It is 4034 AD. Humanity has made it to the stars. Fassin Taak, a Slow Seer at the Court of the Nasqueron Dwellers, will be fortunate if he makes it...
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Oct 01, 2011
mark
rated it: 
a non-Culture sci-fi adventure from banks, one whose intriguing major topic is the relativity of morality. the aliens are pretty much humans in alien form - not much attempt to convey a truly alien viewpoint. but it is all fascinating nonetheless, and many of the characters - alien and otherwise - are sympathetic or fearful creations. expansive world/universe-building, per usual banks. some real narrative surprises from beginning to end. the novel's Villain with a capital V is almost a parody, a
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Dec 25, 2009
Richard
rated it:
Meh.
Well, better than that — 3½ stars — but not as good as I'd hoped.
There were two major problems. The first I could almost forgive—as simply not being to my taste, the same way I don't enjoy the silliness of Terry Pratchett. The Algebraist tossed together rather high-concept themes (persecution of AIs, morally ambiguous revolution against a powerful hegemon, mass-death tragedy) and silliness bordering on stupidity. The major alien race is depicted as bumbling Woosters e More...
Well, better than that — 3½ stars — but not as good as I'd hoped.
There were two major problems. The first I could almost forgive—as simply not being to my taste, the same way I don't enjoy the silliness of Terry Pratchett. The Algebraist tossed together rather high-concept themes (persecution of AIs, morally ambiguous revolution against a powerful hegemon, mass-death tragedy) and silliness bordering on stupidity. The major alien race is depicted as bumbling Woosters e More...
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Feb 17, 2008
Stevelvis
rated it: 
THE ALGEBRAIST by IAIN M. BANKS -- An extremely rewarding though very complex read rating a 10 on all the scales of complexity due to writing style, amount of characters to follow, and the number and variation of cultures and species. The fast-paced action takes place on several planets all around the universe, includes one major character with quite a few other important characters including several totally alien species and several hierarchal structures involving religion and politics. It a
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Jun 25, 2011
Ben
rated it: 
Warning: This review contains spoilers about the review. Continue reading only if you have already read this review or if you are unconcerned about ruining the ending of this review.
Open with a joke about the size and weight of this book making it good for a number of non-reading-related purposes. Go on to comment on the excessive amounts of esoteric terminology.
That's probably how most reviews of this book begin, and they're probably right in doing so. Of course, plent More...
Open with a joke about the size and weight of this book making it good for a number of non-reading-related purposes. Go on to comment on the excessive amounts of esoteric terminology.
That's probably how most reviews of this book begin, and they're probably right in doing so. Of course, plent More...
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May 28, 2008
Sandi
rated it:
I keep hearing about what a great author Iain Banks is. This book was a book of the month last year for a reading group I belong to. I didn't like it. It had so much potential, but it was simultaneously underwritten and overwritten, if that's even possible. Probably my biggest beef with the book was the liberal use of the f-word. Now, I'm not a prude and God knows that the use of the f-word has become very commonplace. When my husband is watching Mafia movies, I always tell him that the ov
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Dec 17, 2007
Matt
rated it:
So Banks seems to ripen with age. Banks earlier titles were wrought with fanciful, min-blowing brain candy yet lacked a certain cerebral edge or literary finesse. I have to admit that he kind of stumbled slightly with Excession but certainly made his mark with the novel in various other ways. Consider Phlebas was a near masterpiece as was the Algebraist. Here, Banks gets a pretty good clip going and his writing even smacks of literature. That, plus set in amazing fantastical settings (futuristic
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Oct 24, 2011
Peter
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jan 30, 2011
John
rated it: 
It took me a good hundred or so pages to get into this novel. One of the problems, I suppose, with space opera is that when you are creating a galactic culture complete with dozens of races and hierarchies and political structures each with its resistance movements, it requires a lot of exposition. So the first quarter of the book can feel quite bogged down as, for instance, each line of dialog is separated by several bulky paragraphs explaining in gregarious detail the various layers of conte
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Jan 04, 2008
Dan
rated it:
Probably my least favorite of Iain Banks' scifi novels. The writing is uneven, and in need of editing. There are just too many of those short Point Of View chapters from people about to die. Tom Clancy does it a lot, Iain, don't be like Tom Clancy.
On the plus side, most of the book involves wandering through a anarchist society, made possible by abundance, and long arguments about how any anarchist society could work.
There's an interesting contrast between the protagonis More...
On the plus side, most of the book involves wandering through a anarchist society, made possible by abundance, and long arguments about how any anarchist society could work.
There's an interesting contrast between the protagonis More...
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Oct 30, 2011
Elf
rated it:
In the end, I enjoyed The Algebraist. It was long, and in some places a bit of a slog. I kept track: it took me eighteen solid hours to read my way through it. I don't read mysteries, so the two big surprises of the book were surprises to me, and in the end I was quite impressed with the way Banks had laid out the clues, giving me a "Wow, that should have been obvious in restrospect" feeling akin to reading Agatha Christie.
Banks's sense of cosmic wonder is infectious even More...
Banks's sense of cosmic wonder is infectious even More...
Jun 28, 2011
Jacqie
rated it:
Well, this was another Iain Banks book that I couldn't finish. I loved the first stuff I read by him-Inversions, Consider Phlebas, Look to Windward, and I thought Player of Games was fine. What has changed? Is it me?
Perhaps. Perhaps the magic of the incredible settings that Ian Banks imagines has worn off for me, and I want more from the books. In some of the past books, characters have been satisfying as well. Not in this one. We have a protagonist that I wasn't even sure was g More...
Perhaps. Perhaps the magic of the incredible settings that Ian Banks imagines has worn off for me, and I want more from the books. In some of the past books, characters have been satisfying as well. Not in this one. We have a protagonist that I wasn't even sure was g More...
Mar 31, 2011
Shawn
rated it:
Whilst the Culture hangs over all Iain M Banks writings, this is a departure to a fully realised place in time and space that lets Banks create and historically delineate another Space Opera reality and he does is spectacularly well.
The Dwellers have to be one of my favourite creations, insouciant aliens in a galaxy teeming with interstellar life, civilisations, empires and technology. In the midst of this crowded galaxy our hero Fassin Taak must seek the secret of the Dwellers, but More...
The Dwellers have to be one of my favourite creations, insouciant aliens in a galaxy teeming with interstellar life, civilisations, empires and technology. In the midst of this crowded galaxy our hero Fassin Taak must seek the secret of the Dwellers, but More...
Sep 13, 2010
Alan
rated it:
It's all a bit too much, isn't it? I mean, every page—sometimes every paragraph on every page—of The Algebraist throws in the names of new planets, principalities and vast empires; lost races and common aliens of endlessly inventive forms, habitats and abilities; unheard-of technologies, world-sized starships and robots smaller than grains of sand, automated castles, weapons of both mass and intimate destruction... clans, clades and clubs; cross-generational romance... bizarre medicines and food
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Jul 12, 2009
Jonathanstray
rated it:
The Algebraist – Iain M. Banks
In my younger years, I consumed a lot of science fiction. I read Clarke, Asimov, Card, Herbert, all the classic masters and a lot of the lesser lights besides. Somewhere in the late nineties I discovered Iain M. Banks, first stumbling into the epic Against A Dark Background. Being used to rigorously researched treatises that exploited, oh, relativistic mass change or the Coriolis force on a rotating orbital habitat as plot points, I thought, hey, Banks i More...
In my younger years, I consumed a lot of science fiction. I read Clarke, Asimov, Card, Herbert, all the classic masters and a lot of the lesser lights besides. Somewhere in the late nineties I discovered Iain M. Banks, first stumbling into the epic Against A Dark Background. Being used to rigorously researched treatises that exploited, oh, relativistic mass change or the Coriolis force on a rotating orbital habitat as plot points, I thought, hey, Banks i More...
Mar 08, 2011
Matthew
rated it:
I tried to read this three times. The first two times, I got bogged down a hundred pages or so in. This one's a slow starter; a bit too slow, I think. Banks does this.
The plot starts rolling so slowly, like a great freight train starting off, so imperceptible you scarcely notice it, and slowly picks up to an ambling sort of pace, and it's obvious you're going somewhere, but it doesn't really seem all that important, and you don't really think much of it, and it slowly picks up s More...
The plot starts rolling so slowly, like a great freight train starting off, so imperceptible you scarcely notice it, and slowly picks up to an ambling sort of pace, and it's obvious you're going somewhere, but it doesn't really seem all that important, and you don't really think much of it, and it slowly picks up s More...
Apr 15, 2011
Shabbeer
rated it:
Phew....That's the only word i can say after finishing the book...No, no dont think this book is unreadable, its in every way a mini epic...You have a protagonist, unsure about himself, thrust to seek greatness...You have antagonists here who want t take that same....And the rest in between is the story....
So you ask why did i say phew!!! Well, the story is no doubt interesting, a pan-galactic no doubt but there are parts in the book you simply wish weren't there....Lets start with the More...
So you ask why did i say phew!!! Well, the story is no doubt interesting, a pan-galactic no doubt but there are parts in the book you simply wish weren't there....Lets start with the More...
Jun 01, 2011
Jim
rated it:
About 30% in, I'm ambiguous at best about this book so far. It's reading like a cross between China Mieville and Stephen Baxter, ie the uncontrolled vomiting forth of strange words and names combined with a labyrinthine and rather dull plot. I'm hoping it will turn around in the next two-thirds.
[Update] OK, finished the book this morning and I'm still underwhelmed by it. It improved slightly as I read through it, and as the spewing out of new names, places and details gave way to the f More...
[Update] OK, finished the book this morning and I'm still underwhelmed by it. It improved slightly as I read through it, and as the spewing out of new names, places and details gave way to the f More...
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Feb 02, 2010
Robert
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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May 26, 2010
Grant
rated it:
Iain M. Banks. As an avid fan of Science Fiction in general, and Space Opera in particular, some of my favorite authors have listed him as either the person that led them into writing this genre, the person who inspired them, or most often, the primary influence on their work. Needless to say, with such high expectations, I walked into The Algebraist expecting to read, and I do not exaggerate here, one of the best examples of Science Fiction outside of the "classic" authors.
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Apr 18, 2009
Paul
rated it:
Truthfully I wanted to like this book a lot more than I wound up actually liking it.
The trouble with this book, I think, is twofold. The first problem is that much of the book takes place in wildly alien landscapes, with the human protagonist spending the bulk of the story inside a small extreme-environment craft, interacting with the world with a level of absctraction that makes the action hard to follow. The main alien race, the Dwellers, are likewise difficult to visualize, and I More...
The trouble with this book, I think, is twofold. The first problem is that much of the book takes place in wildly alien landscapes, with the human protagonist spending the bulk of the story inside a small extreme-environment craft, interacting with the world with a level of absctraction that makes the action hard to follow. The main alien race, the Dwellers, are likewise difficult to visualize, and I More...
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Jan 25, 2012
Corytregoart
rated it:
This is my favorite Banks novel I've read so far. I enjoy his Culture novels, very much so in fact, but I enjoy this setting even more. It has a different and, to me, more interesting flavor. In contrast to the peaceful and prosperous anarchy of the Culture, the universe of The Algebraist is more rigid, infinitely more hierarchical, and definitely less tolerant, and I found it fascinating. The same sense of humor, fun, and versatile creativity pervades this book, though.
The only thin More...
The only thin More...
Mar 05, 2011
Amanda
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Mar 13, 2011
Satire on a Cosmic scale: This is only the second Banks book I have read, and on the whole found it very entertaining. However, you do need to concentrate if you want to get the best out of it, as there are a lot of invented words and phrases, and I found myself having to re-read certain passages to get the context of later events.
Done on a massive scale; criss crossing the galaxy, while at the same time introducing elements of farce, e.g., Dweller Formal Wars with dreadnoughts!
My only real More...
Done on a massive scale; criss crossing the galaxy, while at the same time introducing elements of farce, e.g., Dweller Formal Wars with dreadnoughts!
My only real More...
Feb 20, 2011
La storia di per sé è affascinante pur nella sua semplicità: una quest in un pianeta gassoso abitato da esseri quasi immortali ma dalle abitudini e vizi molto concreti e simpaticamente futili, una guerra galattica che incombe guidata da un cattivo cattivissimo. L'ambientazione è quella della space opera classica: tunnel spaziali, astronavi tecnologiche e pianeti dagli ecosistemi più strani.
Ma...il mio limite di sopportazione nei confronti della verbosità degli autori si sta abbassando sempre di More...
Ma...il mio limite di sopportazione nei confronti della verbosità degli autori si sta abbassando sempre di More...
Feb 14, 2011
Tim
rated it:
A big science fiction thriller - best science fiction book of the year according to Amazon.com If you like science fiction, and an epic scale - covering galaxies, not just star systems - and set far enough into the future - 4034AD - that the mundane limitations of our technology is no longer a constraint, you'll find this tale a fun read. I did.
A tale of a menacing force bearing down on an isolated remnant of sentient beings (not just humans any more), and one individual trying to f More...
A tale of a menacing force bearing down on an isolated remnant of sentient beings (not just humans any more), and one individual trying to f More...
Feb 13, 2011
Simon
rated it:
Anyone expecting conventional space opera or hard sf may be confused or disappointed by this one. The plot is deliberately meandering, the ending purposely anti-climactic. Banks is interested in playing with different timescales and perspectives, embodied in the Dwellers who live life at a slower pace and who find the impending galactic war a bit of an irrelevant bore.
In the first half there's a lot of world-building and info dumps, but I found this to be some of the more interesting mater More...
In the first half there's a lot of world-building and info dumps, but I found this to be some of the more interesting mater More...
Sep 22, 2010
Evilynn
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jan 05, 2010
Monk
rated it:
This is a new genre for me. My first (so far as I can recall) "Space Opera," and I was beginning to think the fat alien would never sing...
Uneven reactions to an uneven book. In the book's favor, the writing is intelligent and challenging, and Banks' imagination is absolutely stunning. That alone is enough to make the book worth reading. However, there was plenty here that was off-putting. The tone of the book is uneven, and one wonders whether Banks can't decide to be Asimo More...
Uneven reactions to an uneven book. In the book's favor, the writing is intelligent and challenging, and Banks' imagination is absolutely stunning. That alone is enough to make the book worth reading. However, there was plenty here that was off-putting. The tone of the book is uneven, and one wonders whether Banks can't decide to be Asimo More...
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Dec 27, 2011
Kate
rated it:
Not my favorite but still worthy of a re-read. Set outside the Culture universe (they hate AI...oh, the humanity!!).... over-the-top bad guys are coming to conquer the also rather bad system of our hero Fassin. Well, sort of a hero... sort of coming to conquer (after the second reading I still can't quite work out why the invasion fails). Love Mr Banks so I persevered with this book, but it didn't grab me like his other novels. A bit overlong I think...too many leads that aren't followed up o
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Jan 18, 2011
Mark
rated it:
Fantastic non-Culture novel by Iain M. Banks. This was really imaginative, and was a lot of fun to read. Typical Banks big ideas, along with an interesting cast of characters. The novel portrays some very interesting contrasts between slower than lightspeed and FTL travel, and the implications on the civilizations using each. In particular, the characterization of "The Slow" one species of which lives in the atmosphere of gas giants provided a wonderful commentary on aspects of con
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