... That's not really a full description, I know, but if you really wanted that you should go read the book!
The 'real world' in Feersum Endjinn is centred on the Serehfa Fastness - a giant proportioned castle (rooms are several kilometres wide) that was once the Earth-site of a space elevator. ... Read review
In a future where the ancients have long since departed Earth for the stars, those left ... more
behind live complacent lives filled with technological marvels they no longer understand. Then a cosmic threat known as the Encroachment begins a devastating ice ...
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In a future where the ancients have long since departed Earth for the stars, those left ... more
behind live complacent lives filled with technological marvels they no longer understand. Then a cosmic threat known as the Encroachment begins a devastating ice ...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
In a future where the ancients have long since departed Earth for the stars, those left ... more
behind live complacent lives filled with technological marvels they no longer understand. Then a cosmic threat known as the Encroachment begins a devastating ice ...
Postage & Packaging: refer to website Availability: Check Site.
Advantages: Iain Banks' usual quality, good story Disadvantages: about a quarter of the book is written phonetically - gets a bit annoying
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The 'real world' in Feersum Endjinn is centred on the Serehfa Fastness - a giant proportioned castle (rooms are several kilometres wide) that was once the Earth-site of a space elevator. The real technology behind it has been lost before the staging of this book, so consequently the Serehfa has become fairly mysterious. This works well for the reader, as we also see only the strangeness of this relic, without understanding what has gone before. ... ...and leads to rather convenient unexplained technology just left lying around for use. Still, the setting is unusual and well described.
Once again, Banks has employed the style of writing each chapter from a different character's viewpoint. Unlike Walking On Glass, the different strands are set in the same world, and the links become obvious much earlier on. Still, at the beginning they read as fairly disparate tales, weaved together ... more
Imagine this: you find yourself thrown into an unknown body of water. You splash around for a bit, enjoying the swim. Eventually, you find an edge and start feeling you way around to try to determine where you are. Perhaps by the time you climb out you've managed to map out the boundaries, or at least enough to give you a good impression of what exactly you've been splashing around in. Either way, it's still been quite a nice swim.
Now, instead of water, say you've been paddling about in words and imagery. The edges you've been trying to grasp are an Iain Banks novel.
Welcome to the world of Serehfa Fastness. Please keep your hands and feet inside the boat, as your guide, Mr. Banks, takes you on a tour of this strange world and into the lives of a few of its inhabitants. Marvel at the spectacle as, through the wonders of the Crypt, you can see the world and beyond through another's eyes. What's that, sir? The encroachment? Oh, don't worry - there's plenty to see and do before we have to worry about the world ending...
Okay, I think reading an entire review like that would get tiresome, so I'll stop. Plus, this is a good place to warn some people to not read any further. I'm not going to give any of the plot away, but I am going to describe a few of those poolside edges.
First off, this is NOT a culture novel. Instead, we find ourselves still on planet Earth, albeit some time in the far distant future. How distant? Well, lets just say you and I would be in with the 'ancients' of this novel - now, don't you feel old? :)
The action takes place in two important locations: first, there's the crypt. This is sort of a virtual-reality, Matrix-like world. Almost everyone has implants to allow them to 'surf' the crypt, or a personality-copy can be made and exist independently within the computer realm - either in human or chimeric (i.e., part animal) form. There's also some kind of independent thought, some AI, going on with the crypt, but quite what is all part of the plot. That's not really a full description, I know, but if you really wanted that you should go read the book!
The 'real world' in Feersum Endjinn is centred on the Serehfa Fastness - a giant proportioned castle (rooms are several kilometres wide) that was once the Earth-site of a space elevator. The real technology behind it has been lost before the staging of this book, so consequently the Serehfa has become fairly mysterious. This works well for the reader, as we also see only the strangeness of this relic, without understanding what has gone before. It is, however, a rather over-used device in my opinion, and leads to rather convenient unexplained technology just left lying around for use. Still, the setting is unusual and well described.
Once again, Banks has employed the style of writing each chapter from a different character's viewpoint. Unlike Walking On Glass, the different strands are set in the same world, and the links become obvious much earlier on. Still, at the beginning they read as fairly disparate tales, weaved together quite skilfully as the story progresses. I have no complaints with the technique here: it works well, perhaps because the chapters are kept short enough that you don't forget too much of where the last instalment from a particularly character was left off. It keeps the tension high, as most chapters are paused at a fairly dramatic moment - again, it could have been annoying, but it works well.
The drama comes from various (initially) unexplained events; one character wakes up as if just born, another dies repeatedly (did I mention everyone has eight reincarnations?) in quick succession, while a third receives a strange message from some stones of scientific importance. The fourth main storyteller is looking for a talking ant. Hmm... Well, you can't accuse Banks of being unoriginal! As for situational drama, well, there’s a war going on between the King and the clan of Engineers, and oh yeah, the world might be about to end because of the Encroachment – from what I can make out, it’s an interstellar dust cloud starting to block out the stars and sun, causing an ice age. Although, I might be wrong about that…
A few words about that fourth character. Going by the name of Bascule, he's a young lad on his first incarnation who has, shall we say, a slight problem with English. Really, I should have guessed from the title - 'Feersum Endjinn' is, of course, 'Fearsome Engine' as Bascule would write it. Unfortunately, all of this characters segments are written phonetically in this way, and to say it's a tad annoying would be an understatement. At first, I found it fairly unintelligible, but you do kind of get the hang of it after a while. I still found myself having to say some of the 'words' aloud to figure out what it was supposed to mean, a couple of times I realised I'd been wrong, and mostly it slowed me down a lot. I'm sure there was a reason Iain Banks was allowed to publish a novel partly written like this ('cos he's successful, perhaps?), but quite frankly, it's not big and it's not clever over ten chapters. Am nun 2 amusd, as Bascule might put it.
That aside - and I suppose it does make for an unusual feature - this is a good book. Banks has a gift for both describing his strange locations, and for storytelling, which is what it's all about, really. I did feel a bit let down by the ending - it's all just summed up rather quickly by one of the characters, rather than describing any more of the action. But all in all, I quite enjoyed my swim.
Advantages: A superb experiment and a great read. Disadvantages: Can be hard going in places.
OK, you'll have to bear with me on the title for a paragraph or four...
Now, I'm rating this book highly, because I loved it. I am, I must admit, an Iain M Banks fan (Although I can't stand his non-Sci/Fi work) and I may not have persisted in my efforts with this title had I not already added Mr Banks to my "Sci/Fi COT." It is ODD!
This is a basically very simple story of a period in the life of a planet which once had an advanced and technological ... ...monarchy, and a distinct lack of technology beyond a few badly understood remnants of the past.
A mystery develops... The "Encroachment" is upon them, and without the old technology, the planet will clearly be destroyed... But strange things are stirring, for a start, the standing stones aren't standing still any more! Journeys take place, then at the end of the book, the mystery is over... Simple and very readable... In fact it sounds just a bit ...
one47 08.08.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Feersum Endjinn - Iain M. Banks
Advantages: Good read Disadvantages: Phonetics can be hard to read
A much mis-understood book; a lot of people do not have the time for it, and the patience to go through it all.
It is written from a number of viewpoints incuding a king, an engineer, and a young boy. Each chapter is separated into 4 sections, one by each (although for reasons certain viewpoints change). One such section is always written by Bascule, the little boy, who writes everything phonetically. While it looks tricky, it is easy to pick up ... ...I spent 20 minutes trying to dechipher.
The story is average, the regular quest for a sci-fi enhanced truth about the past or such-like, however the writing is EXCELLENTLY done, and the phonetic approach is both brave and original.
If you've read Iain M. Banks' other books, you'll enjoy this, and if you haven't, why not take a leap and try it out. ...
MaxD 30.08.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Feersum Endjinn - Iain M. Banks
Advantages: everything in the whole world Disadvantages: none
Bank's kicks ass, this book blew me away, absolutely and incredibly to another planet ... earth in the future. Banks is absolutely the most imaginative man on earth, never before has a book taken me to an alien future so messed up and so creative as this one. Starting with a birth from nowhere, a naked lady waking up for the first time and assimilating her surroundings, her capacity to think, to see, to talk and understand. Baskill the teller, a ... ...(though difficuult at first) dialect of english and who has a pet ant as a friend, who can also interact with the matrix which is physically implanted in the walls, floors and ceilings of all that is around him in the physical world, count sessine, reborn nine times on a voyage into the matrix to find the truth .... this is just incredible stuff.... I'll never forget the bit with Asura in the fairytale tower, the prince who came to take her away ...
ianexcession 07.08.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Feersum Endjinn - Iain M. Banks
Advantages: A Banks' novel Disadvantages: Banks' worst novel
...name Iain Banks. Feersum Endjinn is partially written in first person phonetics. Because of this (example: we twisted & dropt like thi thing cuden cary me) it is extremely difficult to read.
Persistence with the novel reveals a good story concerning evolving network intelligence but the disadvantages far outweight the advantages so much so that I cannot recommend this book to anyone except ardent Banks' fans.
The novel is also far shorter than ...
markos3 24.08.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Feersum Endjinn - Iain M. Banks
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Advantages: Twisted, black humour, very weird and very funny Disadvantages: The twist isn't special, and it's not suitable for kids!
, like the Clockwork Orange of its day. That would explain a lot of the disgust. These days, it probably doesn't seem so bad, although I'll leave that up to you to decide!
Don't have nightmares!
You can buy The Wasp Factory by IainBanks on www.amazon.co.uk for £6.39. It is also available in Audiobook format, read by the brilliant Peter Capaldi, for £7.25 (also www.amazon.co.uk).
Other works of fiction by IainBanks include:
Walking On Glass
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Canal Dreams (I've read this too, it's not as good as The Wasp Factory)
The Crow Road
Complicity
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FeersumEndjinn
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Product Information for "Feersum Endjinn - Iain M. Banks" »
Product details
Type
Fiction
Genre
Science Fiction
Title
Feersum Endjinn
Author
Iain M. Banks
ISBN
0553374591; 1857232356; 1857232739
Manufacturer's product description
In the penultimate year before the Encroachment, the dimming sun still shines on the cloud-high weathered walls of Serehfa Fastness. On the day the Count Sessine dies for the final time, the chief scientist to the clan Accounts/Privileges receives a summons from the office of the High Sortileger. See all Product Description
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