Chat about... The Algebraist by Ian M. Banks

What did you think of The Algebraist by Ian M. Banks? Did you find it a work of Jovian greatness, or was it filled with earthly flaws? Tell us your view!

I really enjoyed The Algebraist but many people seemed to be disappointed in it. It contains many elements that I found great and I was hoping Iain was starting another universe for stories that would have paralleled the Culture. Unfortunately it was a once off. :-(

I will be interested in hearing how other people enjoyed the book or if they found fault with it.

I really enjoyed it! I liked how the aliens were not the Vulcan-like all-wise sages I was expecting, but instead liked gossip and yachting...

The resolution of the Sal/Taince revenge arc was... not what I was expecting. But I didn't dislike the resolution.

It is the first Iain M. Banks (and Iain Banks) book I've read, actually, so I was really hoping I'd enjoy it. I'm certainly going to read more of his work.

I loved the way the Dwellers hunted their offspring. As a father of four I can tell you that there are certain attractions to that approach to parenthood.
:-)

#3 It is the first Iain M. Banks (and Iain Banks) book I've read,

I read the Iain M. Banks books as they came out (yes, I am that old) and I would suggest you could do worse than follow the order of publication. The Algebraist being a standalone does not suffer from any sequence problem.

While I suggest you read them in publication order, I do not imply there to be any dependencies between one book and another, but I enjoyed reading about The Culture as it developed and expanded in Iain's mind. By the time I read Surface Detail I felt I was returning to a familiar world. I suspect not being familiar with The Culture and various technologies therein could make reading some of the later novels more confusing.

Apologies if I am being presumptuous regarding your intentions with regards to these books.

If you are intending to read the Iain Banks books I would suggest there are some that are better than others. The best ones in my assessment are: The Bridge, The Wasp Factory, Walking on Glass, Espedair Street, Complicity, Whit, The Quarry, and The Crow Road. All his "mainstream" books are standalone and require no particular reading sequence, but his earlier ones are the more "out there" type of thing.

I am delighted you enjoyed The Algebraist. I thought it was great and I was quite disgusted with various commentators who criticised it. One of the things I love about Iain's SF novels is that they are a darned good read. The first one I read was, Consider Phlebas and I thought it was just a ripping yarn. As has been said about stories before, it just grabbed me and dragged me through to the final page. It was fun.