Viewing Thread:
"That Harry Potter drive-by spoiler in all it's glory."

Yes, yes you've probably all seen this by now, but boy, is it funny.

[URL]http://gprime.net/video.php/pottercrash[/URL]

(He spoils it by the way, if you haven't read the books yet)

Stryke wrote:
> Am I right in thinking The Wasp Factory is 'the' Bainks book? I'm
> basing this on it being the only one I've read.

Yup, it was his first novel and caused such a stir what with all the sex change tomfoolery and killing of children that it became infamous and so obviously sold very well :-)

Light wrote:
> RastaBillySkank wrote:
>
> His "normal" literature (under the name Iain Banks) is
> good
> too. Ever read any of that?
>
> See it WAS good, but then came Whit, and then The Business. Both of
> these were...well, dull. Turgid even. Which was a massive
> disappoinment from the man who gave us The Crow Road, The Wasp
> Factory, The Bridge etc.


I've not read those two. I was thinking about getting The Business next time I'm in town... Might not bother. I've read The Wasp Factory, Crow Road, The Bridge, Dead Air and... another one I can't rememeber the name of, Glass possibly. Thoroughly enjoyed all of them.
>
> I should make the effort to re-read some of his sci-fi; although his
> fiction dipped in quality, I keep hearing that his sci-fi stuff is
> going from strength to strength.

Yeah, I've only ever had a problem reading Look To Windward. Not sure why, might give it a re-read and see. The rest I've found really engrossing though. I'd reccommend Use of Weapons, Player of Games, Consider Phlebas and State of the Art (short stories) as his best sci-fi, although Excessions and Inversions are definitely worth a look too.

Am I right in thinking The Wasp Factory is 'the' Bainks book? I'm basing this on it being the only one I've read.

RastaBillySkank wrote:
> See, I love the whole Culture universe. I love the feeling I get from
> it of it being a saga, that it has it's own history and that he's
> written from various aspects and times around it, like Consider
> Phlebas being about the Idiran War but not from the perspective of
> either the Idiran's or the Culture; from a viewpoint removed from the
> main conflict. It just adds to the world he's created, it reminds me a
> lot of the Star Wars EU just all done by one man :-)

I love the Culture universe, but I just liked the break from it. I got the feeling he was getting too dependant on the comfort that it provided in the later Culture novels. It allowed him to do something totally different, in a new universe, without any constraints. A clean sheet so to speak. Flexing those literary muscles from year dot. The entire wormhole plot simply wouldn't have worked in a Culture universe, and it added massively to the plot. I loved the gas giant aliens (although they were very "culture" in their own right) and the A.I. Jihad (echoes of Herbert’s Butlerian Jihad) sub plot.

IMHO "The State Of The Art" is the best Culture story he's written, specifically because it's got Earth of the 1970's to compare against, and the beautifully bittersweet ending.



"The Algebraist" for me, was a return to Banks at his best. Ideas he throws down and mentions in a paragraph or two, other lesser authors would build an entire book around.

> His "normal" literature (under the name Iain Banks) is good
> too. Ever read any of that?

Some I like, some I find an absolute chore to read, "The Business" being a prime example. "Whit" sucked too. "Wasp Factory", while being the obvious choice, is still my favorite non SF Banks novel. Sue me. I love it. ;D

RastaBillySkank wrote:

> His "normal" literature (under the name Iain Banks) is good
> too. Ever read any of that?

See it WAS good, but then came Whit, and then The Business. Both of these were...well, dull. Turgid even. Which was a massive disappoinment from the man who gave us The Crow Road, The Wasp Factory, The Bridge etc.

> Heh :-) The UoW twist is brilliant though. Really didn't see that
> coming at all.

I should make the effort to re-read some of his sci-fi; although his fiction dipped in quality, I keep hearing that his sci-fi stuff is going from strength to strength.

Pandaemonium wrote:
> I agree, but The Algebrast is free from baggage relating to his
> Culture universe, and it's a breath of fresh air to be honest.

See, I love the whole Culture universe. I love the feeling I get from it of it being a saga, that it has it's own history and that he's written from various aspects and times around it, like Consider Phlebas being about the Idiran War but not from the perspective of either the Idiran's or the Culture; from a viewpoint removed from the main conflict. It just adds to the world he's created, it reminds me a lot of the Star Wars EU just all done by one man :-)

His "normal" literature (under the name Iain Banks) is good too. Ever read any of that?

> [edit] and it's got one of the greatest twist endings I've
> ever read. I'd have slapped someone if they had deliberately ruined
> the book for me by telling me it.

Heh :-) The UoW twist is brilliant though. Really didn't see that coming at all.

Snape has a heart attack and falls over onto professor Flitwick... that kinda thing

Wouldn\'t it be good just to give a flase drive by spoiler. You get the satisfaction of spoiling it for somebody and also not actually spoil it for them.

RastaBillySkank wrote:
> Use of Weapons is better.

I agree, but The Algebrast is free from baggage relating to his Culture universe, and it's a breath of fresh air to be honest.

[edit] and it's got one of the greatest twist endings I've ever read. I'd have slapped someone if they had deliberately ruined the book for me by telling me it.

Pandaemonium wrote:
> [edit]It'd be a different kettle of fish if I posted the twist ending
> to Iain M Banks' "The Algebrast" here.
>

Use of Weapons is better.