I couldn't tell which came first, the plot or the theme, but its not important the plot rattles along - a wondrous travelogue around his beautifully imagined universe - and the theme lies there in the background adding depth to the conversations of the characters we’re following on their various wild-goose chases.

Banks though, he did it with wit, thoughtfulness and panache (with great dollops of action, sex and intrigue thrown in to spice it up). He’s never tackled Sublimation head-on before and I was intrigued to see how he would do it this being Iain M. Though there have never been any gods in his creation (the Minds, though near-omnipotent, are way too vain and profane to fulfill that role) there has always been Subliming: a Heaven-like afterlife for civilisations or Minds to ascend to. Banks - as an outspoken atheist - has finally gotten around to using his Culture universe to explore faith and religion. It seems that the final days of the Gzilt civilization are likely to prove its most perilous. She must find the oldest person in the Culture, a man over 9,000 years old, who might have some idea what really happened all that time ago. Aided only by an ancient, reconditioned android and a suspicious Culture avatar, Cossont must complete her last mission given to her by the High Command. Lieutenant Commander (reserve) Vyr Cossont appears to have been involved, and she is now wanted - dead, not alive. Now they've made the collective decision to follow the well-trodden path of millions of other civilizations: They are going to Sublime, elevating themselves to a new and almost infinitely more rich and complex existence.Īmid preparations though, the Regimental High Command is destroyed. An ancient people, organized on military principles and yet almost perversely peaceful, the Gzilt helped set up the Culture 10,000 years earlier and were very nearly one of its founding societies, deciding not to join only at the last moment. It is, truly, the End Days for the Gzilt civilization.

The hydrogen sonata by iain m banks