I received the latest Banks Culture novel for Chrismuhkwanzakkuh this year from my Amazon wishlist. I'm a big fan of Peter F. Hamilton and Alastair Reynolds, who are also very popular and well-known British science fiction authors. Iain M. Banks is often added to that list, as is Neal Asher, and although I have read books by both of them, the only work by either of them that has come close to being as engrossing to me as a(ny) Hamilton or Reynolds book is Banks' Matter, which was the previous Culture novel.
The latest Culture novel is Surface Detail which is about the nature of death itself, as well as revenge and faith. The central character is Lededje Y'breq, a slave on the planet of Sichult, who is killed by her owner, Joiler Veppers, the richest man in the world. Y'breq is one of the Intagliated, a person who has been genetically engineered with an intricate, strikingly beautiful tattoo (yes, a "surface detail" of the title), which illustrates her indentured servitude and shameful familial debt to Veppers.
Y'breq is revented (reincarnated) by a Culture artifact which had been implanted in her head without her knowledge. The notion of death and after-life is a central theme of Surface Detail. Banks creates the notion that there is a philosophical dispute between various technologically advanced societies: some wish to have a Hell of an after-life while others have no after-life whatsoever. The dispute is currently being resolved through a virtual war between the "pro-Hell and "anti-Hell" forces. The Culture is in the anti-Hell coalition and it turns out that the planet of Sichult and Joiler Veppers is a inter-stellar level player in the dispute over what should happen after death.
As with his other books, Surface Detail is a large book with many characters in addition to multiple plot strands. Unfortunately, many of the characters are not as interesting as as Y'breq and Veppers. For (too) long stretches of the book we are following the stories of other characters such as Prin and Chay, two non-humanoid aliens who are trying to expose the horrific nature of their species' Hell in order to diminish the appeal and salience of perdition. Another character which frankly bored me was Sergeant Vateuil, who is a fighter in the anti-Hell forces, and who may or may not have a connection to a central character in a few of the earlier Culture books.
What I liked about Banks' Matter, was its focus on an appealing central character (Dziet Sma) combined with quirky humor. There is almost no humor in Surface Detail apart from Banks' longtime staple of the names and interactions between ship controlling artificial intelligences called Minds. At this point, that simply was not enough. I will be more skeptical about future Culture books by Banks, probably waiting to get them in paperback at the library instead of in hardcover. They simply are not at the same level of excellence, complexity and creativity as the other British sci-fi masters Hamilton and Reynolds.
Title: Surface Detail
Author: Iain M. Banks
Length: 640 pages.
Publisher: Orbit.
Date: October 28, 2010.
OVERALL GRADE: B/B+.
PLOT: B+.
IMAGERY: B.
IMPACT: B-.
WRITING: B+.
