... You almost certianly wouldn't want to meet this man's psyche in 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 review
When using that middle initial M., Iain Banks writes grand space opera combining galactic ... more
scope with twisty, tricky probes into the darkest secrets of human and other minds. Look to Windward revisits the utopian but ruthless interstellar Culture introd...
Postage & Packaging: refer to website Availability: Check Site.
When using that middle initial M., Iain Banks writes grand space opera combining galactic ... more
scope with twisty, tricky probes into the darkest secrets of human and other minds. Look to Windward revisits the utopian but ruthless interstellar Culture introd...
Postage & Packaging: refer to website Availability: Free!
When using that middle initial M., Iain Banks writes grand space opera combining galactic ... more
scope with twisty, tricky probes into the darkest secrets of human and other minds.Look to Windwardrevisits the utopian but ruthless interstellar Culture introduc...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
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 ... ...man's psyche in 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 ... more
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 almost certianly wouldn't want to meet this man's psyche in 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 novels, which will give you some background for the plot. It's the only one that will give you much additional insight. In case you don't want to read this one, here's a bit about the backdrop for the book.
The Culture are a technologically advanced space fairing race. They are agressively liberal, to the point of interfering with other civilizations in order to encourage greater liberalism. Culture people are humanoid - basically human. They have glands that give them access to interesting drugs, they can back themselves up in case they die, they have lots of sex, and can change gender. Most culture people live for about four hundred years. Some of them live on planets, but most live on orbitals - these are huge man made bracelet like things that orbit suns. The Culture have hugely advanced AIs - Minds, who run most of the daily stuff and can be quite eccentric (but seldom as sinister as advanced computers have tended to be in sci-fi novels). By most standards, the Culture are decadent - they don't work, they do much as they please and most of them just live for pleasure. Occasionally soemthing will come along that forces them into action, and it is these more critical moments that banks tends to explore.
So, "Look to Windward" is set on an orbital called Masaq, where a composer from another civilization, a Chelgrian (furry, extra leg, caste system) has taken up residence. The composer has abandoned his own people as he detestes the cast system. He is writing a piece to be played during the time when the destruction of two stars (from the war in "Consider Phlebas") will be visible. meanwhile, another Chelgrian called Quilan is on his way to Masaq, ostensibly to persuade the composer to come home. It soon becomes clear that thre is a far more sinister plot underway, involving a cast war, heavan, and a collection of gigantic beings who are covered in flora. To tell you much more would be to spoil the plot.
For anyone familiar with Culture novels, this one isn't too dark - about on a par with "Excession". The settings are visually stunning, and occasionally conceptually challenging. The plot keeps you reading - I got through this book in just a few days, couldn't put it down. Curious thing about Bnaks is that he tends to start his books in the middle, and you find yourself going back and forward through time. It can take a while to work out how the chronology fits together - always an interesting challenge and always adds to the suspense in the plot.
I heartily recomend this as an excellent read - I enjoyed it, and I think it's well worth a go.
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 ...
Saturn 11.08.2001 (28.11.2001)
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Look to Windward - Iain M. Banks
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 ...
Ceebs 14.08.2000
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Look to Windward - Iain M. Banks
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 ...
NeilHudson 27.01.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Look to Windward - Iain M. Banks
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. ...
Bluecat 24.08.2000
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Look to Windward - Iain M. Banks
Advantages: A story of epic proportions Disadvantages: The book can sometimes get lost in its own complexity
...the universe of the 'Culture', Look to Windward is based around the encounters of a multitude of characters as they await a space-station mind's celebrations to mark the anniversary of a great genocide. Although the story starts slowly, the level of detail and pure pleasure associated with life on the space-station keep the reader interested. As the characters, a mix of diplomats, assassins and composers, begin to swing from system to system, the ... ...are literally unimaginable then sample Look to Windward. It is however an epic book, a space opera rather than what I like to call 'normal' stories (drama, crime, love etc.) set in space, therefore perhaps one to avoid for the casual sci-fi reader.
I hope you enjoy a book which I have read again and again. ...
tibejw 24.02.2007
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Look to Windward - Iain M. Banks
Similar products and search queries by other users »
Look Banks, Look to Banks, Look Windward Banks, Look Iain Banks, Look M Banks, Look to Windward Banks, Look to Iain Banks, Look to M Banks, Look Windward Iain Banks, Look Windward M Banks, Look Iain M Banks, Look to Windward Iain Banks, Look to Windward M Banks, Look to Iain M Banks, Look Windward Iain M Banks
Are you the manufacturer / provider of Look to Windward - Iain M. Banks? Click here
