The central conflict of the novel is the humanitarian struggle to get rid of these things, for Banks’ idea of Hell (and by extension, every Hell ever created by civilizations in the novel…there doesn’t seem to be any diversity) seems pretty much taken from Dante. In addition to the Heavens you would expect, sometimes these afterlives would include Hells as well. Starting from the common idea of mind uploading, Banks speculates that civilizations would use it to provide a virtual reality afterlife for their citizens.
Like that novel (or at least part of it), Surface Detail is concerned with the morality of torture, or rather the lack thereof. Right away, Surface Detail has some parallels with Transition. And Transition I found to be a complete, unmitigated disaster. I felt Matter had all the joie de vivre of Consider Phlebas without the humor and kinetic action. Feersum Endjinn, Excession and Algebraist (at least the first two thirds of it) were fun although a little lightweight compared to his early work. Consider Phlebas and Against a Dark Background were fun but a little too depressing in their nearly nihilistic outlook. Player of Games was also very good, of course.
If you feel the same way, I’ll break it down for you: I think Use of Weapons is his best work, and indeed it’s one of my favorite science fiction novels of all time. Most people have read at least one or two of his novels, and while some are more liked than others there isn’t wide agreement on his best and worst. Iain M Banks is the sort of author I like to use as a reviewer benchmark. Surface Detail by Iain M Banks Januat 12:48 am | Posted in 4 stars, Book Reviews, Science Fiction | 2 Comments
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