Reddit reviews Surface Detail (Culture)

Iain M Banks most recent Culture novel is called Surface Detail. His Culture novels are great.

China Mieville consistently wins awards for his "new weird" books; most notably the Bas Lag novels. His The City and the City is a kinda mind-bending crime novel, but his most recent is Kraken.

The Wind Up Girl has garnered quite a few positive reviews.

Surface Detail by Iain Banks

Great series of books. You do not need to read them in order; I read book 4 first, and it spoils nothing.

Supposedly, Amazon Prime wants to do a miniseries of this, or at least the first book, to the level of quality of Game of Thrones. I'll... believe it when I see it.

Anyway here are Amazon/Audible links! (Or hit up your local library, etc.)

1. Consider Phlebas paperback / Audible
   
   
2. The Player of Games paperback / Audible
   
   
3. Use of Weapons paperback / Audible
   
   
4. The State of the Art (collection of short stories) paperback / Audible
   
   
5. Excession (I read this one first, it's great) paperback / Audible
   
   
6. Inversions (sort-of a Culture book) paperback / Audible
   
   
7. Look to Windward paperback / Audible
   
   
8. Matter paperback / Audible
   
   
9. Surface Detail paperback / Audible
   
   
10. The Hydrogen Sonata (my favorite - Vyr Cossont is my hero) paperback / Audible
    
    I really like this stuff as space opera type stuff. It's usually not "hard" sci-fi like Asimov or even Philip K. Dick or anything, but I rather hope humanity heads in the direction of the Federation, and then ultimately to The Culture.
    
    Fun fact!! Elon Musk named the autonomous drone barge ships (the ones that SpaceX rockets land on) after some Culture ships. Namely the Of Course I Still Love You, and the Just Read The Instructions. I also rather like the full name of the ship Mistake Not… (Don't Google it! It's a spoiler!!!)

The kindle version is 12.99

http://www.amazon.com/Surface-Detail-Iain-M-Banks/dp/0316123412/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1299936925&sr=8-1

Also the third party price does not include shipping, so their prices always look cheaper.

you should read the culture series of novels by Ian Banks ...

I'm also reading Book of the Fallen at the moment and can confirm that you'll like /u/crashdmj's suggestion of Iain M Banks' Culture series. I feel you when you say Malazan is taxing - with schoolwork and all, I've been working on it for two years now and am just halfway through Toll the Hounds.

Each installment of Culture is self-contained (different characters, different plot) but they all take place in the same universe, so I think it might be a good place for you to start. If you like it, great, you can pick up the next one and not be shackled to the same storyline; if you don't, you can move on to something else. I read Surface Detail, and found it to be thought-provoking yet still light enough to read and comprehend while on the treadmill or with a couple of beers - not something I can say about BotF.

Happy Reading!

These are favorites of mine that I don't expect will make it on other lists:

The Great Book of Amber by Roger Zelazny

Blindsight by Peter Watts

The 1st Chronicles of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson

• Lord Foul's Bane
  
  
• The Illearth War
  
  
• The Power That Preserves
  
  The 2nd Chronicles of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson
  
  
• The Wounded Land
  
  
• The One Tree
  
  
• White Gold Wielder
  
  The Culture Saga by Iain M. Banks
  
  
• Consider Phlebas
  
  
• The Player Of Games
  
  
• Use Of Weapons
  
  
• Excession
  
  
• Look To Windward
  
  
• Matter
  
  
• Surface Detail
  
  The Takeshi Kovacs series by Richard K. Morgan
  
  
• Altered Carbon
  
  
• Broken Angels
  
  
• Woken Furies