Rating: 
Summary: A well-written (and well-sounded-out) masterpiece
Review: My manager basically forced this book upon me. And I'm glad he did. ;) (It wasn't forced, per sé; but he recommended it over and over, and his eccentric tastes quite often match mine.) So I borrowed it last summer, and forgot about it until just a few weeks ago, when I guiltily picked it up, hoping to finish before moving.Thank you. This book was awesome. The story is in ten chapters, each of which is broken down into four points of view -- a confused foreigner, the chief scientist, a count in the military, and a young kid with spelling issues. (Other viewpoints come along from time to time--for example, the king.) The story evolves through these four completely separate personae: the Earth is being approached by the Encroachment, which is this bizarre cloud that threatens to block out the sun; the people in power are doing little, it seems, to stop it. The four main characters must figure out who they are and what they're doing; only then do they have a hope of figuring out what's going on and stopping the end of the world. At least, that's the basic story. I don't want to go into any more detail because I don't want to give things away. :) It's an amazing book, and I give it my highest recommendation.
Rating: 
Summary: Painful to read...unpleasant to view
Review: Quite frankly, made me feel literally (boom boom) ill. The phonetic sequences are impossible to read, and I ended up skipping them. Usually love the author, so very very disappointed. I think Banks publisher/editor has become far too indulgent, "Oh yes, Iain, I LOVE it...No, I know you can't read it, but everything else you've written sold..." I think the Emperor needs to be told he is naked.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a Culture novel, but well worth your time
Review: t doesn't matter what Banks is about--from metaphysical to mystery, science fiction to horror--he's always good. Feersum Endjinn is no exception, starting off with multiple viewpoints and plotlines that weave about each other before reaching a grand conclusion, similar to his earlier The Bridge, but within the style of adventure SF rather than metaphysical fantasy. Just because it's SF adventure, doesn't mean that it's entirely fluff--one sixthe of the book is entirely in a "Riddley Walker-ish" language as seen in the title (a character "writes" phonetically), which is difficult at times to read but is surprisingly not grating. It's just another in Banks' voluminous bag of tricks, and he pulls it off like Harry Houdini. Stars are disappearing because the Encroachment--a cloud of space dust thick enough to block starlight--is slowly enveloping the solar system. Earth has lost some of its technical maturity due to complacency in the ruling bureaucracy and the departure of former generations. However, there is a computer hive-mind that exists that may have the answers to the coming crisis, if only someone knew how to access it and if the rulers would allow them to do so. As the stars flicker out, and the time to do something--anything--decreases, the characters engage in a political struggle to determine how the crisis will be met. I was initially disappointed that this wasn't a "Culture" novel, having grown to love the philosophical fun of those books, but quickly discovered that there was much to love here as well. Feersum Endjinn has that joy of discovery that is the realm of good science fiction, wherein everything is new and different, where nothing is quite as it seems, yet everything is also very familiar. And Banks, that fine purveyor of the trick ending, decides to go for obfusication rather than chicanery, and the result is quite pleasing. Iain Banks continues his winning streak, every recent book a grand slam home run.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: The quality of Banks's prose exceeds, by far, that of 90+% of his contemporaries. His use of the phonetic voice, if you will, was at first (I'm talking like 5 pages here) bothersome becaise I generally don't go for that stuff, but became nearly transparent one I'd figured out the conventions of his phoneticism ("half" is spelled "1/2", for instance...get it?) and just generally gotten used to the voice. Now I ask you: How many writers could write a singe action sequence in such an odd voice and still bave it be tremendiously compelling? If you have a reasonable I.Q., you shouldn't struggle much. Typical of most readers to get hung up on that. Sigh. The scope of his imagination is striking from the first, as usual. If you have the feeling that people don't consider you to be a bright person, go ahead and re-read your latest Dragonlance novel. If you don't mind a book that rewards you because you're smart and appreciate excellent writing, pick this one up.
Rating:
Summary: Most imaginative SF I have ever read.
Review: This book deals in part with 'what is a human being', are we the stored experiences of a person ?
In this world, some people not only store their experinces to be re-born into a new body when they die, but can let their conciousness drift into a virtual world in the AI network that allows for very abstract experiences. Some people can even launch copies of themselves into the network to work in parralell (bit like unix child processes but personal!). As they go deeper into the network they think quicker but in an increasingly abstract world. Strange stuff indeed !
Rating:
Summary: Exceptional
Review: This book kept me THINKING the whole time, and as much as I wish it wasn't the case, that's pretty rare these days. Though some fans of Bank's earlier, more straightforward space opera might find this book an unexpected challenge, it's worth whatever extra effort might be required. Banks has raised the literary bar for SF with this book, and raised it very high indeed.
Rating:
Summary: Painful Reading At Best
Review: This book, for the most part is written from the viewpoint of a character that can only write phonetically. Also he speaks with a strong scottish accent. ("ef I 1/2 2" = "If I have to"). And this goes on for hundreds of pages. I found myself struggling to decipher passages and at the end the sheer fact that I am a Banks fan kept me going to finish it. I think this was a literary experiment - one that did not work. If you can't find a regular mass market version used, or its not in the library, skip it. This is barely about the culture anyway -- and the payoff isn't worth the struggle.
Rating:
Summary: Banks's Best - Convergent Lines Of Plot
Review: This is Banks's best book; it's textual form is as strange as we've come to expect from him and the initially unrelated plot-lines come together at the end to build a perfectly coherent conclusion. The radically different styles of each of the four plots - taken in turn by chapter - leave the reader slightly unnerved all the way through and the ending is sublime as all of the characters who make it through join up to avert the catastrophe they have all been working to solve.
This is not a Culture book, don't expect Minds and Orbitals and the grand scale of his other SF work; recieve instead a touching story of people and their motivation to do what's right.
Rating:
Summary: confusing, but enjoyable
Review: This is my first book by Banks. I liked it, but I'm not sure if I'm going to try his other works. The plot is very interesting. It's a good mix of fantasy/sci-fi/cyberpunk/etc... The characters were fleshed out very well. I found myself laughing at many of their situations and side comments, especially Bascule's. The book thoroughly confused me in some sections, especially when it described the layout of the fastness. I'm not sure that I understand the ending either, but that doesn't prevent me from liking the book overall.
Rating:
Summary: Read it ! It's a masterpiece !!!
Review: This is one of the best books I've ever read. In it fantasy and hard sci fi are synthesised in this brilliant and imaginative far future cyber mystery adventure. Wow !!!
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