Consider Phlebas - Ian M. Banks

Once a month or so I'll try to review a book from the annals of the genres.  This time I decided to give Ian M. Banks a shot with his first Culture novel Consider Phlebas.  I decided on this particular novel because Orbit, in their infinite wisdom (ok, so I like Orbit) was offering it in eBook format for $.99.  Orbit has made a habit of offering very popular author's first books in an effort to whip up new readers.  It works and it's another example of how eBooks are changing the market.  It may be apparent by now, but I read eBooks exclusively except when I'm working on advanced reading copies.

Banks has long been discussed as one of the better science fiction writers in the business - not to mention a very successful mainstream author as well.  I had high expectations going into the novel, and to be honest I came away disappointed.  Phlebas read like a collection of short stories that were turned into a novel.

Many of the other reviews out there (and there are many given Consider Phlebas was published over 20 years ago) react negatively to parts of the novel that are gratuitous.  Case in point, the opening scene consists of the main character chained to a wall in a room being filled with sewage.  The novel has cannibalism, senseless murder, and not one likable character.  However, none of these issues are problematic for me.  Having read some of the more edgy or nihilistic entrants into the scifi/fantasy genre in recent years I've become accustomed to not being able to like the main character.  I've become accustomed to being offended or disturbed by what I'm reading.  What I have not become accustomed to is poor storytelling and that is where Consider Phlebas falls short.

The plot is a simple one.  A war rages between the Idrians, a tripedal alien race intent on spreading their religious doctrine throughout the galaxym, and the Culture, a human/machine coalition.  Horza, our shapeshifting humanoid main character, is an agent of espionage for the Idrians.  When a Culture Mind (think a sentient spaceship) goes missing after a space battle, Horza is sent to find it and plumb its secrets for the Idrian war effort.

From the opening scene to the last scene there is very little that holds the various adventures of Horza together.  A series of random events take place to bring Horza to where he wants to go.  The reader is told what that goal is in the opening chapters, but then for the next 250 pages Horza makes no progress toward that goal.  Characters die (that the reader is given no reason to be attached to), Horza gets himself into tough situations, he gets out - but the plot doesn't progress at anything resembling a compelling pace.

It's not all bad.  The worldbuilding is tremendous.  There are times when scenes hit just the right note.  In fact, despite how much I struggled through Consider Phlebas, I will read future Culture novels.  I think there's a lot of potential in the world he's created and for all the problems with the storytelling, Banks is a good wordsmith.   I would not recommend the novel to others, and especially not to new readers in the genre, but it hasn't turned me off to Banks either.