Look to Windward - Iain M. Banks

Advantages: brilliant plot, very readable
Disadvantages: can't put it down.

If you are one of these people who likes science fiction that is heavy on the plot and light on the techno-babble, Iain M Banks is undoubtedly the man for you. Lets start with some background then. Iain M Banks, is the cunning pseudonym of literary author Iain Banks (solves the problem of bookshops trying to list entirely different books in the same place.) In both his guises, he is a witty, dark and suprising author with a truly weird mind. You ...
...a dark alleyway! "Look to Windard" is one of his sci fi pieces. It's not the first in his culture series, but if you haven't read anything else from that set, you could cope perfectly well with this, it would stand alone. (I have read most of the others, but largely in the wrong order, and it doesn't hinder you too much.) The setting. If you are going to read any other Iain M Banks sci-fi first, read "Consider Phlebas" - the first of the culture ... Read review

Advantages: Good for three or four re-readings
Disadvantages: None

...Who can say ? Look to Windward is a jewel. There are great sense-of-wonder set pieces here. A whole 'orbital' as a backdrop, beautifully thought our megafauna, cleverly and sensitively drawn villain-species. All these combine to produce a science fiction classic. This is deceptive of course, because behind it all are recognisable themes and the villains are not really villains at all, no more than any Culture character has ever been a true 'hero'. ...
...it was deliberate, either way, Look to Windward reads like the first death knells for the Culture. As a science fiction novel, I genuinely could not fault this book. The pacing was good, the set pieces excellent, it was never formula, it had a twist or two and a lingering ending. For me, this was the best science fiction novel that I have read for many years. For all of its thoroughgoing science fiction themes, it actually broke out into the mainstream ... Read review

Advantages: good storytelling
Disadvantages: always wish they were thicker

After a whole (but dissconnected) series about the culture, we finally get to see them from the outside. As usual the story unfolds from several seemingly dissconnected parts, before finally assembling itself at the end. As with the last book those familliar with the Culture should read the first couple of chapters carefully as Banks is once again slipping the core of the plot past you with the skill of a matador or a magician.
For those who are ... Read review

Advantages: Excellent Culture novel
Disadvantages: Sometimes over-written

"Look to Windward" is a highly satisfying "Culture" novel from Iain Banks. There are believable characters, and a strong plot - a Chelgrian diplomat comes to the orbital Masaq', supposedly to convince a fellow Chelgrian to return to his homeworld, but in fact on a mission so secret that he has been artificially made to forget it. There are also some very impressive scenes in which the characters explore the orbital, giving Banks the opportunity to ...
...most though was the way Banks seems to be taking the Culture. So far, all these novels have been individual stories with a common background. It now seems to me that Banks has become interested in how the Culture will develop and evolve. Several times he refers to the Culture as decadent and even adolescent, and in this novel it is placed in the context of other, perhaps more mature empires. There is even a scene, many millennia afterwards, where ... Read review

Advantages: Great book, very enjoyable read
Disadvantages: Subplot detracts from the main action

...some excitement that I opened Look To Windward, his latest magnum-opus. I was not disappointed. The pyrotechnics of his earlier work have not disappeared, but they are more measured, developed and less hysterical than before. The vision of alien places and peoples is as bright and challenging as it ever was. But Look To Windward is a deeper, more rounded work than any of Bank's earlier efforts. The characters are drawn with a delicate empathy, and ...
...job of advising Banks on this. With a little more work, and a bit more detail in the main plot Look To Windward could have been a landmark in science fiction. As it is, it is a flawed masterpiece, but still a really good book, and Bank's best so far. ... Read review