I participated in the "Letting People Choose What I Read" Challenge, and this book was Paula's pick.

At first glance, this book seemed rather thin, only about 200 pages. However, once I opened it, I was immediately drawn into a world filled with non-stop action, mystery, and what I believe to be one of the largest fictional universes I've ever encountered.

The story follows four characters from diverse walks of life in this incredibly vast and seemingly endless world. There's a chief scientist, a high-ranking member of the court, a "teller," and a mysterious woman. Together, they embark on a journey to uncover the secrets behind the war between Scientists and Engineers regarding an event known as The Encroachment.

This is a highly imaginative tale that has truly captivated my mind. From the creative exploration of Technological Singularity theories to the intricate web of conspiracy that surrounds the entire planet, not to mention the multi-perspective narrative that is written from the authentic viewpoints of the characters. The author expertly weaves all the details together without overwhelming the reader, at least not for me.

One of the most unique aspects of this book is the writing style used for one particular character. It is phonetically written, which not only creates a sense of intrigue but also a strong attachment to the character. I couldn't help but fall in love with this interesting and refreshing character. It was a strange yet exciting addition to the story.

The world-building in this book is truly epic. I don't use that word lightly. The descriptions are so vivid that the enormous world structure feels full of substance. I found myself craving more of this world, with its complex politics, power struggles, assassinations, and action-packed hide-and-chase scenes. In fact, I think this book has so much potential that it should be developed into a series. The author has only just scratched the surface of this gigantic world-like structure.

Overall, reading this book was an amazing experience for me. If you're a fan of epic science fiction stories, I highly recommend that you pick up this book. It truly deserves a 5/5 star rating.

It's quite humorous to consider this book as "sweet".

However, when it concludes with Bascule having discovered his ant, that was precisely the first word that sprang to my mind.

In a sense, it's not a highly linear book, as there are four (or perhaps truly three) characters who migrate from diverse areas to come together.

Nonetheless, I truly had a great liking for it.

The way the characters' paths intertwined and the unexpected twists and turns made it a captivating read.

Each character brought their own unique charm and personality, which added depth and richness to the story.

Despite its non-linear nature, the book managed to hold my attention from start to finish, leaving me with a sense of satisfaction and a longing for more.

It's a book that I would highly recommend to others, especially those who enjoy stories that are a little different and offer something unexpected.

I have been an avid reader of science fiction since my childhood, devouring the works of great authors like Arthur C. Clarke, Ray Bradbury, Roger Zelazny, and Philip K. Dick. Their stories opened up new worlds and possibilities in my mind, captivating me with their imaginative concepts and engaging narratives.

However, I must admit that I am having a difficult time finding modern sci-fi authors who can match the caliber of these literary giants. While these classic authors may have had their share of less-than-stellar works, their best stories remain some of the most influential and beloved in the genre.

Take, for example, the novel Feersum Endjinn. This book is a prime example of what can go wrong with modern science fiction. It is a bloated, rambling mess of a story that seems to lack any clear direction or purpose. The flights of fantasy in this book are nothing more than a collection of madcap shenanigans borrowed from video game concepts, resulting in a disjointed and ultimately unsatisfying reading experience.

We are introduced to a talking ant named Ergates, a babbling disembodied flayed head, a masturbating computer construct imprisoned in a tower, ape men, a worm hole, talking birds, mastodons, and a whole host of other silly and pointless characters and concepts. There is no underlying organizing principle to tie all of these elements together, and as a result, the book reads like a random collection of ideas thrown at the wall in the hopes that something will stick.

I don't know. Maybe I'm being too harsh, but I just can't help but feel that modern science fiction has lost its way. There are still some great authors out there, but they seem to be few and far between. I long for the days when science fiction was truly innovative and thought-provoking, when it could transport me to strange new worlds and make me question the very nature of reality.

DNF (Did Not Finish) is such a frustrating thing. I simply cannot bring myself to read this horrible phonetic language. It's like trying to decipher a code that makes no sense.

As much as I love the author, I just can't waste my time on this book. It's a real pity because I had such high expectations. But sometimes, no matter how much you want to like something, it just doesn't work out.

I'm sure there are other great books out there waiting for me to discover. Maybe I'll find one that will capture my attention and keep me hooked from start to finish. Until then, I'll keep looking and hoping for that perfect read.

For now, I'll have to say goodbye to this particular book and move on. It's a hard decision, but sometimes it's necessary to make in order to find the books that truly speak to us.

I have very mixed feelings about Banks's work. His early non-SF novels from the 80s and early 90s truly made a deep impression on me. They were engaging and had a certain charm. However, from the mid-90s onwards, I gradually lost my interest in his output. When it comes to his SF, I've never really been a big fan. But still, I keep giving it a try.

FEERSUM ENDJINN is a rather strange one. While I did have some enjoyment while reading it, I can't overlook its flaws. For me, the novel is like something that looks good on the surface but lacks real substance. The plot seems more like a trick, full of smoke and mirrors. We view the story through the eyes of numerous characters, but very few of them have any real power or influence (we could probably remove many of them without affecting the story at all). And, as is often the case with Banks's writing, his prose can sometimes verge on being overly flowery.

Nevertheless, the world and characters that Banks has created are indeed interesting and entertaining. This is where I got some enjoyment from. Sadly, though, the story itself doesn't amount to much. As for the sections written in semi-phonetic pidgin English, I found them quite irritating. They didn't add anything to the reading experience and, in my opinion, were just a pointless affectation. I really wish I could like Banks's later work and his SF more than I do. After all, he was one of the good guys, and it makes me feel bad to be so negative. Oh well, maybe I'll give another one of his works a try.

The problem with this book is that a significant portion of it is written in a sort of pretend phonetic version of English.

Just the thought of this immediately turns me off. However, upon closer inspection, it is not overly difficult to understand.

The entire book is so enchanting and captivating, and the ending is so satisfying and pleasing that this initial difficulty is quickly set aside.

I truly believe that this is one of my all-time favorite novels by Iain M Banks.

His unique writing style and the engaging storyline draw the reader in and keep them hooked until the very end.

The characters are well-developed and the world-building is truly remarkable.

Despite the minor issue with the phonetic writing, the overall quality and charm of the book make it a must-read for any fan of science fiction or great literature in general.

Half the characters in this are ghosts, and one of the less-noted things about ghost stories is that they are wildly optimistic: they tend to show justice prevailing. Yes, fine, the ghost's revenge is a gory, creepy, retributive justice, and a bit late, but it's still the victim's triumph.

The narrator Bascule makes or breaks the book. He's a good character - like Molesworth on the Web - but I couldn't stand his phonetically told sections when I read this as a teen. And you'll see the reviews below focus on him despite him being only about a quarter of the focalisation. Bad spelling (cognitive dysfunction) is rare in sci-fi, especially in SF titles, perhaps because the authors are trying to be taken seriously to make up for the genre fiction status. But I've gotten over it since. Maybe it would be better as an audiobook.

The characters are squatting their own civilization. What lives on (after a relatively gentle apocalypse) is more self-conscious and historically conscious than that in "Book of the New Sun". It's not ruined, just forgotten, off the wavefront, using the space elevator as a house. The cyberspace is pretty good (better than some others because less neat).

One virtuoso passage describes the species' trajectory after a nebula occludes the sun. Humanity leaves the surface to the ice, wind, and snow, and shelters within the stony depths, finally resembling parasites. They take all their knowledge and memories with them. The buried citadels become small worlds of refugee communities. What's left of humanity persists, retreating further until it gives up the struggle to remain in macrohuman form and resorts to a virtual environment. The sun continues to expand, and Earth doesn't survive much longer.

Problems: The climax occurs about 2/3 through. Bascule escapes the king's secret police despite being hooked into the brain surveillance network. Banks shows the crypt people having accelerated cognition but without Ems dominating the economy and society. It's set on Earth, which is odd for Banks and not used much. There are several virtual worlds that are insufficiently different from each other and base reality. There's none of the sheer stakes, grandeur, and philosophical tension of the Culture books. It's fun but a mere sketch.

When I completed this novel, I was truly uncertain whether I liked it or not.

A significant portion of the book was penned in the vernacular of our grammar-challenged hero, which made it a bit of a struggle at times. Additionally, there was a whole lot of complex and heady stuff such as cyber regions and vast settings that Iain Banks threw at the reader.

In fact, I even had to search the Internet for discussions on the story afterwords to ensure that what had happened was indeed what I thought had occurred.

However, looking back after a few days, I simply couldn't help but be deeply impressed with the novel as a whole.

So yes, if you've read Iain Banks before, you already know just what a brilliant chap he is. This novel, like all the other ones I've read by him, is most definitely worth the effort.

It's a work that makes you think, challenges your understanding, and yet, in the end, leaves you with a sense of admiration for the author's creativity and storytelling prowess.

It's not an easy read, but it's one that is well worth undertaking for those who appreciate thought-provoking and engaging literature.

What a novel book! The author's answer on Crack. One of the main characters writes in the first person fanatically and parts of it is interesting. It isn't half bad though it slowed me down a bit.

It is a multi-levelled unique read. It is enjoyable, almost psychedelic and mad fun. The story takes you on a wild ride through different levels of reality and imagination. The characters are vivid and the plot is full of twists and turns.

You never know what's going to happen next. It's like a crazy adventure that you don't want to end. The author's writing style is engaging and keeps you hooked from beginning to end.

Whether you're a fan of science fiction, fantasy, or just a good story, this book is definitely worth checking out.

This book was likely to be more relevant during the time close to its publication.

Unfortunately, it didn't age completely well. There are certain Tron vibes present here with regard to virtual worlds and digital existence.

However, these elements are not sufficient to make it stand on its own in the present day.

The book might have had some interesting concepts back then, but as time has passed, it has failed to maintain its significance.

The virtual world and digital existence ideas it presents could have been developed further to have more impact in the current technological era.

Perhaps if the author had explored these themes more deeply or updated the content over the years, the book would still be relevant and engaging today.

As it stands, it serves as a reminder of the evolving nature of technology and the importance of keeping up with the times in order to remain relevant.

A demanding read but not rewarded by the ending

I don't have a particularly harmonious relationship with cyberpunk. To be more precise, up until now, I've seldom managed to discover books within this sub-genre of science fiction that truly resonate with me. I don't believe this is the fault of cyberpunk itself, as it indeed tackles some extremely engaging themes. Instead, I suspect I might have come across some less-than-ideal works. "Feersum Endjinn" is largely one such example, although I didn't entirely dislike it.

In this review, I won't delve into the plot. Perhaps the most enchanting aspect is to immerse oneself in the universe crafted by the author without any prior knowledge and be astounded by the marvels birthed from his imagination. I'd rather focus on the writing style and attempt to understand why I didn't fully enjoy it.

I did appreciate the choices Banks made regarding the use of narrative techniques. However, I wasn't entirely satisfied with how he implemented them. Carrying forward separate plot lines of a story and then reconnecting them is no easy feat. Regrettably, this approach fails to provide the reader with a clearly defined protagonist. Each of the main characters within the individual plot lines has the potential to be liked by the reader. But the fragmented manner in which they are presented causes the reader to lose that special connection that typically forms between them and the protagonist or another prominent character to whom they might grow attached. This issue is exacerbated by the fact that some of these characters lack depth and seem almost ephemeral. There's a constant sense of reading parallel, albeit separate, stories, almost like different books set within the same universe but not all of the same quality. This can be quite disorienting, especially at the beginning of the reading. However, things do improve as you progress, especially if, like me, you're accustomed to reading multiple stories simultaneously and can keep them all alive in your mind.

Another challenging element is the decision to tell the story of Bascule, one of the main characters, using phonetic spelling (this accounts for approximately a quarter of the entire novel). You have to mentally hear his words in order to understand them. Undoubtedly, this is a bold and highly original choice. On a practical level, though, since I enjoy reading not only for pleasure but also to enhance my language skills (whether it's Italian or any other language I read in), I found this aspect rather irritating. I'm quite sorry about that because the character of Bascule is the best-developed in the entire novel. He tells his story in the first person and does so with a great deal of irony.

Aside from these aspects, as I mentioned earlier, the way the story is told wasn't all that bad. As you read, you start to notice the connections between the various plot lines, and a sense of anticipation builds for an ending that promises significant revelations.

And this is where the main problem lies. After a series of thrilling action scenes, suddenly, you reach an ending that seems to materialize out of nowhere, without resolving anything! Unfortunately, as far as I'm concerned, a good book with a disappointing ending ceases to be truly good. What a pity.

In my opinion, this is Banks' best work yet. I really liked it a lot.

However, there were a few minor difficulties. Approximately one quarter of the book is written phonetically, which is truly interesting, yet rather hard to read. After getting through a couple of chapters, though, one gets used to it.

Also, the description on the back of the edition that I possess is only vaguely related to the actual story. The back discusses Count Sessine, whom I believe is merely a minor character. There is little or no mention of the encroachment (an interstellar dust cloud which poses a threat to extinguish the sun within a few generations) or the fact that the entire world is a gigantic scale model of a single room, with dressers that are miles tall and castles constructed in the chandelier.

Despite these small drawbacks, the overall story is engaging and filled with unique and imaginative concepts that make it a truly captivating read.