Review: Consider Phlebas

Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've been told that this isn't a great start to Banks' work. That he has much better stuff in his catalog and starting with this might turn you off. After finishing Phlebas, I can see why people would say that. Not because his other stuff is good (to be fair, I haven't read it yet), but because this book is so meh. It tries so hard to entertain and impress, but I can't help but feel a dryness to it. Not Kim Stanley Robinson kind of dry, but more of a licking sandalwood kind of dry.

The book is just fine in most areas, think in the arenas of pacing and prose, but what it fails in sticks out so much more because what it succeeds in it only does so in the mildest of terms. The uninteresting characters are so much blander because the pacing is only modest. There is also a severe lack of scope that undercuts everything else. The world this book takes place is suppose to be so much bigger but the narrative is so two-dimensional. No book is perfect, but what is wrong with it happens to stand out so much more than what actually works.

Also, action doesn't equal plot development. Just because characters are throwing their fat around, doesn't mean the plot is actually moving. This is more of a general comment that applies to most books, but it needed to be said.

Double also, the only science fiction book that can justify having an appendices is Dune. Not even the works of Asimov or Clarke can get away with that shit. Get the fuck over yourself.

If this book succeeds in one thing more than any other, is that it sparked a debate within me between the nature of fantasy and science fiction writings. It stuck out to me that this book claims to be science fiction but mostly reads like a fantasy novel. If you asked a random person if a book that contains a religion called the 'Circle of Flame' and asked them if it was science fiction and fantasy, what do you think their answer would be? I'm not saying books in well-defined genres need to be written in a certain way, but the debate persisted. I don't have a clear answer, but anyone reading it might also notice it.

Am I going to read more of Banks? Probably not. Maybe one day to spite those who say his other works are good, but for now they win this one. I rushed through the latter half of this book, and I only do that when the book is super good or I just want the pain to be over. This book isn't a broken arm painful but more like an annoying paper cut that just won't heal.

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