Once you get used to it, it won't let you go.

This simple statement holds a profound truth. When we become accustomed to a particular situation, habit, or thing, it has a way of embedding itself deep within us.

We may not even realize how much it has influenced our lives until we try to break free. It could be a daily routine, a relationship, or a particular way of thinking.

The more we engage with it, the stronger its hold becomes. It can be both comforting and confining at the same time.

Sometimes, we may find ourselves trapped in a cycle that we can't seem to escape. But if we are aware of this power, we can make conscious choices to either embrace it or work towards changing it.

Understanding the nature of this phenomenon can help us take control of our lives and make decisions that are in line with our true desires and goals.

Iain Banks is one of my all-time favorite authors. This year, for the first time in approximately 30 years, I'm re-reading all of his science fiction novels. After Against A Dark Background, this is my second read.

Feersum Endjinn is an incredibly imaginative book, brimming with Banks' trademark wit. What makes it especially memorable is that a quarter of it is written as the journal of a character, Bascule the Teller, who can only spell phonetically.

The plot is set on a far-future Earth, where the majority of humanity has long since departed for the stars. It follows multiple characters: a strange emissary named "Asura", chief scientist Gadfium, Count Sessine, and Bascule. Each chapter is divided into four sub-chapters that progress the story of each character until all their storylines converge at the end.

I found that the strangeness of the novel's settings, combined with the multiple points of view, made it challenging to understand what was happening most of the time. (I had few difficulties following the phonetic sections, though.) Some aspects of the plot didn't make sense to me even in retrospect, and I had to search the internet to get some of my questions answered afterwards. As much as I appreciated the book, I can't help but think that perhaps Banks was attempting a bit too hard to be clever and unconventional.

This is the kind of book that nearly forces you to reread it immediately after you've finished it.

It's not because it's a masterpiece of genius, but rather because you're aware that you missed so much during the first reading.

My rating indicates the fact that I didn't extract as much from the book as I ought to have.

The four interwoven stories, neatly divided into ten chapters of four each, are well narrated and connect satisfyingly as the book progresses.

I found the fourth story, that of Bascule the Teller, irritating due to its transliterated text-speak. (It should be noted that this book was written long before anyone was texting.)

On the positive side, it breaks up the stories and gives the entire novel a certain innovative feel.

However, life is too short to spend time decoding.

You can quickly grasp the essence of what's happening, but at night, it was these chapters that most made my eyes slide from one page to another.

June 10, 2018

At present, I am reading the book for the third time. Amazingly, it turns out to be even more rich, more delicious, and more riveting than either of my first two readings. This book is truly a work of sheer imaginative genius. The author's creativity and talent are simply outstanding. Every page is filled with vivid descriptions and captivating storylines that draw me in deeper and deeper. I find myself completely immersed in the world created by the author.

As I read, I can't help but think about how much I miss Banks. His works have had a profound impact on me, and this book is no exception. It makes me realize how much I value good literature and the power it has to touch our hearts and minds. I will continue to cherish this book and look forward to reading more of Banks' works in the future.

This was the very first book by Banks that I have ever had the opportunity to read.

I have a suspicion that it might potentially be my last one as well, unless by some strange chance another one pops up in the SF Masterworks collection.

Interestingly, every fourth section of this book was penned in a rather peculiar dialect of text message shorthand. This made it extremely troublesome to read, yet paradoxically, these very sections turned out to be the best parts of the entire book.

On the whole, the remainder of the book was quite confusing and failed to engage me in any meaningful way.

My sincere advice would be not to bother with this book at all. It simply requires far too much hard work and the reward at the end is not sufficient to justify the effort expended.

It's a real pity, as I had high hopes for this particular work, but unfortunately, it just didn't live up to my expectations.

Iain M Banks decided to venture off and pen a few non-Culture science fiction books simply to demonstrate his versatility. What emerged was a truly dazzling and baroque novel.

Set in a moribund future Earth on the verge of being submerged by an interstellar dust cloud, the story follows the endeavors of various groups to activate ancient defense systems. These systems, if they indeed exist, might hold the key to saving the day. However, the ruling elite, driven by their own motives, work tirelessly to undermine these efforts.

The book is remarkable for another reason as well. Fully one third of it is spelled phonetically, which means it is best read with a Scottish accent. It could potentially be some sort of literary play on Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting. Despite this quirk, the novel is utterly brilliant.

Re(listen) - huh. It's a cyberpunk novel that manages to blend elements of science fiction, social commentary, and literary experimentation in a truly captivating way.

This was truly one of the worst books I've ever had the misfortune to read.

A full quarter of it is written phonetically, which makes the reading experience extremely frustrating. It's as if the author deliberately set out to make it difficult for the reader to understand.

I persisted in reading because I had heard such good things about it. However, to be honest, I have no idea what I just read. It was like a drug-fueled dream or some other incomprehensible phenomenon.

Nothing in it made any sense at all. The plot was convoluted, the characters were one-dimensional, and the writing style was just plain bad. I would not recommend this book to anyone.

My favorite Banks SF book stands out due to its remarkable wit and boundless imagination.

The unique phonetic speech used in the book might initially seem a bit challenging and take a moment to get accustomed to. However, as one delves deeper into the story, it becomes surprisingly easy to follow.

It is truly a fun read that keeps the reader engaged from start to finish. The author's ability to create a vivid and imaginative world, filled with interesting characters and thrilling plot twists, is truly remarkable.

Each page turn brings new surprises and excitement, making it difficult to put the book down. Whether you are a die-hard SF fan or simply looking for an entertaining read, this Banks SF book is definitely worth checking out.

Wow, what an amazing book!

It's truly a complex and multi-layered work, both in its literal and metaphorical aspects.

A significant portion of it is written in phonetics, which initially makes it quite challenging to read. However, as you progress, you gradually get accustomed to it.

The book features a diverse cast of characters, including birds, ants, and all sorts of strange and wonderful beings.

It often blurs the boundaries between base-reality and other levels of reality, making it difficult to determine where one begins and the other ends.

The story is a thrilling race to save the world, filled with kings, counts, and even an ice skating asura.

Despite its relatively short length, this book took me a considerable amount of time to read. I found myself frequently going back over certain passages, trying to make sense of the intricate plot and the unique writing style.

Thankfully, my efforts were well worth it, as the book comes together beautifully in the end.

Although there were times when it seemed to be meandering without a clear direction, it ultimately proved to be a masterwork by Iain M Bank.

Like many of his other books, it pushes the boundaries of technology and fantasy, while still managing to maintain a sense of coherence and believability.

Seriously, though, I think I'm going to have to take a break from reading Banks for a while, as his books can be quite mind-boggling at times.

3.5 stars

This was truly a rather strange book, even when measured against Iain M Banks’ own standards. It was weird not only in terms of its writing style (those phonetics, oh my! But you do sort of get accustomed to them after a while), but also in terms of the plot directions.

In regard to the plot directions, I found it to be one of the weaker ones among those written by Banks. We had three or four characters in different yet related story arcs, which was fascinating right up until the point where, in my opinion, one or two of the characters’ arcs proved to be rather unnecessary. If there had been less focus and page space devoted to these and more on the others, then when the story arcs merged during the climax, it wouldn’t have felt like a waste of time to some extent.

I have a penchant for the weird, and I especially adore the way Banks played with his narrative styles so extensively in this and the other books of his that I’ve read thus far. So, the phonetics were just an added incentive to carry on with the book. I got what I desired from this. Apart from the plotting issue, all of Banks’ strengths were on display here, so it was an enjoyable book to get through.

This is the first book that I have reread after changing my grade. It is still an excellent book, but I no longer consider it to be grand.

Although it is not a Culture book, there are some nods to Banks' preferred technologies. Here, he takes the well-worn subject of humanity on Earth at the end of time and gives it a new twist. I thought I saw a couple of nods to Gene Wolfe, but perhaps it is just in my eyes.

The story is told through the weaving of four almost concurrent narratives, including an "infamous" pseudo-phonetic writing. It is made more difficult by the insertion of the text within the normal text, but it becomes easier as you get used to it.

As usual, the future extrapolation and technologies are interesting and complex, and the characters are engaging, even the good guys. However, the choral structure leaves some characterizations underdeveloped.

My main complaint is precisely that some parts are lacking, some characters are left almost blank, and the ending is too hasty and feels contrived. We knew it was going to be like that, but it could have been handled with the same care and detail as the rest of the book. As it is, it seems as if the author was up against a deadline and simply wrapped up the final chapter.

I knew it was going to hit me. At the time, I did some research on this novel and discarded it to continue with others. But since I'm running out of Iain's novels, I had no choice but to pick it up and, indeed, it hit me.

There are several plots with different characters, so you don't get attached to either the story or the protagonists. Moreover, you start to suspect that the timeline is not the same either and everything is even more senseless. And to top it off, one of the stories is translated in a way that resembles the old SMS. In the original, I think I remember it was a kind of phonetic representation. It doesn't advance at all.

I lack the vocabulary to express what I feel, so I leave extracts from other people.

Set in a very, very distant future, with a humanity that has fled from Earth but has left a remnant of the population on our planet that mainly inhabits a titanic space elevator. Virtual reality is the order of the day and one can switch from the real world to the computer (the crypt) with a blink. The technology that has allowed us to reach space and achieve all this technological deployment has been half forgotten, but powerful AIs watch over the planet despite the very obtuse leadership class that governs it. There is cloning, quasi-immortality, humans incarnated in mythical beings, a very close end of the world, and, in general, almost all the gadgets that science fiction has created in the last century. And nothing, or very little, is explained, so everyone has to fend for themselves as best they can.

This is how they can sell it to you and it's not a lie. But to get that out of a text that is darker than a cricket's bottom requires a special kind of stuff and I don't even come close to the average level. The last quoted sentence, the one about "everyone fending for themselves", is almost perfect. It's not perfect because the gods of the internet were kind enough to show me an outdated blog that still survives, which I quote:

It's a too complicated book, for what little it offers, it's too baroque and convoluted and above all it's little more than an exercise in style mixing flashbacks, with very real virtual chapters and very virtual real chapters, it's an incomprehensible jumble.

We are reading a book that requires an inordinate amount of attention from the reader not to get lost in such impossible and gratuitous sentences as, for example: "There resided the meaning of the core of what lacked meaning and the lack of meaning at the center of the meaning", and please don't ask me for the context to understand the sentence because the context could be worse.

Please, don't try it. Save your wallet from buying said book, you have been warned.

Via http://enclavepublica.blogspot.com/20...

May the gods of cyberspace be benevolent with such a titan who had warned us.