Orbit 1988 paperback, £6.99

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 civilisations, 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.

Copyright © 1998 Paul S. Jenkins

Note: This review originally appeared in the Usenet Newsgroup rec.arts.sf.reviews, and has been archived at: http://sf.www.lysator.liu.se/sf_archive/