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Iain M Banks - The Algebraist
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- Author: Iain M. Banks
- Type: Audio CD
- ISBN: 1405500786
- Publisher: Time Warner AudioBooks
Synopsis
In The Algebraist, Iain Banks returns to spectacular space opera but not to his familiar Culture universe. His new setting is a complex, war-torn galaxy with an entirely different history going back almost to the Big Bang...
For short-lived 'Quick' races like humans, space is dominated by the complicated, grandiose Mercatoria whose rule is both military and religious. To the Dwellers who may live billions of years, the galaxy consists of their gas-giant planets--the rest is debris.
Our human hero Fassin Taak is a 'Slow Seer' privileged to work with the Dwellers of the gas-giant Nasqueron in his home system Ulubis. His life work is rummaging for data in their vast, disorganised memories and libraries. Unfortunately, without knowing it, he's come close to an ancient secret of unimaginable importance.
Though Ulubis is currently cut off from the galactic wormhole travel network, two interstellar battle fleets are racing for this secret. The hissable arch-villain Luseferous--whose tastes run to torture, atrocity and genocide--seems bound to arrive in overwhelming strength before the Mercatorian rescue squadron.
So Fassin is reluctantly conscripted into security forces, and enters the hell of Nasqueron's atmosphere to seek the magic key (code? signal frequency? equation?) that might save everything. Even at their most helpful and charming, though, Dwellers are maddeningly elusive. For ancients, they seem bumbling and whimsical, far more interested in hunting, kudos, and extreme sports like GasClipper Races or Formal War than in saving humanity's skin. Their ramshackle transport and awesome yet run-down floating cities suggest that Dweller legends of hypertechnology are sheer bluff. But are they keeping something dark?
Fassin's journeys and discoveries are exhilarating, witty, sometimes mind-boggling. Exotic weaponry abounds. The Dwellers are engagingly eccentric, like AI Minds in the Culture books--but the Mercatoria has banned artificial intelligence as Abomination, and this too is a plot strand. Additionally there are human revenge, intrigue and betrayal subplots; surprises and upsets; and the mother of all shaggy-dog revelations. Once again Banks is having enormous fun with space opera, and his exuberant enjoyment is infectious. Highly readable stuff.--David Langford
Reviews
This story, for a change not set in Banks' Culture Universe, is truly supreme. As he often does, Banks takes a few human stories and weaves them together against the background of a universe spanning plot. What this story does that is not science fiction is to portray a human level tragedy of an outing of four friends gone wrong against large historic scale events. It is the final suicidal tragedy in the book that sets Banks off against so many other authors; he doesn't shy away from letting his heroes suffer and in some cases die, and at the same time, the almost comically evil nemesis in the story get away from so-called justice. Excellent.Theodore Stauffer
There are some novel concepts in here, but overall I found the text wordy, in particular some of the descriptions were akin to taking all the words of a particular thesaurus entry and stringing them together with ands. The author uses the 'f' word liberally, it added nothing, neither did his use of the 'c' word. For my tidy mind there were too many loose ends left untied and instances of a metaphorical Zebedee from the Magic Roundabout turning up at just the right moment and 'making everything alright'. Overall an interesting tale but IMHO could be told in half the pages...
R. A. Chard
Seer Fassin Taak lives on 'glantine, in the Ulubis System - a system dominated by the gas giant, Nasqueron. Although relatively young, he is next in line to succeed his uncle Slovius as the Paterfamilias of the Seer Sept Bantrabal. It's a very influential position, one that will become more significant with his engagement to Jaal Tonderon. (The Sept Tonderon is the most senior of the twelve Septs - although the pair appear to be happy together, Jaal is by no means Fassin's first love). Ulubis is not an independent system - it's part of the Mercatoria, a vast political organisation where any significant travel is conducted through artificially constructed wormholes. However, it is very remote - even more so now that the entrance to its wormhole has been recently destroyed in a Beyonder attack. Nevertheless, Ulubis remains culturally important as a centre for Dweller Studies and all twelve Septs owe their somewhat privileged positions to their work in the field. Dwellers live on gas giants throughout the galaxy - they are large creatures, who live for many millions of years and operate on a different timescale. They appear to be somewhat disorganised, are obsessed with kudos and do everything very, very slowly. However, there hints they may also be very technologically advanced - on the few times they've been involved in a fight, they've operated very quickly and lethally. There are also rumours they have their own very extensive network of wormholes - though few take that one seriously. For many years, Seers had delved remotely onto Nasqueron to meet and learn from the Dwellers. Fassin has been instrumental in a significant change - his preference for directly delving has won over the Dwellers more quickly and, accordingly, made for better results. Valseir and Y'Sul are among Fassin's key contacts on Nasqueron.
AIs have been outlawed within Mercatoria space - while machines of that type were once common, the majority were destroyed in the Machine War 7000 years previously. Nevertheless, official forces continue to hunt and destroy any they can find, and any further research into the area is a capital offence. An emissarial projection is as close to an AI as is officially allowed, although they are only rarely used. Fassin is naturally shocked to learn that one is on the way to `glantine - sent from the administration's very top levels to speak with him. He has no idea what he's done to merit such an honour, and is naturally left feeling very edgy. The news he receives leaves him feeling little better : although he doesn't appear to be any direct trouble, he is essentially drafted into the Shrievalty Ocula and ordered to Sepekte for a more detailed briefing. Although the projection gives away very little information, it appears his drafting is something to do with one of Fassin's delves onto Nasqueron.
As it turns out, the Ulubis System is under a significant threat. It has been targeted by Archimandrite Luseferous, the ruler of the Epiphany Five Disconnect. Luseferous is a fearsome character, as cruel, vindictive and nasty as he is imaginative. Although he doesn't particularly want to go to Ulubis, there is something there he desperately needs. Fassin's mission, meanwhile, is connected to his invasion - and it involves delving to Nasqueron, searching for a particular Dweller. However, Fassin is up against it time-wise : when it arrives, Luseferous's fleet will comfortably overpower the system's defences and - without the wormhole - help from the Mercatoria will arrive late.
I love Banks' books, and - although there are some very sad parts - this was also very enjoyable. While Luseferous is a total villain, none of the other characters are totally whiter-than-white. It is a long read overall, and some sections are possibly a little over-long. On the other hand, the book's climax somehow seemed to be wrapped up a little too quickly and neatly. Nevertheless, if you're willing to take the time, I would certainly recommend it.
Craobh Rua
I could not get very far with this one at all... Just two or three chapters in and I'd had enough... I felt overwhelmed with numerous and all too frequently with cumbersome words difficult to pronounce. This was much worse than reading in a foreign language, since they are 'real' words that at least one can 'translate'. This would not have been so much of a hindrance some way into the novel, but to be daunted and exacerbated by so many upon instant impact... A Reader does not need this when they are busy trying to 'get into' a story...
Just too much...
FAMOUS NAME
I could not get very far with this one at all... Just two or three chapters in and I'd had enough... I felt overwhelmed with numerous and all too frequently with cumbersome words difficult to pronounce. This was much worse than reading in a foreign language, since they are 'real' words that at least one can 'translate'. This would not have been so much of a hindrance some way into the novel, but to be daunted and exacerbated by so many upon instant impact... A Reader does not need this when they are busy trying to 'get into' a story...
Just too much...
FAMOUS NAME
