Matter

Banks's science fiction just keeps getting better, in marked contrast to his contemporary fiction. Here the breadth of ideas on show is simply breathtaking. Vast in scope, epic in scale, Banks effortlessly weaves several narrative strands into a coherent whole, as his protagonists converge on Sursamen, one of the ancient shellworlds, constructed aeons ago by a vanished ancient civilisation. The Culture and several other alien species feature heavily and despite being 500 pages, the book is immensely readable. A fine addition to the Culture series and proof that Banks is our finest Science Fiction novelist.