries, human and machine, actually to find it, and with it their own destruction.

My Review of Consider Phelbas

I love a good sci-fi. Something to get me out of this world and into the universe for a while. And although this was a solidly good read. I guess I was expecting more from what has been dubbed by many as the best sci-fi series of all time.

I read this one as part of a youtube culture series read-along I am doing with Moid and his followers on Media Death Cult (awesome channel, check it out if you are a sc-fi fan!) and I did a bit of research leading up to this one. Many people say it is the worst of The Culture series. That it is more of a space-opera rather than a hardcore sci-fi, and that it lacks the substance of the remaining books. Some people even go as far as to say you should not start this series by reading this one even though it was the first one published. The Culture series are mostly all stand-alone books so can theoretically be read in any order, but I am a stickler for reading things from the beginning.

It just fell flat a little for me. There were some great things about it and some not-so-great. So I am going to change from my normal review formatting style and use some bullet points for a change. And I’m going to start with the things I didn’t enjoy:

Consider Phlebas – The Bad

I originally purchased the audio version. Although I didn’t mind the narrator too much, I found that I was distracted from the storyline VERY easily. Even the mundane tasks of washing the dishes (our dishwasher broke down OMG) and hanging out the clothes did not allow me to cling to every word unfortunately. So I sent it back in favour of the kindle version.
There were some LONG SLOW parts. More than I would have liked to be honest, even the action scenes were not particularly exciting.
I didn’t warm to the characters very well.
How it ended. Well let’s just say I wont be expecting a happy endings in the next books!

Consider Phlebas – The Good

The premise. WOW I can see that there is going to be so much more to this universe and all the different technologies and politics. I absolutely loved the culture/Idirians conflict and am excited to see where it goes and who the good-guys actually are!
I loved the weird tangents it goes on! The section where Horza is captured by the strange cult was one of the highlights of the book for me.
The writing was great. Easy to read, even through the slow parts.
A good introduction and teaser for what is to come I hope.

Would I recommend Consider Phlebas?

I don’t know yet. As a total stand alone it was a little flat, but as an intro to a universe in a series, it shows a lot of promise. I will be able to give a better rationale behind my recommendation after I have read a few more to get a wider perspective.

(3 / 5)