Banks’ Culture series, of which this the latest instalment, is space opera at its exuberant best: adventures and conflicts on a galactic scale, alien races by the dozen, non-stop action, a gallery of sharply-edged characters in search of the truth and racing against time. All the ingredients are perfectly stirred to provide first class entertainment and science fiction at its most stirring. Makes STAR WARS look simplistic.
In a world renowned within a galaxy full of wonders, a crime within a war. For one man it means a desperate flight, and a search for the one - maybe two - people who could clear his name. For his brother it means a life lived under constant threat of treachery and murder. And for their sister, it means returning to a place she'd thought abandoned forever. Only the sister is not what she once was; Djan Seriy Anaplian has become an agent of the Culture's Special Circumstances section, charged with high-level interference in civilisations throughout the greater galaxy. Concealing her new identity - and her particular set of abilities - might be a dangerous strategy. In the world to which Anaplian returns, nothing is quite as it seems; and determining the appropriate level of interference in someone else's war is never a simple matter.
'You can always expect the unexpected with an Iain M. Banks novel. So sit back and enjoy a tale with more than a twist or three in Matter. For a start, it's a rattling good story: a man accused of something he didn't do. Lots of action, lots of mind-boggling imaginative thought in this excellent piece of SF, read by Toby Longworth' Daily Express
'You can, if you must, draw clever comparisons between the conflicts in Matter and what's happening in Iraq. Or you can just sit back and listen to Toby Longworth's tongue-in-cheek reading of a very funny book' The Guardian
'There is now no British SF writer to whose work I look forward with greater keenness' The Times
'Banks is a phenomenon' William Gibson
Author
About Iain M. Banks
Iain M. Banks came to widespread and controversial public notice with the publication of his first novel, THE WASP FACTORY, in 1984. He has since gained enormous popular and critical acclaim for both his mainstream (published under the name Iain Banks) and his science fiction novels. Iain Banks died in June 2013.
Maxim Jakubowski's view on MATTER... Banks’ Culture series, of which this the latest instalment, is space opera at its exuberant best: adventures and conflicts on a galactic scale, alien races by the dozen, non-stop action, a gallery of sharply-edged characters in search of the truth and racing against time. All the ingredients are perfectly stirred to provide first class entertainment and science fiction at its most stirring. Makes STAR WARS look simplistic.
