[books 2013] Iain M Banks
27. The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M Banks
I started to start this several times when I first bought it, but didn't get stuck in properly till we were on holiday, and it's still taken me another month to finish it. I was about 2/3 of the way through when I heard the news about Banks.
Which is odd, because for a Culture novel it's poisitively linear. As usual I had some trouble wrapping my mind around the visuals Banks is trying to describe. The Gzilt, A non-Culture civilization, is counting down to Subliming, only there might be a hitch. They have been known as the only culture whose book of religious prophecy all came true; only this might have been a practical joke on the part of a species long since Sublimed. So the search is on for the oldest man in the Culture, who was there at the time and will know...
I particularly liked the idea of the Hydrogen Sonata being written for a musical instrument which then had to be invented, and that four arms are requried to play it competently (as someone who once wrote a song in C# minor and 9/8 time, because I *could*) and that the main character has had two extra arms added so that she can.
So yeah, one of the more readable Culture novels. Some really good lines, some good concepts, and a minimum of trying to figure out what the hell he's on about.
I started to start this several times when I first bought it, but didn't get stuck in properly till we were on holiday, and it's still taken me another month to finish it. I was about 2/3 of the way through when I heard the news about Banks.
Which is odd, because for a Culture novel it's poisitively linear. As usual I had some trouble wrapping my mind around the visuals Banks is trying to describe. The Gzilt, A non-Culture civilization, is counting down to Subliming, only there might be a hitch. They have been known as the only culture whose book of religious prophecy all came true; only this might have been a practical joke on the part of a species long since Sublimed. So the search is on for the oldest man in the Culture, who was there at the time and will know...
I particularly liked the idea of the Hydrogen Sonata being written for a musical instrument which then had to be invented, and that four arms are requried to play it competently (as someone who once wrote a song in C# minor and 9/8 time, because I *could*) and that the main character has had two extra arms added so that she can.
So yeah, one of the more readable Culture novels. Some really good lines, some good concepts, and a minimum of trying to figure out what the hell he's on about.