Alexander answers “Is it important to read the first 4 books...”

Daniel Astacio asked this question about Excession (Culture #5):

Is it important to read the first 4 books in the culture series before reading Excession ? I've never read any Iain M. Banks books before but would like to read this one.

Alexander Not really crucial, if you're good at inference, but reading any one or two (even later-written works) before this one, to set the stage, would defini…moreNot really crucial, if you're good at inference, but reading any one or two (even later-written works) before this one, to set the stage, would definitely help appreciate the depth of this book's coolness. The Culture novels aren't sequential as far as I can tell, and don't really share persistent heroes, although creatively binding philosophical concepts are prevalent. What Banks does with "Excession" is to focus on what I consider to be some of his more cool ideas, such as the casual and formal relationships between near-omnipotent AIs, and humanity's place in a universe where the illusion of total freedom is truly as good as the real thing. I personally got into the Culture novels agnostic of their published sequence, and still "Excession" instantly joined my pantheon of favorite sci-fi books. As for a couple of good introductions to the Culture universe, I've read all the books by now (worth it), and "Use of Weapons" and "Player of Games" are not only some of the more exciting fan favorites, but a couple of mine as well.(less)

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