Iain Banks, _The Hydrogen Sonata_. An extended meditation on long life, death, memory, song, and the inadvisability of screwing around with the Culture.
All of them are good; some are better than others. None of them are strict sequelae. I would recommend _The Player of Games_ (a Culture member looks out on another civilization), _Consider Phlebas_ (the Culture examined by an enemy) and _Use of Weapons_ (the Culture's impact on other civilizations) as being the core novels.
Oh, and I don't recommend starting with either _Excession_ or _Inversions_. The first dumps you in the middle of the ocean and expects you to be fully equipped to recognize, flag down and get help from a superintelligent squid; the second is only recognizable as a Culture novel if you are looking very very hard for the three clues.
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Date: 2012-10-09 05:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-09 05:35 pm (UTC)http://www.vavatch.co.uk/books/banks/cultnote.htm
intrigues you, then yes. You might want to stop reading when you find yourself sufficiently motivated to go find the books.
All of them are good; some are better than others. None of them are strict sequelae. I would recommend _The Player of Games_ (a Culture member looks out on another civilization), _Consider Phlebas_ (the Culture examined by an enemy) and _Use of Weapons_ (the Culture's impact on other civilizations) as being the core novels.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-09 05:42 pm (UTC)