Call number
Series
Genres
Publication
Orbit (2000), Hardcover
Pages
352
Description
It was one of the less glorious incidents of the Idiran wars that led to the destruction of two suns and the billions of lives they supported. Now, 800 years later, the light from the first of those deaths has reached the Culture's Masaq' Orbital. A Chelgrian emissary is dispatched to the Culture.
Media reviews
Banks writes with a sophistication that will surprise anyone unfamiliar with modern science fiction. He begins in medias res, introducing characters, places and events that are not explained in detail until many pages later. [...] The deus ex machina ending will strike some as too easy. But as in
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all good fiction, what's important in Banks's work is the subtext, which I take to be the idea that freedom is both necessary and dangerous, and that only by imagining the unimaginable, both in ourselves and others, can we hope to remain free. Show Less
.. he is not afraid to to ponder the implications of his flash-bang spectaculars. He examines the fine distinction between hedonism (what the Culture thinks it practises) and decadence (what many others perceive), as well as the responsibilities that come with immeasurable power. An enjoyable romp
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is overlaid with tragedy as he rubs our noses in the consequences of war: ...
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Awards
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2000
Physical description
352 p.; 9.21 inches
ISBN
1857239695 / 9781857239690
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User reviews
LibraryThing member BornAnalog
This is obviously intended to be a companion piece to the first novel in Banks "Culture" series, "Consider Phlebas," since the same stanza from Eliot's "The Wasteland" gives birth to both titles. So what is the relationship between the two?
On the one level Banks Culture novels are great reading as
One answer to this is that almost limitless power does not guarantee an absence of testing and challenge. In response, Banks foregrounds in often surprising ways, the virtues of humility. The temptation of limitless power is arrogance and hubris; the responsibility is humility. As the Culture series evolves readers are treated to a number of instances where parts of the Culture or even its entirety are in effect humbled. There are constant reminders that as powerful and widespread as the Culture is, they are only one tiny portion of the universe; even our home galaxy remains a very mysterious place. In Look to Windward Banks drops into place a few more pieces of the puzzle that explain the broader shape of the universe by elaborating on the process of Subliming (where individuals or entire civilizations abandon the material plane of existence altogether) and introducing the Airspheres, ancient wandering habitats that orbit the galaxy and whose inhabitants are defined by something approaching cosmic time.
In this universe, the ability of the individual to make any sort of difference is almost completely erased, and it was this bleak vision that Banks established from the get-go in Consider Phlebas. The entire Culture series is in effect a reworking of the old saw: "Man plans: the Universe laughs." However, this does not mean that actions are without consequences. The relationship between Consider Phlebas iand Look to Windward is that the former is about the consequences of looking forward, or projective planning, while the latter is iin essence about looking back, and an attempt to account for--at least--or even atone for the accumulated effects of past actions. The philosophy here is involving and considered; all Banks novels are worth putting aside after you have read them and enjoyed the roller-coaster ride of the plot, and then just having a quiet think about the implications of what you've read. You will find that the implications of the story grow deeper and more thought-provoking, no more so than when you start to think about how they apply to our contemporary reality (the novel is dedicated, for example, to Gulf War veterans, a link that by the end of the novel makes perfect, if disturbing, sense).
As always, Banks sometimes has a tendency to over-explain things. He also has a tendency to lost track of the difference between characters needing to know things, and the reader needing to know things. For example, in the early part of the book we are treated to wonderful descriptions, more elaborate than in any of the other book, of what an Orbital is, how this mammoth structure works, etc. Then at a point later in the novel, it becomes necessary for a character to have it explained to them what an Orbital is and how it works. Forgetting that an alert reader will have picked all this up, Banks then embarks on pages and pages of description that tells the character new information but repeats what even a semi-alert reader will already have picked up.
Still, these lapses are rare, and Look to Windward not only deepens the larger world-building project of the Culture series but for reflective readers offers a lot of thought-provoking material.
On the one level Banks Culture novels are great reading as
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old-school space opera galaxy-spanning conflicts, imaginatively strange worlds and powerful technologies. However as fans of Banks work know, behind the gadgetry and often horrific violence these are dense and careful philosophical meditations on ethics and morality. They are the antithesis of sci-fi in the steampunk and cyberpunk traditions, which are built around future societies that are structured by the inequalities and injustices spawned by the economics and politics of the enforced scarcity of Capitalism. Banks novels instead are grounded in worlds of limitless abundance: the inhabitants of the culture can do anything and be anything and go almost anywhere and live as long as they want. The almost god-like powers over matter and time are not just the preserve of a privileged elite but available to everyone. The question that is always lurking, but often at the forefront of Banks work, is how individuals in such a society, and the society itself, retains its moral and ethical grounding and perhaps even more important, a sense of purpose.One answer to this is that almost limitless power does not guarantee an absence of testing and challenge. In response, Banks foregrounds in often surprising ways, the virtues of humility. The temptation of limitless power is arrogance and hubris; the responsibility is humility. As the Culture series evolves readers are treated to a number of instances where parts of the Culture or even its entirety are in effect humbled. There are constant reminders that as powerful and widespread as the Culture is, they are only one tiny portion of the universe; even our home galaxy remains a very mysterious place. In Look to Windward Banks drops into place a few more pieces of the puzzle that explain the broader shape of the universe by elaborating on the process of Subliming (where individuals or entire civilizations abandon the material plane of existence altogether) and introducing the Airspheres, ancient wandering habitats that orbit the galaxy and whose inhabitants are defined by something approaching cosmic time.
In this universe, the ability of the individual to make any sort of difference is almost completely erased, and it was this bleak vision that Banks established from the get-go in Consider Phlebas. The entire Culture series is in effect a reworking of the old saw: "Man plans: the Universe laughs." However, this does not mean that actions are without consequences. The relationship between Consider Phlebas iand Look to Windward is that the former is about the consequences of looking forward, or projective planning, while the latter is iin essence about looking back, and an attempt to account for--at least--or even atone for the accumulated effects of past actions. The philosophy here is involving and considered; all Banks novels are worth putting aside after you have read them and enjoyed the roller-coaster ride of the plot, and then just having a quiet think about the implications of what you've read. You will find that the implications of the story grow deeper and more thought-provoking, no more so than when you start to think about how they apply to our contemporary reality (the novel is dedicated, for example, to Gulf War veterans, a link that by the end of the novel makes perfect, if disturbing, sense).
As always, Banks sometimes has a tendency to over-explain things. He also has a tendency to lost track of the difference between characters needing to know things, and the reader needing to know things. For example, in the early part of the book we are treated to wonderful descriptions, more elaborate than in any of the other book, of what an Orbital is, how this mammoth structure works, etc. Then at a point later in the novel, it becomes necessary for a character to have it explained to them what an Orbital is and how it works. Forgetting that an alert reader will have picked all this up, Banks then embarks on pages and pages of description that tells the character new information but repeats what even a semi-alert reader will already have picked up.
Still, these lapses are rare, and Look to Windward not only deepens the larger world-building project of the Culture series but for reflective readers offers a lot of thought-provoking material.
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LibraryThing member duhrer
"Look to Windward" opens with the same T. S. Elliot quote as "Consider Phlebas", the first of Iain Banks' Culture novels, and the books in a sense are companion pieces. Where "Consider Phlebas" deals with the Idiran war, "Look to Windward" deals with the aftermath of both the Idiran war and the
Like his other Culture novels, "Look to Windward" has quite a few digressions, but in this case all of the subplots are more less recognizably in the service of the larger plot. As with his previous novels, there are rich descriptions of the natural and constructed environments, which as always are engrossing.
What is singular and enjoyable about this novel, however, are the two central characters, one a Chelgrian, one a "Mind", an artificial intelligence centuries old. As in "Consider Phlebas", the Chelgrian character in part acts as a foil to help us understand the nuances of the Culture by comparison.
I particularly liked the insight into the "Mind", whose perception of time and scope of focus are so far outside human experience that it can live a lifetime of our experiences in an instant and coordinate billions of decisions where we would be hard pressed to handle a handful.
Banks is as always incredibly inventive. Each twist in the plot is an "a-ha moment", an expansion of our own imagination rather than the kind of contrivance that drives your average mystery (or CSI episode, for that matter).
An entertaining read, particularly the last few chapters, in which all the loose ends are tied up. Although for the most part the right are redeemed and the wrong horribly punished, it never seems arbitrary, it always just fits.
A good book, and highly recommended, particularly for anyone who has enjoyed other Culture novels.
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interference of the Culture in a civil war among the Chelgrians.Like his other Culture novels, "Look to Windward" has quite a few digressions, but in this case all of the subplots are more less recognizably in the service of the larger plot. As with his previous novels, there are rich descriptions of the natural and constructed environments, which as always are engrossing.
What is singular and enjoyable about this novel, however, are the two central characters, one a Chelgrian, one a "Mind", an artificial intelligence centuries old. As in "Consider Phlebas", the Chelgrian character in part acts as a foil to help us understand the nuances of the Culture by comparison.
I particularly liked the insight into the "Mind", whose perception of time and scope of focus are so far outside human experience that it can live a lifetime of our experiences in an instant and coordinate billions of decisions where we would be hard pressed to handle a handful.
Banks is as always incredibly inventive. Each twist in the plot is an "a-ha moment", an expansion of our own imagination rather than the kind of contrivance that drives your average mystery (or CSI episode, for that matter).
An entertaining read, particularly the last few chapters, in which all the loose ends are tied up. Although for the most part the right are redeemed and the wrong horribly punished, it never seems arbitrary, it always just fits.
A good book, and highly recommended, particularly for anyone who has enjoyed other Culture novels.
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LibraryThing member RobertDay
An excursion into the mid-life of the Culture, and one with almost no human protagonists. Banks has a fairly good go at writing a novel from an alien point-of-view, and whilst the end result might not seem too different to us, the exercise is well worth trying: after all, if the aliens are too
The central characters in 'Look to windward' are Chelgrians, evolved predators with a fairly rigid caste system and a religion based around the reality of Sublimation, the process whereby souls (mind-states, essences, call them what you will) can migrate to a higher realm of existence, with or without technological assistance. After a civil war is precipitated by the Culture intervening in Chelgrian society with the best of intentions, a damaged soldier is sent by a Chelgrian faction to Masaq' Orbital, a Culture habitat where a famous Chelgrian composer, living in exile, is about to premiere a major a new work marking the ending if the Idrian War (as depicted in 'Consider Phelebas'). The soldier has a mission that he has been made to forget; it may well be diplomatic, or it could be something else.
A lot of the novel is taken up with exotic travelogue as the composer and the soldier studiously avoid each other across the massive surface (mainly) of the orbital. There are also some parts of the story told in flashback, and some Special Circumstances jiggery-pokery involving megafauna in a planetary "airsphere" - effectively, a planet with no solid surface.
For all that there are very few human characters in the novel, it is a very human story, about guilt, regret and mourning. Much of the action is off-stage, but it is very central to the characters' stories and motivations.
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alien, we won't have any point of reference to understand the story from.The central characters in 'Look to windward' are Chelgrians, evolved predators with a fairly rigid caste system and a religion based around the reality of Sublimation, the process whereby souls (mind-states, essences, call them what you will) can migrate to a higher realm of existence, with or without technological assistance. After a civil war is precipitated by the Culture intervening in Chelgrian society with the best of intentions, a damaged soldier is sent by a Chelgrian faction to Masaq' Orbital, a Culture habitat where a famous Chelgrian composer, living in exile, is about to premiere a major a new work marking the ending if the Idrian War (as depicted in 'Consider Phelebas'). The soldier has a mission that he has been made to forget; it may well be diplomatic, or it could be something else.
A lot of the novel is taken up with exotic travelogue as the composer and the soldier studiously avoid each other across the massive surface (mainly) of the orbital. There are also some parts of the story told in flashback, and some Special Circumstances jiggery-pokery involving megafauna in a planetary "airsphere" - effectively, a planet with no solid surface.
For all that there are very few human characters in the novel, it is a very human story, about guilt, regret and mourning. Much of the action is off-stage, but it is very central to the characters' stories and motivations.
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LibraryThing member llasram
I really wanted to like this book more than I ultimately did. It's chock-full of ideas -- the airspheres, interactions between civilizations of vastly different ages, explorations of different ways societies might deal with the digitization of consciousness, and much more. Some of the individual
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dialogues were deeply thought-provoking, especially Ziller's discussion of creativity with the Hub. Unfortunately the novel as a whole just didn't hang together. The central plot seemed contrived and implausible, with multiple gaping holes, and the trip to the airsphere entirely pointless. The "reveal" of an ultimately unnamed and unknown enemy of the Culture capable of putting the "attack" together felt more lazy than anything else. The Culture universe remains a fascinating place none the less. Show Less
LibraryThing member Karlstar
One of my favorite Banks books. A typical large scale, epic, grand Culture novel, mixed in with his excellent individual personalities. This one explores his usual them of aliens vs. culture - or is it religion vs. Culture? There's less action in this one than some of his others, but it is still an
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excellent novel. Show Less
LibraryThing member pgmcc
I bought this book some years ago (pre-2002 as the price sticker was in Irish pounds (9.99 of them) and the euro came in on Jan 1st, 2002.). The book was first published in 2000, so I took my time before getting around to it. It was the only Banks book I haven’t read and I’m glad I eventually
Had it been written post 2001 people might have accused Iain of getting his inspiration from the 9/11 incident and the subsequent war on terror. There are many parallels with a major attack planned and the discussion of wars between significantly different cultures.
The book is strongly anti-war and yet is a great espionage thriller. I have often stated that Iain tries to do something different with each of his mainstream books and I have indicated the different styles he has used for many of them, e.g. Canal Dreams is his Fredrick Forsythe book, Whit is Agatha Christie, etc… In this vein I would call Look to Windward his Le Carré. There are so many intrigues and twists that the old spy master would have been proud to have written this plot.
Apart from the parallels with serious issues and the comparisons with other writers, Look to Windward is an enjoyable tale populated with strong, believable characters moving in a rich environment at both the micro and macro level.
Iain’s descriptions of an orbital, home to 50 billion people, are carefully crafted to provide a vivid picture in the reader’s mind. This same skill is used to create images of the inside of the giant behemothaurs and of the microscopic nanotechnology used by the Culture.
A fascinating book, enjoyable on many levels, and having read it at this stage I was struck by how much one could consider it prophetic in the light of world events.
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got to it. It is actually the first Banks book that I didn’t devour immediately on purchase.Had it been written post 2001 people might have accused Iain of getting his inspiration from the 9/11 incident and the subsequent war on terror. There are many parallels with a major attack planned and the discussion of wars between significantly different cultures.
The book is strongly anti-war and yet is a great espionage thriller. I have often stated that Iain tries to do something different with each of his mainstream books and I have indicated the different styles he has used for many of them, e.g. Canal Dreams is his Fredrick Forsythe book, Whit is Agatha Christie, etc… In this vein I would call Look to Windward his Le Carré. There are so many intrigues and twists that the old spy master would have been proud to have written this plot.
Apart from the parallels with serious issues and the comparisons with other writers, Look to Windward is an enjoyable tale populated with strong, believable characters moving in a rich environment at both the micro and macro level.
Iain’s descriptions of an orbital, home to 50 billion people, are carefully crafted to provide a vivid picture in the reader’s mind. This same skill is used to create images of the inside of the giant behemothaurs and of the microscopic nanotechnology used by the Culture.
A fascinating book, enjoyable on many levels, and having read it at this stage I was struck by how much one could consider it prophetic in the light of world events.
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LibraryThing member fieldri1
Iain Bank's sci-fi often revolves around 'The Culture', a futuristic society of awesome technological prowess.
The use of future settings and technology allows Banks to give free rein to his glorious imagination, allowing him to set the stories wherever he wants without it ever feeling like a
This is another excellent book. It won't persuade people who don't think that they like Sci-fi that they do, or to try more titles, but for those of us that love this genre its a good choice.
The use of future settings and technology allows Banks to give free rein to his glorious imagination, allowing him to set the stories wherever he wants without it ever feeling like a
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convenient affectation.This is another excellent book. It won't persuade people who don't think that they like Sci-fi that they do, or to try more titles, but for those of us that love this genre its a good choice.
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LibraryThing member jkdavies
this isn't one of those vying for my favourite culture novel, I'm not sure if it's down to having several main characters but no lead character, or if it's because I find the denouement slightly anticlimactic. Beautiful, adult and elegant but anticlimactic...
There is plenty to like (this is the
There is plenty to like (this is the
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novel where they have a guessing game about the ships names) but also plenty of red herrings I still have no idea (on the 6th or 7th read through) what the dirigible behemoths added to the plot, or what the culture spy aboard was doing. Show Less
LibraryThing member DRFP
After Look To Windward Banks took an eight year break from writing Culture novels. Given the low quality of this book it's tempting to say he simply ran out of interesting ideas for his space opera setting. This presumption is buttressed by the fact that Inversions, released two years prior to
Regardless of whether or not this was the case LTW felt completely flat. The characters were lifeless and even the Minds, who usually get all the best lines, were fairly bland. The story never gripped either. Given the god-like abilities of the Minds I never believed the plot would be 100% successful despite explanations by the Chelgrians as to why the plan should, in theory, work. Plus, the chapters devoted to the mega-fauna were superfluous and full of the purple prose that littered this novel and bogged it down repeatedly. There are some nice bits within the story - the Chelgrian's afterlife and talk of Sublimed races, for instance - but it doesn't add up to much.
There was simply a real lack of the zip and creativity that made novels like Player of Games and, to a slightly lesser extent, Use of Weapons such enjoyable books to read. I thought Excession was a let down too, so I hope Banks's return to the Culture in 2008, with Matter, refreshes the series and proves to be more successful (when I get around to reading it).
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LTW, was a Culture novel without the Culture. Perhaps even then Banks was running out of ways to make the near omnipotent and omniscient Culture interesting?Regardless of whether or not this was the case LTW felt completely flat. The characters were lifeless and even the Minds, who usually get all the best lines, were fairly bland. The story never gripped either. Given the god-like abilities of the Minds I never believed the plot would be 100% successful despite explanations by the Chelgrians as to why the plan should, in theory, work. Plus, the chapters devoted to the mega-fauna were superfluous and full of the purple prose that littered this novel and bogged it down repeatedly. There are some nice bits within the story - the Chelgrian's afterlife and talk of Sublimed races, for instance - but it doesn't add up to much.
There was simply a real lack of the zip and creativity that made novels like Player of Games and, to a slightly lesser extent, Use of Weapons such enjoyable books to read. I thought Excession was a let down too, so I hope Banks's return to the Culture in 2008, with Matter, refreshes the series and proves to be more successful (when I get around to reading it).
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LibraryThing member DanTarlin
Well written and very inventive. I have never read Banks before, but the promotional writing on this book said it was a great one to jump on to his "Culture" series, and my local library had a limited collection so I tried it. I felt like I was missing some information that would have been better
The story follows a Chelgrian operative named Quilan who has been sent on a mission to Masaq', ostensibly to meet with the lone representative of his species who is on that orbital, a famous composer. Quilan's real mission is more significant and is revealed in due course through flashbacks. Meanwhile, we follow the AI mind that controls Masaq', and its doings with the composer and with various other AI, alien, and human characters. Finally, there's an altered human on another, distant orbital who is studying the enormous creatures of that realm and discovers the plot that will affect Masaq'.
The world is well-drawn and tremendously inventive. It sometimes seems as though the author shoves in more and more bizarre creatures, though, with only peripheral importance to the plot. But maybe I'd feel differently if I had read more of the series, which I intend to do forthwith!
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understood if I'd read from the start of that series, but I was still able to get the idea.The story follows a Chelgrian operative named Quilan who has been sent on a mission to Masaq', ostensibly to meet with the lone representative of his species who is on that orbital, a famous composer. Quilan's real mission is more significant and is revealed in due course through flashbacks. Meanwhile, we follow the AI mind that controls Masaq', and its doings with the composer and with various other AI, alien, and human characters. Finally, there's an altered human on another, distant orbital who is studying the enormous creatures of that realm and discovers the plot that will affect Masaq'.
The world is well-drawn and tremendously inventive. It sometimes seems as though the author shoves in more and more bizarre creatures, though, with only peripheral importance to the plot. But maybe I'd feel differently if I had read more of the series, which I intend to do forthwith!
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LibraryThing member randalhoctor
Look to Windward might be may favorite Culture book. IM Banks was at his snap-crackling best perhaps. Often it reminded me of one of Shakespear's comedies. This book actually made me laugh several times. I can't get enough of The Culture.
LibraryThing member macha
4 stars. the sf works of Iain Banks, mostly collected as a series about The Culture, are important for their ideas, their vision of what a non-dystopic far future might look like (should we survive so long), and the elegance and eloquence with which they are written. this one is an excellent
in the far-future Culture, though individuals are flawed and big solutions don't always work, it is, and Banks sets out to lay bare the mechanics of how this can be so, within a story of failed war, revenge, seduction, and (interestingly) creative composition. descriptions of place are exquisitely written, dialogue between wildly variant entities is sharp and fluid, chronology switches effortlessly between present and past, as the futures of some fascinating characters of ship AIs, autonomous machines, and sentients of many different races intertwine on contact, change and are changed. not the best of the series, and the ending's on the opaque side, but this one's accessible, and has a lot to say (and to debate), so not a bad place to start, though it's technically #7 in the series.
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general introduction to the Culture worldview, zeroing in on the balance necessary to cultivate and preserve civilization in a pluralistic culture composed of many different types of beings. some have evolved from predator races; some value everyone and everything from a dangerously narrow focus; some operate solely off logical rather than humanist processes. within this matrix, in which many lives are long and longer, and concepts of time are really only factors of distance, can diversity and creativity be maintained? is it possible to balance self-interest with the needs of the many? in the far-future Culture, though individuals are flawed and big solutions don't always work, it is, and Banks sets out to lay bare the mechanics of how this can be so, within a story of failed war, revenge, seduction, and (interestingly) creative composition. descriptions of place are exquisitely written, dialogue between wildly variant entities is sharp and fluid, chronology switches effortlessly between present and past, as the futures of some fascinating characters of ship AIs, autonomous machines, and sentients of many different races intertwine on contact, change and are changed. not the best of the series, and the ending's on the opaque side, but this one's accessible, and has a lot to say (and to debate), so not a bad place to start, though it's technically #7 in the series.
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LibraryThing member Black_samvara
Oh boy oh boy.. someone got excited about US foreign policy and wrote a fabulous science fiction novel.
The Culture intervened in a repressive lesser civilisation and accidentally triggered a civil war. Many people died and now the Chelgrian want revenge, since they can't fight against the advanced
I'm spoiling but it's so worth reading just from a 'good writing' perspective, am still utterly in love with Banks and the fabulous names the Culture ships have.
The Culture intervened in a repressive lesser civilisation and accidentally triggered a civil war. Many people died and now the Chelgrian want revenge, since they can't fight against the advanced
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technology and vast resources of the Culture they are choosing a traditional approach...I'm spoiling but it's so worth reading just from a 'good writing' perspective, am still utterly in love with Banks and the fabulous names the Culture ships have.
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LibraryThing member wandering_star
not one of his best - I like the Culture novels, but this one seemed to have too many long one-off descriptions and a confusing structure.
LibraryThing member wfzimmerman
A Culture novel, but not one of my favorites. Got better on re-reading, but there's not much drama in the storyline: Minds beat up on rebellious normals.
LibraryThing member angharad_reads
The Culture, as usual (I've read only "Excession" before.), is "busy". By which I mean, full of glittery detail. Personally, I find glittery world-detail difficult to skim and therefore slower than usual to read, not to mention distracting from the plot. As usual, most characters are sympathetic,
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though the Culture as a whole isn't. This novel was recommended to me by a friend, but I don't quite know why. I like ringworlds as a what-if, sure, but I don't fixate on war much, nor soldiers. The moral questions were thoughtful, but I'm not sure it's my cup of tea. {Synchronously with the ID novel I read recently ("Calculating God"), almost all sentients in Banks's universe develop to a certain point and then Sublime (in the Star Trek energy-state sense here, but in the virtual copy computer hardware sense previously).} At least, if I read another Culture novel, I'll go into it with the intention of not reading it for plot but for context. Show Less
LibraryThing member krisiti
Gentile or JewO you who turn the wheel and look to windwardConsider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you.I have a weakness for anyone who quotes Eliot, particularly the Waste Land. At first I thought that this title was a bit much given that Banks had already used Consider Phlebas, which
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seemed to me more appropriate to the novel it graces. But it just occured to me: the people in this book are those who 'look to windward'; the entire book is an extended meditation on the message of Phlebas the Phonecian. A meditation on death, and loss, despair, remorse, I suppose, but mostly on the different kinds of relationships one can have with death. Windward is very closely linked to Phlebas, both thematically and because it is in part about the aftermath of the war. Maybe the title is supposed to signal the importance of that link, which I didn't pay much attention to at first. I should read the two books back to back some time.This is the Culture, of course, so the characters have far more relationships with death at their disposal than mere humans do, just as they have more freedom of choice with regards to just about everything else. They can Sublime (which I don't quite buy), have one or several of various kinds of uploaded personality-continuation afterlife, artificially extend their lifespans to arbitrary lengths, enter suspended animation, and probably others I've forgotten or which Banks hasn't thought of yet. But many opt to have the old-fashioned, no backup available, risky kind of relationship, and some of them go to a great deal of trouble to expose themselves to the risk of being killed, and have a horrible time while doing so. (Lava-rafting has to be the most unenjoyable sport I've ever seen described.) And then the Mind... "There are places to go, but either I would not be me when I went there, or I would remain myself and so still have my memories. By waiting for them to drop away all this time I have grown into them, and they into me. We have become each other. There is no way back I consider worth taking." Quilan said something similar,earlier in the novel, that he could not live with the knowledge of his wife's death, and would not live without it. Two different kinds of death, and loss of the self while continuing to live is judged the greater evil. Show Less
LibraryThing member isabelx
The Chelgrians had partially Sublimed; about six per cent of their civilisation had quit the material universe within the course of a day. They were of all castes, they were of all varieties of religious belief from atheists to the devout of diverse cults, and they included in their number several
None of this was especially unusual in itself, though for any of them to have gone at all when the Chelgrians had only been in space for a few hundred years did seem - perversely - immature in the eyes of some. Wheat had been remarkable, even alarming, was that the sublimed had then maintained links with the majority part of their civilisation which had not moved on.
Chegrian composer Ziller has been commissioned by the Masaq' Hub to write a symphony commemorating the death of two stars in the Idiran War eight centuries before, whose first performance will be timed to coincide with the light from the second of the stars going nova finally reaching Masaq' Orbital. Zillero has been living in exile on Masaq' Orbital since before the Chelgrian Caste War, which was ignited by Culture meddling leaving them feeling very guilty about what happened, but unrepentant about the need to meddle in other species' affairs. When Ziller hears that an emissary is being sent from Chel to ask him to come home, he refuses point blank to meet him, and that is about all I can tell you about the story without giving a big spoiler warning, so I'll just say that the story includes themes of guilt, bereavement, revenge, death and the afterlife, and leave it at that.
Iain M. Banks does create some fantastic alien species. Apart from the furry, five-legged, predator-descended Chelgrians, "Look to Windward" features the incredibly long-lived behemothaurs, forever travelling around the edge of the galaxy in the mysterious air spheres lit by orbiting sun-moons. But the Affront in "Excession" are still my favourites.
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of the sentient machines Chel had developed but never fully exploited. No discernible pattern in the partial Subilming Event could be determined.None of this was especially unusual in itself, though for any of them to have gone at all when the Chelgrians had only been in space for a few hundred years did seem - perversely - immature in the eyes of some. Wheat had been remarkable, even alarming, was that the sublimed had then maintained links with the majority part of their civilisation which had not moved on.
Chegrian composer Ziller has been commissioned by the Masaq' Hub to write a symphony commemorating the death of two stars in the Idiran War eight centuries before, whose first performance will be timed to coincide with the light from the second of the stars going nova finally reaching Masaq' Orbital. Zillero has been living in exile on Masaq' Orbital since before the Chelgrian Caste War, which was ignited by Culture meddling leaving them feeling very guilty about what happened, but unrepentant about the need to meddle in other species' affairs. When Ziller hears that an emissary is being sent from Chel to ask him to come home, he refuses point blank to meet him, and that is about all I can tell you about the story without giving a big spoiler warning, so I'll just say that the story includes themes of guilt, bereavement, revenge, death and the afterlife, and leave it at that.
Iain M. Banks does create some fantastic alien species. Apart from the furry, five-legged, predator-descended Chelgrians, "Look to Windward" features the incredibly long-lived behemothaurs, forever travelling around the edge of the galaxy in the mysterious air spheres lit by orbiting sun-moons. But the Affront in "Excession" are still my favourites.
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LibraryThing member jessicariddoch
I have to appologise to those who like ian banks (you too sis) but I can find nothing to commend his work
LibraryThing member edgeworth
Iain M. Banks' Culture series is supposedly one of the modern science fiction must-reads, so I'd been meaning to look into it for a while. It's one of those series that takes place in a shared universe, with each book standing alone, but I still would have preferred to start at the beginning, with
The Culture society is a highly advanced spacefaring race, largely living in orbital ringworlds. It's a post-scarcity society, which means technology has been developed to the point where poverty has been eradicated and nobody works - essentially a utopia. The Culture is ruled by "Minds," benevolent artificial intelligences. Look To Windward is mostly set on the orbital world of Masaq, and deals with an emissary from the civilisation of Chel, who has come to Masaq with the hope of persuading a Chelgrian exile to return home.
The problem with this book was that, for the first half, it lacked a sense of urgency or importance. In a stunning galactic space opera, where Banks is constantly pointing the reader's head towards this or that amazing sight, an emissary speaking to an exile is quite humdrum and failed to grab my attention.
It's only halfway through the book that the reader discovers the emissary's mission is merely a cover story, and that his real purpose on Masaq is far more important and world-changing. That injected some life into things, and I thoroughly enjoyed the second half of the book more than the first.
Nonetheless, it still felt fairly aimless as a novel, more of a collection of ideas, concepts and characters than a true story. This is a very common problem with science fiction novels. Banks' prose is also quite florid at times, another common problem, although I'd say he's still a step above most sci-fi writers in ourely technical terms. But by the end, I'd say I enjoyed it. I wouldn't flat-out recommend Look To Windward, but I certainly plan to read a few other Culture novels.
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1987's Consider Phlebas. But I don't exactly have a lot of choice when buying used books from Vietnamese beach towns, so Look To Windward it was.The Culture society is a highly advanced spacefaring race, largely living in orbital ringworlds. It's a post-scarcity society, which means technology has been developed to the point where poverty has been eradicated and nobody works - essentially a utopia. The Culture is ruled by "Minds," benevolent artificial intelligences. Look To Windward is mostly set on the orbital world of Masaq, and deals with an emissary from the civilisation of Chel, who has come to Masaq with the hope of persuading a Chelgrian exile to return home.
The problem with this book was that, for the first half, it lacked a sense of urgency or importance. In a stunning galactic space opera, where Banks is constantly pointing the reader's head towards this or that amazing sight, an emissary speaking to an exile is quite humdrum and failed to grab my attention.
It's only halfway through the book that the reader discovers the emissary's mission is merely a cover story, and that his real purpose on Masaq is far more important and world-changing. That injected some life into things, and I thoroughly enjoyed the second half of the book more than the first.
Nonetheless, it still felt fairly aimless as a novel, more of a collection of ideas, concepts and characters than a true story. This is a very common problem with science fiction novels. Banks' prose is also quite florid at times, another common problem, although I'd say he's still a step above most sci-fi writers in ourely technical terms. But by the end, I'd say I enjoyed it. I wouldn't flat-out recommend Look To Windward, but I certainly plan to read a few other Culture novels.
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LibraryThing member salimbol
This was my introduction to Iain M Banks' Culture series (and only my second of his books ever), and though it's taken me forever to read it, I've been thoroughly impressed by it. Ultimately, it's quite a profound meditation on death and loss and war, with some great universe-building, sympathetic
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characters, and flashes of mordant wit. The narrative may be quite slow and deliberately-paced, but that works well with this kind of subject matter. The interlacing of different times and perspectives was done very cleverly, allowing for some startling revelations and a satisfying denouement. I definitely want to try some of the other Culture novels now! Show Less
LibraryThing member DuneSherban
Really wonderfully thoughtful, painted, as always, with those big brushstrokes that gradually come together during the novel.
With the Culture Banks has created something of an intellectual plaything; not in a way that it is 'simply' a game - because his novels are almost always profound,
As a whole I enjoyed this, and accordingly read it very quickly (putting aside other, more ponderous books). There are a few awkward elements to it, however; the scholar Uagen's story* is a little unclear in the wider plot of the novel, while some events are not adequately explained, but I was able to shrug these off and continue unaffected.
This didn't have the tightness of some of his other works, but it did show that even with big brushstrokes you can encompass small and meditative ideas.
* this is, however, a marvellous bit of Sci-fi imagination; the airspheres are truly odd, brilliantly imagined worlds.
With the Culture Banks has created something of an intellectual plaything; not in a way that it is 'simply' a game - because his novels are almost always profound,
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meditative - but in a sense that he has built a lot of flexibility into it. Yes, in his interviews he has upheld the Culture as something of a (skewed) ideal, even a wonderful place (the end to death, ill health, poverty!), but he always has a go at prodding it, examining its underbelly, the wider Politics (with a small and big 'P') that its inhabitants experience (even if they are not active participants).As a whole I enjoyed this, and accordingly read it very quickly (putting aside other, more ponderous books). There are a few awkward elements to it, however; the scholar Uagen's story* is a little unclear in the wider plot of the novel, while some events are not adequately explained, but I was able to shrug these off and continue unaffected.
This didn't have the tightness of some of his other works, but it did show that even with big brushstrokes you can encompass small and meditative ideas.
* this is, however, a marvellous bit of Sci-fi imagination; the airspheres are truly odd, brilliantly imagined worlds.
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LibraryThing member AltheaAnn
I'd recommend Look To Windward, but it wasn't my favorite Banks' book so far. (That's probably Inversions). It took a while to get going, and there were a few too many jumps in time/perspective which I thought detracted a bit from the momentum of the narrative. However, once the reader (finally)
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figures out what's at stake, it's a tense, unpredictable, and thoughtful (almost philosophical) book set in a complex and interesting milieu (the Culture universe.) Oh, and a great epilogue! Show Less
LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
Intriguing interlock of world-building and interior monologue, but with little character development.
LibraryThing member BooksOn23rd
It wasn’t easy for me to get through this book but I blame myself for that. LOOK TO WINDWARD is the seventh novel in Iain M. Banks’ Culture series and the first that I’ve read. I truly wish I had started at the beginning of the series, as it most likely would have improved my understanding of
Major Quilan is sent from his home planet of Chel to the Orbital Masaq’ but we don’t know what his real mission is and neither does he because its implanted in his mind and will only get revealed when the time is right. That is an interesting plot point. There’s a lot of traveling and sight-seeing on Masaq’ and that’s entertaining too, especially the cable car ride in Pylon Country!
There are two characters that I felt were pretty well believable and those are Major Quilan and Composer Ziller, the two main subjects. Quilan has something from the past that he can’t forget and his story is told well. Ziller adds the humor to the story. I think I like Ziller the best because he’s haughty and has the snappy comebacks.
You never know where you are or who is there or what point in time it is at the beginning of each chapter or sub-chapter and that was incredibly distracting for me as I read. There are avatars and a Hub and Culture Minds and I couldn’t keep straight who was what. Also, what the heck, I never found any scene that resembles what’s going on in the cover scene! What’s that about?
I believe that not reading the first six books clearly put me at a disadvantage. There is very little background explained in this installment and I felt lost much of the time. I would not recommend that you read this book unless you have already read some of the previous installments.
My tastes for sci-fi in the past have probably run more towards Jack Campbell than Banks. I like the action more than deeply sympathetic characters. It’s a testament to Banks’ writing that I could care about Quilan and Ziller through all the mind-bending hops, skips and jumps he throws at the reader.
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this book.Major Quilan is sent from his home planet of Chel to the Orbital Masaq’ but we don’t know what his real mission is and neither does he because its implanted in his mind and will only get revealed when the time is right. That is an interesting plot point. There’s a lot of traveling and sight-seeing on Masaq’ and that’s entertaining too, especially the cable car ride in Pylon Country!
There are two characters that I felt were pretty well believable and those are Major Quilan and Composer Ziller, the two main subjects. Quilan has something from the past that he can’t forget and his story is told well. Ziller adds the humor to the story. I think I like Ziller the best because he’s haughty and has the snappy comebacks.
You never know where you are or who is there or what point in time it is at the beginning of each chapter or sub-chapter and that was incredibly distracting for me as I read. There are avatars and a Hub and Culture Minds and I couldn’t keep straight who was what. Also, what the heck, I never found any scene that resembles what’s going on in the cover scene! What’s that about?
I believe that not reading the first six books clearly put me at a disadvantage. There is very little background explained in this installment and I felt lost much of the time. I would not recommend that you read this book unless you have already read some of the previous installments.
My tastes for sci-fi in the past have probably run more towards Jack Campbell than Banks. I like the action more than deeply sympathetic characters. It’s a testament to Banks’ writing that I could care about Quilan and Ziller through all the mind-bending hops, skips and jumps he throws at the reader.
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