Banks is an extremely prolific modern Scottish writer. His works are pretty intelligent and they let you understand and figure stuff without spelling everything out. The drag is that most of his stuff is unavailable in the US. Americans' loss. Americans can order from the UK from The Internet Book Shop or Amazon-UK.

He also writes scifi as Iain M. Banks - someone told me but I forget what the M stands for.

Our heroine, a Japanese cellist, is caught on a ship in Panama Canal during some sort of severe war. Bad guys infiltrate the ship and action thriller stuff happens. Banks gets some good observations of life, especially in the omniscient flashbacks, but it's mostly thriller.

A serial killer is running about Scotland and environs doing nasty things to evil right-wingers. A single, leftist, Edinburgh journalist gets more involved than he'd like. The plot may sound stale, but it's fairly original. The journalist's tale is presented in the 1st person. Simple enough, but the killer's is presented in the (!) 2nd person, which feels pretty novel.

The book is fairly short, well written, intelligent, full of reminders that it's authentically Scottish, and can be hard to put down. On the other hand, it can get a bit crude and in some cases unnecessarily so.

Our protagonist is a Scottish university student who is from a small town where everyone's lives are intimately intermixed. Generations have grown up together, families intermarry, and all sorts of life happens. Banks injects a weakish mystery to keep the purpose alive, but the real value of this book is the journey, not the destination. It's modern and hip (well sort of), yet timeless and classic. A very nice read. See Ben's review.

A semi forgotten once-huge rock star has plenty of money, plenty of wacky experiences (and baggage) a good hold of himself, but hasn't figured out quite how to be happy in the world - but he tries. Full of philosophy and attitude from Banks, this is one of his best.

Quite a tale. The story is really about powers who think they know what's good for others, and who are willing to impose their views on them. The dramatic turn occurs when those powers get their comeuppance, but the fun is in the disagreement beforehand - there are those who disagree with the idea of teaching lessons to those who "need" them.

Unless you really despise scifi, I'd definitely recommend this book. If you love scifi, read another Culture book first (Player of Games would do fine) to get the setting.

Apparently this was Banks' first scifi effort. You can tell he's a good writer, but this is the kind of scifi that makes me dislike scifi. The techocrud is stilted, the story is an uncompelling vehicle for an alternative environment description, and I had to force myself to finish it.

Gurgeh is a guy who spends his time playing games. That's what he does. He lives in the Culture, an "ideal" society free of laws, wars, etc. Even so, even the Culture has its government spooks. One day he is approached with a suggestion that he go far far away to play the most complex game known to the spooks. He doesn't know what the stakes are, nor who is competitors will be....

Banks is really very good. The prose is well written and mostly interesting, but there are sections which are not up to snuff. Also, I want scifi to let me forget I'm reading science fiction. Banks does well, but could do better.

We're involved in a futuristic war in which England is taken over by anarchy and force. An aristocrat finds his ancestral home used as a bastion by an independent troop of soldiers, and learns a bit about himself, his S.O., and people.

A superwarrior trots about galaxy doing dirty work for well-intended Special Circumstances divisionof The Culture. An old and mysterious tale of familial issues woven throughout distracts and completely misses the mark at an attempted climax. For diehard fans only.

Seventeen-year-old Isis is the Chosen One in a small modern-day cult practicing in Scotland. The cult seems on the up-and-up, but we discover, through Isis' maturing eyes, dark secrets both past and present. Quality work, but not a compelling tale.