Look to Windward
2 journalers for this copy...
Even more compulsive book buying results in an extra copy of this on my shelves.
This is the 7th in his Culture series, and Banks' writing never fails to amaze me. It used to be quite difficult to find his books here in the States, and I'm so glad to see that he has finally gained popularity here on this side of the pond.
From the dust jacket flap:
The Twin Novae battle had been one of the last of the Idiran war, and one of the most horrific: desperate to avert their ineviable defeat, the Idirans had induced not one but two suns to explode, snuffing out worlds and biospheres teeming with sentient life. They were attacks of incredible proportion--gigadeathcrimes. But the war ended, and life went on.
Now, eight hundred years later, light from the first explosion is about to reach the Masaq' Orbital, home to the Culture's most adventurous and decadent souls. There it will fall upon Masaq's 50 billion inhabitants, gathered to commemorate the deaths of the innocent and to reflect, if only for a moment, on what some call the Culture's own complicity in the terrible event.
Also journeying to Masaq' is Major Quilan, an emissary from the war-ravaged world of Chel. In the aftermath of the conflict that split his world apart, most believe he has come to Masaq' to bring home Chel's most brilliant and self-exiled dissident, the honored Composer Ziller.
Ziller claims he will do anything to avoid a meeting with Major Quilan, who he suspects has come to murder him. But the Major's true assignment will have far greater consequences than the death of a more politcal dissident, as part of a conspiracy more ambitious than even he can know--a mission his superiors have buried so deeply in his mind that even he cannot remember it.
Hailed by SFX magazine as "an excellent hopping-on point if you've never read a Banks novel before, "Look to Windward is an awe-inspiring immersion into the wildly original, vividly realized civilization that Banks calls the Culture.
This is the 7th in his Culture series, and Banks' writing never fails to amaze me. It used to be quite difficult to find his books here in the States, and I'm so glad to see that he has finally gained popularity here on this side of the pond.
From the dust jacket flap:
The Twin Novae battle had been one of the last of the Idiran war, and one of the most horrific: desperate to avert their ineviable defeat, the Idirans had induced not one but two suns to explode, snuffing out worlds and biospheres teeming with sentient life. They were attacks of incredible proportion--gigadeathcrimes. But the war ended, and life went on.
Now, eight hundred years later, light from the first explosion is about to reach the Masaq' Orbital, home to the Culture's most adventurous and decadent souls. There it will fall upon Masaq's 50 billion inhabitants, gathered to commemorate the deaths of the innocent and to reflect, if only for a moment, on what some call the Culture's own complicity in the terrible event.
Also journeying to Masaq' is Major Quilan, an emissary from the war-ravaged world of Chel. In the aftermath of the conflict that split his world apart, most believe he has come to Masaq' to bring home Chel's most brilliant and self-exiled dissident, the honored Composer Ziller.
Ziller claims he will do anything to avoid a meeting with Major Quilan, who he suspects has come to murder him. But the Major's true assignment will have far greater consequences than the death of a more politcal dissident, as part of a conspiracy more ambitious than even he can know--a mission his superiors have buried so deeply in his mind that even he cannot remember it.
Hailed by SFX magazine as "an excellent hopping-on point if you've never read a Banks novel before, "Look to Windward is an awe-inspiring immersion into the wildly original, vividly realized civilization that Banks calls the Culture.
This is promised to Leanne345. Banks is an awesome writer. How ironic that I'm sending him back to the U.K.! ;-)
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Journal Entry 3 by Leanne345 from Liverpool, Merseyside United Kingdom on Saturday, September 13, 2003
Got this today from a very grumpy looking postman who didnt look impressed to be carrying the bag of 5 jiffy bagged books all addressed to me - opps!
