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Summary: A fantastic romp through space.
Review: Consider Phlebas was the first Banks book I read. (It was also the first SF book he had published) The rush I got from it enticed me to read more Banks and I went for The Wasp Factory.Consider Phlebas never lost pace and always had a new twist just as you were thinking the story was getting into a routine plot. My favourite element of the book was how the very last sentence on the very last page added a new dimension to the whole book and left one looking at the story from a totally different angle.
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Summary: Literate space opera of scintillating darkness
Review: THE WASP FACTORY was the first Banks novel I read. The second was CONSIDER PHLEBAS, and if I didn't know better I'd say Iain Banks and Iain M. Banks were two different authors. Both novels deal with the human damage rampant ideology can create. PHLEBAS describes a war between two space-faring cultures that are ideologically opposed and focuses on the effects such great tides have on those grains of sand we call individuals. Banks marvelously plays with SF concepts. His knack for words brings to life better than anyone I know the grittiness of a run-down spacecraft. His aliens are carefully and wonderfully delineated. This is a big and impressive SF novel, but not really suited for anyone looking for typical Star Trek or Babylon 5 style storytelling.
Rating: 
Summary: A solid read but an undiciplined story line.
Review: I like the broad stroke view of galactic history, somewhat like asimov, brin or vinge. But this is an earlier work and there are characters woven into the story who deserve more development.
Rating:
Summary: Space Opera for Connoisseurs
Review: Hi tech leading edge Science fiction. Why doesn't Hollywood make a James Cameron type $200 million dollar epic out of this book ?? It would make Star Wars look like a kids outing.
Rating:
Summary: Loved it
Review: I loved this book, from the great discription of the action to the the deeper meaning, it was well written. The end really stayed with me and so did almost all of the rest, if you like Banks (or if you don't) read this book.
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Summary: The early days of the Culture-who were the *real* bad guys??
Review: If you've picked up Iain Bank's "Culture" books late in the piece, go back in time to the midst of the Idirian war, when men were men, lizards were noble and Minds capable of cowardice. Banks lays down a sombre and infinitely readable plot for his readers. Sci-fi meets pathos meets bug hunt. Highlights: The opening sequence, leaving the ringworld and the train crash. Do yourself a favour.
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Summary: wide range of emotions and a dark storyline
Review: I have enjoyed many of Iain Banks books but I think this is the first one I read. He is a writer of dark unsettling emotions and the hero is never a simple person or being. I like this kind of complexity but many may find it unsettling. The title refers to the people in the book not just the mechanical devices. It is a theme he has used in other books.
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Summary: This was my first Banks experience, and it was fab...
Review: Banks seems to have a real flair for that most elusive of qualities in SF: out and out plausibility. I compare him to Greg Bear in this respect (although I've got to say I found GB's Blood Music a bit naff). This book isn't for anyone looking for a bit of light entertaining reading. I don't see it as serving that purpose. It's more a deep insight into various aspects of the human psyche; there's some deep oblique pontifications about evolutionary theory and the role of aggression therein... all rather academic sounding I suppose, but I don't think it could be described as heavy going. Lots of chunky action plot to move it along.
Rating:
Summary: What can I say? Worth hunting down.
Review: Why did I stand there in the bookstore and not pick up _Use of Weapons_? Why didn't I just check _Feersum Endjinn_ out of the library then order it, before it went out of print? Why did I snatch up the latest Orson Scott Card paperback instead of picking up _Against a Dark Background_ when I saw it? BECAUSE I AM A FOOL! WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?
More to the point, what is wrong with all the US publishers who've previously published Banks' books, but now seem to let them all go mysteriously "out of stock indefinitely?" He's too good to keep from US eyes and minds! The only books of his in print here currently are _Against a Dark Background_, _Excession_, _The Bridge_, and _The Player of Games_, with _The Wasp Factory_ due to be reprinted next year.
He writes action like nobody's business, delves into minds with ease, and readily explores concepts that would floor Clarke or Niven. His brilliance transcends genres, from sf to "literary" fiction, a gap which staggers most writers. He cannot be decribed amply; you'll simply have to hunt down his books and discover him. I was able to find _Consider Phlebas_ in the US, that gives me a bit of hope. But things look bleak--UK imports are damned expensive! Same thing goes for Terry Prattchet; why can't I find _Colour of Magic_?
Rating:
Summary: Iain M. Banks in SF is as strange as Iain Banks in fiction
Review: The first SF by Iain M. Banks I read (the next three are already waiting on a bookshelf). First of all: Quite good stuff; it is a little boring in the very beginning (probably because you don't know what the story is about - typically Banks) but the story speeds up soon and slows down on the very last pages - like driving a car faster and faster until you crash into a wall. Did I write crash? Fits quite good to the book; the story contains the greatest ship wrecking and the biggest train accident I ever read of. To my mind, Banks must have been inspired by Bob Shaw's "Orbitsville" (at least a little) and even more by Alfred Bester's "The Stars My Destination". If you liked the latter one you should read this book.
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