Forced & clumsy drama. House of pain style of writing (jump around)

The story and characters were interesting, but I found the level of gore and violence quite unnecessary, so I quit about halfway through as I don’t enjoy this in my sci fi.

Been on a sci fi kick. But many books are so full of pretentious lumbering prose and slow time murdering pages. Was not expecting this book to be so direct, clear, yet evocative, action packed and fun. Can’t believe my luck that this isn’t even his best book and I have so many more to go. Very very puzzled about the bad reviews I’ve seen but ok…to each their own. Cheers Mr Banks. Freaking love your stuff.

Overly long, with plodding chapters that don’t build on the story. What you hope is groundwork being laid simply leads to nothing and is not paid off later on. The book doesn’t really move until the final chapters, and the final chapters don’t feel like they cap off the book. A collection of disjointed scenes loosely linked together with rambling asides signifying nothing, this book is not worth your time or money. I paid 99¢ for it 10 years ago and still want my money back.

The whole series is amazing and this is a great place to start. I'm so sad there will never be a new book. Thanks for the great ride.

Ok science fiction but descends into gratuitous putrid imagery that does nothing for the story. No one wants these images in their head. Kills the story.

I forced my way through it. Very unevenly written ... I found myself slogging through it to find the interesting bits. Definitely not worth $9.99.

I have been working through Banks' Culture novels (out of order) and I think I would recommend this as a great jumping-in point. It is the first novel in the series he wrote, but you don't necessarily have to read them in order, even though there is a lot of chronology and some overlap in characters and events. Banks was a prolific, visionary sci-fi author. His stories jump off the page. Highly recommended.

Episodic space opera with virtually no science and a whole lot of adventure fighting. Reads like a series of short stories without much of an ending.

Good, hard hitting, traditional sci-fi is hard to come by nowadays, but Banks’ novel does its best to fit the mold. This is good enough to keep you interested until the end, though I have to admit the series of small battles begin to blend into a nonsensical mess. Individually, the chapters are well written. But as a whole, at times it seems there is blood and guts just for the sake of blood and guts. That detracts from its impact. Too bad. The core of this novel is strong.