Product Description

In a world renowned even within a galaxy full of wonders, a crime within a war. For one brother it means a desperate flight, and a search for the one - maybe two - people who could clear his name. For his brother it means a life lived under constant threat of treachery and murder. And for their sister, even without knowing the full truth, it means returning to a place she d thought abandoned forever.

Only the sister is not what she once was; Djan Seriy Anaplian has changed almost beyond recognition to become an agent of the Culture s Special Circumstances section, charged with high-level interference in civilisations throughout the greater galaxy.

Concealing her new identity - and her particular set of abilities - might be a dangerous strategy, however. In the world to which Anaplian returns, nothing is quite as it seems; and determining the appropriate level of interference in someone else's war is never a simple matter.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #155 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-31
• Binding: Hardcover
• 544 pages

Synopsis
In a world renowned within a galaxy full of wonders, a crime within a war. For one brother it means a desperate flight, and a search for the one - maybe two - people who could clear his name. For his brother it means a life lived under constant threat of treachery and murder. And for their sister, it means returning to a place she'd thought abandoned forever. Only the sister is not what she once was; Djan Seriy Anaplian has become an agent of the Culture's Special Circumstances section, charged with high-level interference in civilisations throughout the greater galaxy. Concealing her new identity - and her particular set of abilities - might be a dangerous strategy. In the world to which Anaplian returns, nothing is quite as it seems; and determining the appropriate level of interference in someone else's war is never a simple matter.

Customer Reviews

Yes and No....but more of a no
I guess im going to voice the words of many other reviews regarding 'Matter' but still i feel i have to in the vain hope Iain Banks might (should he ever read his reviews) take the collective response into consideration when writing his next culture book. I've long been a fan of his culture books but something just felt a bit off the mark with 'Matter'. It had some great concepts and the protagonist Djan was a well defined character whom i love to read more about in the future. There were also a lot of moments where the usual witty Banks humor came into play. But the book did seem to drone on until a sudden burst in the last few pages. before i knew it i was trying to keep up the rapidly changing events. As the story pace came together it seemed it's cohesion was falling apart.....and then it was over in a flash. The whole Indiana Jones like ancient monster thing has been done before, and if you're going to do it again do us justice of explaining it better. I dont want to use the word incomplete as there was over 500 pages, but i would say about 200 were needless. Lets take Oreman (however you spell it) when he meets his mother...she pops into the story, consumes a few pages and is never heard of again despite being mentioned so much as a driving factor in the characters mental make-up. It's little examples like this that frustrated me. What ever happened to Tyl Loesp (again whatever the spelling)??? Was he burnt to a crisp by evil temple of doom monster, survived, impaled, bla bla bla??? I've no idea? It just seemed strange to terminate such a central character so fast.

Maybe Banks is in a lull - space opera is notoriously difficult to execute well and he has many fine examples of doing so in the past. I really wanted to like this book and i did in parts. But as an overall body of work it just does not stand up as well as some of its predecessors. Saying that, i will no doubt be waiting to get my hands on the next culture book as soon as possible. Banks has taken me on the Culture journey since i was was a teenager and im not about to jump ship yet .

Zzzzzzzzzzz
I had to force myself to read this - I would usually fly through a new IMB book in hours, but this has taken me over a month to plod through. The plot doesn't get interesting until page 358.
I've read much worse, but there is real a sense of disappointment when you have looked forward to a book being released and it turns out to be a grind to read.

flawed but classic Uncle Banksie
It could be that Uncle Banksie has taken a slight stumble with this one - especially the machina ex deus (yes, that's intentional) ending. I can understand all the gripes I'm reading in these reviews. However, certain set pieces are classic Banks, his imagination has in no way pooped out yet, and the writing is, as always, stellar. While I preferred Look to Windward (loved it, in fact) and the Algebraist, I'd say if you're a big fan of Banks' SF, go for it, you won't be disappointed.