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A review by nwhyte
Excession by Iain M. Banks
5.0
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3369540.html
Excession is one of the culture novels in which humans, bloodthirsty aliens, and super-evolved AIs become entangled in a quest to control an artifect which appears to have come from another, far more advanced universe. Somehow I felt that the various plot strands wove together in a very satisfactory way, with the story fundamentally based on sensawunda - the Culture is already massively further evolved than we are; yet it too quakes when confronted with something unimaginably further advanced. The plot appears to move rather slowly, but in fact it's mostly justifiable setup for the dramatic denouement, or else excusable extra colour for the Culture universe. It works rather well for me.
Excession is one of the culture novels in which humans, bloodthirsty aliens, and super-evolved AIs become entangled in a quest to control an artifect which appears to have come from another, far more advanced universe. Somehow I felt that the various plot strands wove together in a very satisfactory way, with the story fundamentally based on sensawunda - the Culture is already massively further evolved than we are; yet it too quakes when confronted with something unimaginably further advanced. The plot appears to move rather slowly, but in fact it's mostly justifiable setup for the dramatic denouement, or else excusable extra colour for the Culture universe. It works rather well for me.