I first read Consider Phlebas from Iain M. Banks over 28 years ago when I was on an overland journey to the Munich beer festival in a camper van with some friends. This was my introduction to the world of The Culture and Banks’ visionary description of a highly liberal, extremely technically capable, but morally ambiguous galactic civilisation largely run by sentient machines.
I don’t often re-read books but this series deserves the time. It has been fresh in my mind as some of the ship names from the Culture series have been used by Spacex to name their automated drone landing ships for their Falcon 9 rockets. Musk must be a fan of the series as well.
I like the way Banks’ uses short acronyms to abbreviate vastly powerful ships – as if they are common and insignificant. The General Systems Vehicle (GSV) for example is described as being cabable of creating pretty much anything including the construction of new “Minds” and other powerful ships. The descriptions of Orbitals, Rings and Spheres (similar to Dyson spheres, that also appeared in the Star Trek universe) are vivid and plausible.
In Consider Phlebas, Banks explains that some cultures are opposed to AI or to the creation of sentient machines. This discord has relevance in today’s age with the rise of AI use cases in business and some people’s concerns about the impact this will have on jobs and broader society.
Banks’ description of the main protagonist Horza is warm and and his sympathy for the Idirans even theough they are probably facing an implacable enemy in the Culture, who are almost a sleeping giant rings true.
It’s a shame that Iain Banks has passed away. I got tremendous enjoyment from his brilliant Sci-Fi books over the years, especially the Culture series. They are all stored away up in the attic of my home and I think I’m going to re-read them all.