Inversions 69
| Inversions | |
| author | Iain M Banks |
| pages | ~400 |
| publisher | Pocket Books, 02/2000 |
| rating | 8/10 |
| reviewer | Duncan Lawie |
| ISBN | 0671036688 |
| summary | A novel of interlocking narratives which combines formal methods and informal prose into a strong story. |
Iain (M.) Banks is one of the more famous split personalities in recent publishing history. He has written ten non-genre novels as Ian Banks and produced eight books of science fiction as Iain M. Banks. His first novel was published in 1984. Reviews of his "literary" works have occasionally suggested a merging of the two streams of his career but this ignores the significant fantastic and science fiction elements present even in his early "mainstream" novels. His "science fiction" has been more clearly defined, with the majority of these works being shaped by the galaxy-spanning civilization known as the Culture.
Inversions, the latest novel by Iain M. Banks, is set in a post medieval world. It is a time after the end of empire, with a new model of devolved power emerging from the chaos. There are two narratives, intercut chapter by chapter and covering the same period but set in the capitals of different countries. The main subjects of the narratives are strangers to the society in which they live but have each made themselves indispensable to the leaders of their nations. One has become the personal bodyguard of the Protector, the leader of a revolution which has overthrown a hereditary monarchy and brought new power to the merchant classes. The other is the king's personal doctor, who has reached that position through her inordinate skill despite being both a foreigner and a woman. This has given each stranger the potential to influence without political office, and their stories reflect the story of their chosen country.
This novel could have been published in the black and white cover of a "mainstream" Ian Banks novel and would still have retained much of its value. However, as a work by Iain M. Banks there are significant resonances with the rest of his science fiction oeuvre. In this light the major inversion of the novel is that the tale of external interference with a developing civilisation is told from the viewpoint of the affected society rather than from the technological standpoint of Banks' previous novels. It does this by using narrators indigenous to the world and limited in their understanding of events. The book is largely successful in this use of fallible narrators and viewed from this angle the tales of mythical lands quickly decode to everyday life in a more advanced society.
Inversions is equally successful in the exposition of its themes. It is a book about change, catching societies at the cusp of advance and displaying alternative approaches. The story of nations is counterpointed by that of individuals and it is the telling of their stories which provides an avenue for understanding the lessons Banks is offering in this book. The resultant novel has a very formal format, being balanced between personal and national viewpoints and with each of the two stories providing a partial key to the other. This produces a roman a clef with the option of further keys through familiarity with Banks' other science fiction. In this context, the mapping of personal development to that of a culture is striking. There is a full involvement with the lives and emotions of the central characters which gives a rounded understanding of these protagonists. Their interests and struggles offer sufficient insight into the larger story of nations to be able to infer a long span of the history of this world from the events of a short period. The combination of formalized style for the novel and the writer's informality work well together. The writing flows easily and the story rapidly draws the reader in. Inversions is an interesting alternate in Banks' science fiction, both for its viewpoint and its formal framework, and as such has much to offer.
Purchase this book at fatbrain.
Re:About Banks and Culture (Score:1)
If you like his science fiction stuff, I'd recommend trying his other (non-scifi) stuff too. Complicity, Espedair Street or The Wasp Factory would be good ones to start with.
Re:Banks -- love him or hate him. (Score:1)
> Street", "The Crow Road", or "Complicity"
> and try telling me he can't.
Alternatively, read "Whit" and watch him prove that sometimes he can't.
I loved "The Wasp Factory" and "The Crow Road", enjoyed "Walking on Glass", "Complicity" and "Espedair Street" (but have no urge to reread them), couldn't get into "The Bridge" (the mad Scots accent did it for me) and stopped reading "Canal Dreams" after the bit where they shoot the hostages, repulsed by the violence (but that's probably just me). Banks is a very inconsistent author. Be warned, people.
Ade_
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"Culture" inversion is right (possible SPOILER) (Score:1)
*cough cough* displaced out? I think so. He did something similar in (IIRC) one of the short stories in State of the Art, where there were a few culture agents on Earth undetected by the population at large and then they left suddenly. This setup's a bit more involved, and nicer in the way it leaves a lot unanswered at the end, but it's the same sort of thing.
Really good book, but then I enjoy all his stuff. I think "Use of Weapons" is my favourite. Lovely sting in the tail of that one.
Re:A bad book by Banks' standards (Score:1)
For example, in the torturer's dungeon when the doctor administers some "medicine" to the prisoner to put him out of his misery, the guard makes her taste it first. She can deal with it because of the Culture glands she has.
And in case you think it really was medicine, notice how she tries to give some to the torturer who she despises..
Re:Banks mainstream books are also good (Score:1)
Re:A bad book by Banks' standards (Score:1)
I hated Song of Stone, and wasn't very fond of The Wasp Factory, but thought that Whit was fascinating. As others have mentioned, The Crow Road and Espedair Street are probably his best non-SF books. Of his SF books, Player of Games and Excession are my favorites.
Re:This isn't a troll (Score:1)
The interesting style referred to may not be something that Ian M. Banks has just invented, but neither is it that common (or indeed something I have seen before).
The viewpoints alternate, by regular chapter between the two characters, in strict rotation, and _only_ those two viewpoints are used. They tell two almost unrelated stories. There are some common events (distant ones, that tend to have an impact on only one of the viewpoints) touched upon between the stories, so the reader can 'synchronise' their timelines, but even then (IIRC, it's been a while since I read the book), the two viewpoints do not completely overlap in time. This is a deliberate and obvious literary device used by the narrator of the story (see below, there is seperation of author and narrator).
Finally it turns out when you get to the end of the book you discover that both viewpoints are being related to you by a single character, who is trying to record a period of history through his/her's own viewpoint, and that of someone far away, whose story (s)he has had to research.
The major Inversion the reviewer refers to (that of a "Culture intervention" viewed from the perspective of those being intervened with), is something that is not strongly telegraphed: the narrator of the two histories is unaware of the intervention, (s)he just presents evidence that those who have read other culture books can make the inference from.
There are probably quite a few other tricks going on that I have either forgotten, or just not had the wit to observe.
Another Me Too (Score:1)
Consider Phlebas is gigantic in its backdrop but never loses site of the individuals in its universe (the fleash eaters and the hero's escape will always be stuck in my mind).
I still have to read the Player of Games.
Check Banks out. He is both deeply interested in the future and somewhat skeptical.
Good mix for us geeks to be exposed to.
Re:To M or not to M, that is the question (Score:1)
AFAIK Mr. Banks is now carrying out his oft expressed plan of releasing ALL his books as Iain M. Banks, regardless of content.
Having just received The Business, his very latest, for Christmas, I have to cast doubt on your assertion. The Business is boldly attributed to Iain Banks (no M.).
Name of the Rose (Score:1)
Re:Structure in writing (Score:1)
Very true. Much of Inversions will not resonate properly without an appreciation of (M.) Bank's earlier work.
I suggest that Player of Games is a better introduction to the Culture though. Use of Weapons, also my favourite so far, is another that I would save for a second or third book. Start with Consider Pheblas or Player, in my opinion.
Kind Regards,
Re:If you enjoyed this book ... (Score:1)
Anything by Gene Wolfe, but particularly his Soldier of the Mist and Soldier of Arete. Also, The Book of the New Sun must not be missed.
Cordwainer Smith aka Paul M. A. Linebarger, just beacuse. A short story collection, The Rediscovery of Man was reprinted by Orion/Millenium last year.
Stanislaw Lem clearly inspiered Banks. Read especially Memoirs Found In a Bathub.
Of course, you already know about Philip K. Dick, "James Triptree Jr.", Harlan Ellison, Ursula Le Guin and Roger Zelazny, Right?
Kind Regards,
Re:About Banks and Culture (Score:1)
False advertising (Score:1)
And that would be...? If you are referring to alternating chapters set in different viewpoints, you need to get out more. That's pretty old--"standard" you might even say.
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TROLL?? (Score:1)
Has no one here read "Permutation City", "Lord of the Rings", or the Foundation Series? All of these (and many many more) juxtapose two cultures/mileus/scopes some in alternating chapter format, some in slightly different formats. For crying out loud, the fscking X-FILES has done this. Fact, not troll: THIS IS NOTHING NEW.
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Re:Wasp Factory (Score:1)
Re:Wasp Factory (Score:1)
i didnt pick up on that.
how is the puzzle described?
Banks mainstream books are also good (Score:1)
Right now I'm reading "The Bridge", and it is very grandiose in its setting (the whole world is a never ending bridge), and it has a very good love story in it that sort of reminds me of the one in "The English Patient", but the parallell plots are quite confusing, and even though I haven't finished it yet, it feels like he wasted it by trying to be too clever.
Many of his books could easily be made into films, and it amazes me that it still has not happened.
The best SF writer in Europe, I think.
Re:A bad book by Banks' standards (Score:1)
The presence and function of the drone is telegraphed for at least half of the book, and in fact does not save the Doctor, at in that her "quest" is effectively doomed by the event in question. That her ideals live on in the society s a furtherance of the themes of outside cultural influence which the book is about (the direct method fails, but "converting" individuals works)... even though she thinks she's failed.
On reflection, the drone is not "unexpected technology", but is a central element to her character.
I have to say that I was a bit nonplussed by the ending (after a number of enthusiastic moments during the reading), but thinking over it afterwards, I've only revised my opinion upwards. I'll have to see how it fares after a re-read, once the rest of my book pile shrinks a little
Re:This book: (Score:1)
Banks -- love him or hate him. (Score:1)
I fall in the 'hate' category, myself. I read his acclaimed book 'Feersum Endjinn' to see what he was like. It was a torture test for me. The book contained no new ideas, soft 'space opera' type science explanations, and one third of it was written as if by an illiterate child, making it painfully hard to read.
After finishing Feesum Endjinn, I thought that maybe it was just an unusual Banks novel, and he deserved a second chance. So I bought 'Against a Dark Background'. It was much better written, and actually enjoyable in places...but the plot was slow, had no discernable direction, and the ending was unsatisfying and just plain *bad*.
Iain Banks strikes me as someone learning to write. He tries many different writing styles in his books, some of them quite experimental and odd, as if he's testing each style to see what fits best. If you like quirky writing you may enjoy his books. But from what I've read of him, the man has no clue about how to tell a good story, and zero scientific knowledge. I may try his 'literary' offerings someday...but I will never buy a science fiction book by Iain Banks again.
Re:Banks -- love him or hate him. (Score:1)
Being Scottish helps a lot for this ;)
stopped reading "Canal Dreams" after the bit where they shoot the hostages, repulsed by the violence
And you liked "the Wasp Factory" and "Complicity"???
I think "Whit" was just him having a dig at organised religion (as was the Wasp Factory, and bits of the Crow Road ... you get the idea).
hmmm ... three posts to this thread, this must be my "work avoidance tactics" again
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Re:Banks -- love him or hate him. (Score:1)
Banks has always experimented with his literary books. Sometimes it works (The Bridge is probably the best example of this, although it borrows heavily from Gray's Lanark.), sometimes it doesn't (Canal Dreams was directionless and obvious). Perhaps you'd rather read a book that mindlessly follows a genre without trying to explore differant avenues, but personally I think that's dull.
As for telling a good story, read "Espedair Street", "The Crow Road", or "Complicity" and try telling me he can't.
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Re:A bad book by Banks' standards (Score:1)
I agree on Canal Dreams, and Walking on Glass, but I must say I really enjoyed Song of Stone. What did you make of "Whit"?
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Not his latest book (Score:1)
Re:Structure in writing (Score:1)
His best (or rather, my favourite) is "The Crow Road". Characterisation, Plot, humour, and a the denouement. All great. Avoid "Canal Dreams" unless you are a completist: his worst. Although "A Song of Stone" wasn't much better.
Inversions I read a while ago and it was definitely in the "OK, but nothing special category".
Re:Wasp Factory (Score:1)
Re:Wasp Factory (Score:1)
More of a riddle really - the whole theme of the book is the loss and rediscovery, and one of the recurring emphases of this is the loss of his name. The books starts with the narrator as a blank slate which is gradually filled in by dreams (which are actually memories). The book ends with him recovering almost everything important to him, including his name, but you are never explicitly told it.
There are, however, two apparently throw-away comments made whilst he is remembering his life that let you work out his name: I don't think this is accidental
Re:Wasp Factory (Score:1)
Re:A bad book by Banks' standards (Score:1)
There's even an Ian M Banks story called "A gift from the culture" which makes sure you know what kind of protection a Culture citizen carries when she's alone in a strange land. Unlike the character in that story the Doctor has not rejected her citizenship, she's still firmly in possession of her technological birthright. I would have cried foul if a drone had arrived (why would a drone bore itself hiding on an uncontacted planet) but the knife is non-sentient, just a smart tool. She probably used it earlier on the two lads who sought to rape her, I haven't read it recently enough to be sure if that's likely.
Deus Ex Machina would be more appropriate if Jeffrey Archer pulled this stunt - should I also be surprised that she disappears in a locked room mystery when I already know there's several million tons of technology waiting in orbit (or is it even in orbit? A Contact vessel summoned to remove a threatened pawn could probably do locked room mysteries with its eyes firmly shut, a light year out of the system)
Common Themes in Banks' work (Score:1)
His protagonists usually live a life happily involving copious amounts of drugs, booze, and casual sex and are usually living a pretty all-round contented life (or were, until something comes along to screw it up). This is fairly obviously the case in The Bridge and Complicity, and less obviously so in Whit (but if you think about it, it's almost exactly the same concept viewed from a different angle, i.e. a benevolent religious cult). In "A Song of Stone" the two main characters seemed to be living a life of happy debauchery before the war came along. I'm still working my way through his other non-SF books, but I wouldn't be surprised to see the same thread evident there.
This is by no means a complaint - Banks is one of my favourite authors: his ability to lay out and develop a story is almost unparalleled in my experience.
All I can say is that if Banks' real life is anywhere near this carefree and content, he is one lucky guy. If my life turns out anything like that I'll die a happy man
[ Side note: I'm surprised the reviewer didn't notice the (I thought fairly obvious) hints that Inversions was another Culture novel, inverted. Consider: the fact that the Doctor was from 'another place' and so far in advance of her peers, the bodyguard telling stories about how he disagreed with the philosophy of 'his people' with regard to intervention in societies, the Doctor's blunt knife with the missing stones which she had to 'exchange' to get her way out of trouble during her voyages, the fact that one of the stones temporarily disappears when she is rescued and later returns, the fact that she is rescued BY THE KNIFE [missile], and the fact that she disappears en route from her sea voyage. Perhaps I noticed it sooner because I was really hoping it would connect to his other body of work, but it was really obvious to me early on. Oh well
About Banks and Culture (Score:1)
I agree that Use of Weapons is his best book. Actually, it is my favorite sci-fi work, period. It took me two reads to really absorb it and subsequent passes never fail to reveal more. I almost never read a book twice, but I don't know how many times I've read UoW. I strongly recommend against making this an introduction to Culture, however. I think the experience would be too overwhelming. A more appropriate starter is Banks' collection of short stories entitled _State of the Art_.
This book: (Score:1)
Gonna get right out there and pick me up a copy!
I think that the juxtaposition of two cultures has not really been done as well as it could be done, with the possible exception of "juxtaposition" by Piers Anthony, and the Star Bellied Sneeches book by Seuss.. but I think these books DO carry something that happens to us every day, but no-one gives much thought to.
You come out if high school and/or college, where jeans and t-shirts were the norm, the social mores, to use that term, and suddenly you are in a world where you may well be judged more heavily by the polish on your shoes than by how well you can do your job.
It is interesting that the people in power, (at least in the companys I have worked for), the ones who actually KNOW what you do seem to have no control over how far you progress, and the people who control how far you progress can only spout lame reviews like "well.. I see you wore jeans one day last year" and "now.. about the bumper stickers on your car.. we really dont feel they portray the company attitude". Never do I hear from a top level manager or anyone with "VP" in their name "thanks for keeping that system up last month" etc...
And I think this is the kind of juxtaposition that should be explored.. it happens to most of us at one point or another, yet I dont recall being warned in school, that its not how well you do your job, in most cases, its how well the clueless people PERCIEVE you to be doing your job that matters. *sigh*
questions? comments? FLAMES?
Maeryk
This isn't a troll (Score:1)
Why has this been moderated as a troll? IIRC the moderator guidelines say that you shouldn't moderate things down on the basis of personal disagreement, and I can't see anything offsensive in his comment. There have been plenty of books written in this style before.
Wasps Nest (Score:1)
You miss the point. (Re:Banks -- love him) (Score:1)
Iain Banks' books aren't about the science and technology he uses-- in fact, he willfully glosses over that in the pursuit of what is far more interesting to him: The story. His books, and especially the Culture novels, are about the possibilities inherent in the Culture, and in the possibilities inherent in the Culture's interactions with other societies, both as advanced and less advanced. He has readily admitted that techie hard-SF writing is not his forte.
The Culture, he admits, is a fairly dull place to live. The most interesting things he does involve looking at the Culture from outside, or from the point of view of people trying to get out of it, as in Use of Weapons. And yes, it does look like he likes to play with writing styles. This shouldn't be considered a bad thing-- it certainly keeps his books from blurring into one another.
But don't read Banks expecting Asimov-type science... He's not hard SF at all.
Josh
Re:This book: (Score:1)
This caught my eye.. It is an unfortunate thing, and very true in too many companies. Things like this do need change, and I *hope* that as time goes on and VPs become closer to our 'technologically aware' generation, this will be a thing of the past.
I am fortunate to be in a company that is quite young. Just the other day our CEO stopped by my office to comment on a project that we are working on with our network, and the CFO always asks how things are going on with our network and what is around the corner. I can only hope that someday every network admin can have the same recognition.
To M or not to M, that is the question (Score:1)
AFAIK Mr. Banks is now carrying out his oft expressed plan of releasing ALL his books as Iain M. Banks, regardless of content.
I wish him good luck dragging his middle initial out of the SF ghetto ;-)
- Andy R.
Banksian Comparitors (Score:1)
Re:Structure in writing (Score:1)
I have long been an admirer of Banks' work, and I thought Use of Weapons was fantastic. But I think that "Player of Games" is his best novel. Though it used no involved or formalised structure, being a straightforward narrative, the portrayal of the two cultures through the medium of the game of Azad was striking.
The main character, in learning this game, learns not only about the culture of his rivals, but in the process gets insight into his own. I will be interested to see how this new one compares.
Re:A bad book by Banks' standards (Score:1)
While I agree that this is not even near his best, there are quite a few clues as to just what the knife is before the end of the book.
Iain M Banks reviews (Score:1)
My website (Vavatch Orbital) [freeserve.co.uk]
I've also got some reviews of his non-Culture novels here [freeserve.co.uk]
Re:If you enjoyed this book ... (Score:1)
As much as I enjoyed "The Name of The Rose", I have to say that Eco's second novel, "Focault's Pendulum", was far superior both in scope and style. Truely a stunning book from a masterful scholar.
pops up out of nowhere and saves the day *SPOILER* (Score:1)
I read book prewiews only after reading the book, but if someone does it other ways around i'd like to see spoiler tags on comments like this one.
Sorry
Banks versus Gibson. (Score:1)
Feersum Endjing being one of his most finest books. It plays in the field of cybegenetics and human mind algorithms, havin pretty feary ideas like hiding virus into psyche. Its pretty clever and I shoud say its the best banks i've read. It has somehow accuired a similar feeling than Dune byt mixed it in the world where everything from the walls to the animals belongs to the cryptosphere (matrix/afterlife) slowly dying in the warmht of last flames of encroaching sun.
It a book of a journey.
and the ending is fearsome.
Re:Banks -- love him or hate him. (Score:1)
Re:If you enjoyed this book ... (Score:1)
I'm surprised no-one has mentioned Iain Banks other multi-threaded novel, Walking on Glass. It was the second Banks novel I read, after Consider.., and was blown away by it.
I've remained an avid Banks fan since, however, I have to admit to growing bored reading Whit (never finished it, you could see what was coming), and I've still yet to finish The Business, which I put down over 2 months ago, and haven't picked up again.
Pete
Re:If you enjoyed this book ... (Score:2)
Back on topic, I've found Iain M. Banks' work to be very good, but he does fall into the typically british problem of wordyness, at least in the opinion of this resident of the Southern U.S.
IMB starter? WARNING, Contains Inversions Spoiler! (Score:2)
Wasp Factory (Score:2)
Re:Banks versus Gibson. (Score:2)
Be warned!
Seriously, though, Inversions is pretty good, but the best of the culture books has to be Use Of Weapons.
dave
This is very *ordinary* by Banks's high standards (Score:2)
Re:pops up out of nowhere and saves the day *SPOIL (Score:2)
That was a spoiler.
Yes, maybe. I hope I haven't spoiled it for anyone (and I don't think I have) but I certainly wouldn't give any more detail than that.
Was the Culture telegraphed from halfway through the book ? Well I don't know what cover you had in the USA, but the UK cover screams "Another Culture Novel" all over it (and Iain "M." Banks is a big hint). Then you read it; there's no use of the Culture (one of Banks' better inventions) and you sit through most of the book waiting for it to happen. The final revelation is poor, ineffective and IMHO gratuitous. It would have been a better book without the Culture involvement -- after all, it added nothing. If the Culture was to make an appearance, then it should have been a full-blown invasion of Arrakis scenario, with helicopter drop-ships and a commanding officer obsessed with medieval jousting, "I love the smell of middens in the morning. Smells of -- feudalism". The Amazon links have some Slack (yeah, strange concept). They're auto-generated inside my browser, with a bit of code I wrote to deal with writing pages of book recommendations that needed associated links. Enter the title, set it off and another browser window goes off and searches, then pastes the ISBN back (maybe I should patent the concept 8-) ). Yes, I hate Amazon's patent usage, but I'm in the UK; we don't have FatBrain and BOL doesn't carry enough tech books.
A bad book by Banks' standards (Score:2)
If this book had been written by someone other than Iain Banks, it would have been slated as a poor pastiche of Banks on a bad day.
This is Banks writing very poorly, in a manner that has no originality left and all he can do is re-hash threads that he was already in danger of over-using. It has all the old Banks favourites in there; the slightly-suppressed horror, the grimy dungeons, but it's unusually light on polished steel spaceships.
Then right at the end, a piece of the Culture's flying cutlery pops up out of nowhere and saves the day. This is a gratuitous deus ex machina that's below the standards of Jeffrey Archer, let alone E E Smith. Any fool can write space opera if you're allowed to simply save the plot by arbitrary invention of unexpected technology.
I never liked Iain M. Banks as much as Iain ~M. (just not my taste), but even the non space-opera hasn't been so good in his last few books. He always was variable :- compare The Bridge [amazon.co.uk] against the similar, but less well executed, themes of Walking on Glass [amazon.co.uk]. His best books; Espedair Street [amazon.co.uk] or The Crow Road [amazon.co.uk] maintain an (often hilarious) dramatic narrative, whereas A Song of Stone [amazon.co.uk] or Canal Dreams [amazon.co.uk] are frankly dull.
Mind you, if you liked Espedair Street, read Bill Drummond's 45 [amazon.co.uk] for the story of what it was really like.
Ursula le Guin's "The Dispossessed" (Score:2)
An earlier novel which uses the same trick is Ursula le Guin's "The Dispossessed" (1974), a stunning meditation on the nature of cooperation and society. Le Guin is a much more distant and impersonal author than Banks, but I have often wondered whether she isn't quite an influence.
Of course, "Consider Phlebas" especially can sometimes seem like a gloriously written high-acceleration remix of just about *everyone* from the best '70s and early '80s SF, with all manner of good ideas getting a look in and then taken a step beyond.
There's definitely something of Le Guin's Hainish Ekumen ("The Left Hand of Darkness") about the Culture. But as with everything else in Banks's books the Culture soon comes over as an entity with a much more developed and interesting character (and also, one possessed of a definite sense of humour!)
If you enjoyed this book ... (Score:3)
Reading through this review reminded me of several other books which might be of interest. Set at about the same time at the end of the medieval period is "The Name of the Rose" by Umberto Eco, which also deals with a society, in this case a monastic one, reacting to a world of learning on the edge of many advances.
If you enjoy tales with a twist (and if you like reading Iain M. Banks I think that's given) I'd also suggest Guy Gavriel Kaye's 'Tigana' as being a worthwhile read.
Any other suggestions out there for books to explore?
Cheers,
Toby Haynes
Structure in writing (Score:4)
One story starts in the past and works forward, the other starts in the present and works backwards, and of course they meet in the end. You have to read it as least twice to really piece together all the subtleties in it.
If you're new to Iain M Banks work, read "Use of Weapons" or "Consider Pheblas" first of his culture novels. "Inversions" and "Excession" are much better read once you understand the culture background.