Rating: 
Summary: Great poetic sci-fi
Review: I just re-read this book after 10 years. It deals with some best sci-fi issues (e.g., machine conciousness), has a great plot, and Bank's writing is fantastic. Most of the best sci-fi writers are good with science but lacking in artistry. Banks' writing is not-at-all lacking. Some of it is actually beautiful.
Rating: 
Summary: well-written and imaginative; yet for sci-fi fans only
Review: OK, I confess. Although I'm a bookworm I've really never cared for science fiction. Consider Phlebas was given to me by someone who thought that it can win me over. It didn't, but it didn't miss by much.Story aside, Iain M. Banks is clearly a very talented writer. Consider Phlebas is literature, and not some "sci-fi trash". Obviously a great amount of thought and sweat went into defining his creative worlds, species, battle sequences, etc. Everything was well-planned. Unfortunely despite the author's best efforts I couldn't really care much about the story overall. Perhaps because I know, of course, it's complete fantasy I couldn't feel connected to these mythical alien beings. However I did find some very interesting "vignettes" where alien beings behaved in ways which, no doubt by the authors design, made me think "gee, could this happen now on Earth?". Very clever indeed! Sci-fi fans will love Consider Phlebas. Others will consider it to be nothing more than a sequence of Star Trek-like episodes, with some being better than others.
Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable novel about Banks' Culture world
Review: This was the second Culture novel I read (after Player of Games). I guess it could be classified in the 'space opera' subgenre (along with Star Wars, Dune, and Hyperion); it's different from some of Banks' other science fiction, which will come as no surprise to IMB fans. The story is basically that of a group of mercenaries going on a dangerous yet important recovery mission during a galactic war. The most interesting thing about the book is that the readers are given a view of the Culture from characters who are outside of it ('it' being the Culture community). I would recommend reading Player of Games and Feersum Endjinn first, but this is worthwhile if you like the author.
Rating:
Summary: A first Science Fiction novel, also one of the best!
Review: With this, his first Science Fiction novel, Iain Banks has eclipsed many years of Hugo and Nebula winners efforts, and there are more. Welcome to the Culture. Banks' vision of a universe has great depth, rollicking adventures, and wonderful characters. Organic and machine intellegences in an alliance don't get in the way of terrific story telling on a vast scale. Too bad that so much money has been spent on Star Wars, this gem out does it handily. Careening across a galaxy at FTL speeds this book is hard to put down. I read it several years ago and then passed the book on. I just had to buy it over to read it again. What a great read, and you're in luck! There are at least six more of Banks' Science Fiction works out. I've read all of them, four of them twice, and can't wait for more. Also Banks writes fiction, you should see his first novel the Wasp Factory. I just finished reading another of his fiction works, The Crow Road and highly reccomend it to anyone who likes his Science Fiction works. Great value in all his work. Enjoy. I envy anyone who hasn't read these Science Fiction works for the first time. What a treat you have in store! Consider Phlebas - Use of Weapons - Against a Dark Background - The Player of Games - The State of the Art - Feersum Endjinn - Excession
Rating:
Summary: Need more... in America.
Review: Pull some of those Star Wars and Star Trek novels off the shelves and make room for this guy. I had to borrow this book from a British friend, but I'm a fan now. Yeah this book is cold, cruel, and darkly humorous, but it's excellent nonetheless.
Rating:
Summary: Finally - Something Fresh!
Review: I'm here at Amazon right now because I'm looking for more Banks novels - Phlebas was my first. I just picked it out of a used book store based on the cover art. I had no idea I would enjoy it so much. Its been a while since I've really gotten into a Sci-Fi novel, but after Phlebas I'm hooked on the Culture. MUST GET MORE.....
Rating:
Summary: Consider Phlebas should be made into a Mini-Series
Review: I have read Consider Phlebas twice before I read Player of Games and Use of Weapons.. Player of Games is a better introduction to the Culture.. Use of Weapons is really tragic in the end.. In any case, I recommend all three for any serious reader.. If you liked Larry Niven's Ringworld (for its scope), you will most likely enjoy Consider Phlebas.. Even if T.S. Eliot's 'Death By Water' IV is unknown to you..
Rating:
Summary: Delicious
Review: The book is enormous fun. You get the sense of a serious author enjoying himself. Like all the best popular art, it is fundamentally a rattling good tale, but told with intelligence and wit - like a Hitchcock film or a john Lennon song. Banks lets his imagination fly - 5km long (sea) ships, a space ship chase INSIDE the hangers of a bigger spaceship, a psychic card game where the cards you play effect the emotions of your opponents, really ALIEN aliens, and a war in space of such scale its is hard to imagine it. Brilliant. And great fun.
Rating:
Summary: BACK IN PRINT
Review: Consider Phlebas is back in print. Look for it. ORBIT Press has republished it. This is my favorite of Iain Banks books: dramatic, intense, and funny.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic That I Can't Forget
Review: I feel like I've read hundreds of science fiction novels over the years (I'm 29) and this is one of my favorites. I enjoyed the characters, pacing, and language. Along with Roger Zelazny's "Lord of Light," Orson Scott Card's "Ender-series," Dan Simmons' original "Hyperion" book, "Consider Phlebas" will remain on my shelf.
| 
