Dial M for Science Fiction

I'm currently reading "Excession" by Iain M. Banks, and I'm finding it both enjoyable and hard-going in equal part. As contradictory as that sounds, it's true. Mr Banks' science fiction has always struck me as being a little different from 'normal' science fiction (if such a thing can be said to exist) and I'm not sure why that is. All I know is that, having been a reader of the genre for a little over 25 years (I can still clearly remember my first science fiction novel, but more of that another time) I can recognise it when I see it.

It could be argued, I'm sure, that his SF novels are more 'literary' (whatever that means) than the majority of the genre, but I don't think it's that which sets them apart. It could be that they tend to be remote from human concerns - inheritors to the traditions of Olaf Stapledon's "Last and First Men" - the prose possessing a dark grandeur, aloof from the humanity of today, the main characters harder to empathise with. At least, that's how I find them.

Having said all that, I've enjoyed all the ones I've read so far (from memory - "Consider Phlebas", "The Use of Weapons", "The State of the Art" and, my favourite so far, "The Player of Games"). They're not easy to read but they're worth the effort. "Excession", however, is proving to be a somewhat tougher beastie. The aliens - "The Affront" (fantastically inventive name! - one of Mr Banks' hallmarks) - are much more alien; so much so that they are very hard to like, no matter how convivially jovial they are portrayed as being. In fact, there are very few 'human-like' characters at all, the main casting being reserved for the Artificial Intelligences ('Minds') which run the ships of the Culture.

Perhaps it's just me with my preference for the large, sprawling, space opera of the kind written by Peter F. Hamilton and Alastair Reynolds - I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on your experiences with Mr. Banks' SF.

As for his "straight" fiction, well....let's leave that for another day.