Reading Advice

[the_glyph]

OK, so I think I probably ought to have read some Iain M. Banks. I've read a little Ian Banks (isn't The Wasp Factory compulsory reading these days?), but somehow those big flashy Culture novels have never really appealed.

So where should I start? This seems to suggest that taking the obvious route of starting at the beginning might just put me

Comments

[pete23]

recommended of his SF, in no order:

against a dark background good, but depressing
feersum endjinn excellent stuff, if you can avoid being annoyed by the dodgy patois of one of the narrators

if you feel you could stomach a little culture

player of games fantastic
use of weapons even better

are the two really interesting ones. the former is quite short and to the point, too.

most of the rest

consider phlebas for completists, not bad, pretty depressing
excession good, fun space opera but nowt devastating
inversions fairly blah, in a nice banksy way
the alchemist i liked, kroker was thoroughly bored by
look to windward mainly blah in a blah kinda way

you can skip until you've got a taste for it.

have i missed anything?

[nothingtoyou]

I've only read two so far, but I started with Player of Games and wasn't (too) confused.

[tattysquawk]

I haven't tried any of his SF.

The Business was quite a good read though.