A brand new Culture novel from the UK's leading SF writer - always the biggest annual event in British SF.
The new Culture novel from one of the most exciting science fiction writers of modern times - a tour de force of storytelling, world-building and imagination.
It is, truly, provably, the End Days for the Gzilt civilization.
An ancient people, they helped set up the Culture ten thousand years earlier and were very nearly one of its founding societies, deciding not to join only at the last moment. Now they've made the collective decision to follow the well-trodden path of millions of other civilizations; they are going to Sublime, elevating themselves to a new and almost infinitely more rich and complex existence.
Amidst preparations though, the Regimental High Command is destroyed. Lieutenant Commander (reserve) Vyr Cossont appears to have been involved and she is now wanted - dead, not alive.
Aided only by an ancient, reconditioned android and a suspicious Culture avatar, Cossont must complete her last mission given to her by the High Command - find the oldest person in the Culture, a man over nine thousand years old, who might have some idea what really happened all that time ago. Cossont must discover the truth before she's exiled from her people and her civilization forever - or just plain killed.
About the Author
Iain Banks came to widespread and controversial public notice with the publication of his first novel, THE WASP FACTORY, in 1984. He has since gained enormous popular and critical acclaim for both his mainstream and his science fiction novels.
Industry Reviews
"This is an engrossing novel of ideas ornamented by fantastically cinematic set-pieces."-- The Guardian (UK) "Surface Detail is the type of widescreen space adventure we've come to expect from Banks, full of elaborate games, spellchecker-busting names, salty dialogue and, above all, a thrilling sense of the limitless scope SF affords an author's imagination."-- Financial Times (UK) "Banks' labyrinthine and devious ninth Culture space opera novel...adeptly shifts perspective between vast concepts and individual passions."-- Publishers Weekly "One of Banks' best Culture novels to date."-- Booklist on The Hydrogen Sonata "One of Banks' best Culture novels to date." "Booklist on The Hydrogen Sonata"" "Incomparable entertainment, with fascinating and highly original characters, challenging ideas and extrapolations, and dazzling action...sheer delight." Kirkus Reviews" "The Culture, the post-scarcity, hedonistic, Machiavellian, libertarian, arse-kicking science-fiction society created by the late Iain M. Banks...one of the most enduring and endearing visions of the future." The Guardian" "Banks's charming prose and the scale of his imagination continue to delight Culture vultures." SFX" "It's fantastically good fun that throws in some big ideas about life, the universe and everything, and like the unabashed leftie that he is, Banks manages to get in there a few sizable shots at unthinking, dogmatic religiosity for good measure." SciFi Now" "One of Banks' best Culture novels to date." Booklist on The Hydrogen Sonata" "This rich, sweeping panorama of heroism and folly celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Culture, Banks's far-future semi-utopian society.... The action tumbles along at a dizzying pace, bouncing among a fascinating array of characters and locales. It's easy to see why Banks's fertile, cheerfully nihilistic imagination and vivid prose have made the Culture space operas bestsellers and award favorites." Publishers Weekly" "Scotland-resident Banks' Culture yarns, the science-fiction equivalent of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, brim with wit and wisdom, providing incomparable entertainment, with fascinating and highly original characters, challenging ideas and extrapolations, and dazzling action seamlessly embedded in a satirical-comedy matrix."-- "Kirkus Reviews" Praise for Surface Detail: "Banks' ability to combine humor and horror, the cosmic and the human, as he builds an action-packed story on a moral framework, as well as his wonderfully original characters and, of course, the lavish descriptions of weapons and spaceships, makes "Surface Detail" all you could ask for in a space opera. Nobody does it better."-- Times (UK)
