The State Of The Art

I first read this ages ago, but recently I've thought of rereading some of the Culture books. It seems the stories in this collection were written around the same time as Iain M Banks' debut Culture novel: "Consider Phlebas". I thought the title story worked well, while the others were a bit of a mixed bunch. Some I enjoyed (Descendant, Cleaning Up), while others didn't appeal as much.

The book had about 50 pages repeated and missed text right in the middle of the best short story in the book, "The State of the Art," which I had to read elsewhere.I wasn't a fan of at least half the short stories. They were just not up to the standard expected from the author.

This is a good mix of short stories in the "M" Banks sci-fi mould. They were all written in the late eighties and have a freshness, directness and clarity that has sometimes been lost in his more recent, weightier novels.With one or two exceptions, the stories appear as an isolated episode from what one might suppose is a longer narrative. It's almost as though I'd picked up a novel in a friend's bookcase, read a few pages at random and made a mental note to obtain the whole book.The eponymous story is a gem of a tale that blends the blemished reality of 20th Century Earth with the ideals of the Culture. As such, it's a hybrid between Banks with and without the "M". It's longer than a "short" story, yet too abbreviated to be a novel. I was captured by its drama and ideas.

My copy arrived in good time,and in good condition.Its a collection of shorts plus a novella.It's not all in "the culture" universe, and if you're used to his later, grander work, well, he hadn't worked up to quite that standard then.But, it's still petty good in it's own right, and as a collection-completer, it's a must-have.

gift for son