In case you are unfamiliar with the story, yes, Iain M. Banks is the same guy as Iain Banks. He decided to add the "M." to his name for his science fiction stories is due to familial pressure. I can't remember what the M. stands for now, but I do remember listening Mr. Banks telling his interviewer on the radio that his family had said to him, "What the matter with Mackenzie (or whatever the M stands for), ashamed of your family's heritage are you?". And so, the M. only appears on his SF.

Anyway, that bit of trivia aside, what's the story like? It's not a Culture story per se, but it does feature some weapons with a sense of humour - Lazy Guns. This gizmos weigh less if you turn them upside down and are massy but light. They also work on principles unknown now to man (mankind has gone through several cycles of high science and barbarism), producing varied effects depending on the situation - like dropping a ten ton weight on someone, or smothering them with fish. Anyway, the story is that Sharrow has to find one of these guns, the last, in fact, and turn it over to a bizarre religious sect called the Huhsz who will accept it in lieu of killing her. The story takes place in all sorts of locations from a glass swimming pool high in the mountains with a 20,000 foot drop directly beneath it to a planet covered with a huge vegetable organism that covers two thirds of the planet's surface at any time.

There are train robberies, vault robberies, armoured hovercraft, people who think they are god (and refer to everyone else as their "apparences"), androids with a sense of adventure and more stuff. It all points to another great story from one of my favourite authors.

Ben gives it:

Price: £8.99 (but it's quite old now and this is one of those large format paperbacks)
Published by: Orbit (ISBN 1-85723-185-6)

last updated: 23rd November 1996