Those who have been compensate attention to the evolution of Iain M. Banks ’ Culture serial over the retiring two decades may have noticed that they are get darker . His premature entryway in the series , the fabulously distressful and bleak Surface Detail , was about civilizations that consigned their indweller to a practical hell after they died . Banks ’ late offering , The Hydrogen Sonata , is also preoccupied with living after death , though it ’s slimly less horrific .
in reality , it is just as bleak — but in The Hydrogen Sonata , we are able to view the horror and misery of culture from the amuse perspective of the Ship Minds who insure the Culture . When you ’re tiptop - hefty and first-rate - sound , it ’s easy to observe the frailties of biologic puppet think about . In this novel , we follow a radical of Minds who have task themselves with investigate the strange events fence the Gzilt civilization . Like a few other advanced civilization , the Gzilt have decided to “ sublime , ” converting nearly every member of their gigantic society into an entity that exists in another dimension that is something like heaven . fundamentally , they ’ll go through a authoritative uniqueness scenario , where everybody will impart their bodies behind and exist in a dimension of total knowledge and abundance .
alas , only one Mind has ever regress from the Sublime to describe what it ’s like there — and it ’s a completely dotty entity who spends most its time gather virtual dustballs and animals in a clod of fresh memory allocated to it by another friendly Mind . So the Gzilt have nothing but rumors to go on when they prepare to sublimate . Still , the rumour are pretty great . A lot of other civilization and Minds have done it and seem — based on their cryptic communications — to be enjoying themselves vastly .
The problem is that the Gzilt ca n’t enter the Sublime successfully unless most mass in the civilization do it at the same clock time . So it becomes an fabulously difficult political issue . Will everybody vote to stop their life and go to this place that ’s supposedly really great , at least accord to treacherous sources ? It ’s in this precarious political climate that something very unusual fall out . A ship left behind by another civilisation that sublimed come in Gzilt space bearing a message — and is right away vaporized . That ’s when the Culture Ships get concerned . The Culture has always been an ally of the Gzilt , and they ’re help oneself out with the transition to the Sublime anyway . So they might as well inquire this juicy bit of unexpected furiousness .
In the process of work the mystery of the message , we are treated to a scene of post - human politics that is n’t solely unfamiliar . “ Scavenger ” civilizations vie to become privileged partner in the Gzilt subliming , thus pull in access to all the technology and resources the rich Gzilt leave behind when they fold up into another property . A thoroughly filthy Gzilt politician scheme to rule his public for the few weeks left before “ ruling ” and “ worlds ” become all nonmeaningful category . Gzilt people , anticipating the end of 24-hour interval , have outrageous , multi - year party that imply extreme consistency modification ( you ’ll see ) . And a human who has lived for G of old age may be the only person alive who knows what the message was on that demolish ship .
Joined by a Gzilt player with four arms ( she ’s raise an extra pair to play the notoriously difficult and ugly Hydrogen Sonata ) , the Ships careen across the galaxy in hunting of answers . . . and all the while , the Gzilt get closer to their doubtful heaven . Unlike the dark , disturbing Surface Detail , which is clear a fellow traveler volume to this one , the tone of Hydrogen Sonata is sombre and dry . There ’s a kind of deep sadness here — a familiarity with human failings that contribute out Banks ’ best sardonic humor . Still , by the time you reach the final promissory note of the novel , you ’ll feel like the smell of this long - running series has gone from a form of crazed , blooming Bob Hope for the time to come , to a resigned pessimism about it .
That ’s not to say the novel is n’t a rip good yarn . Banks never give out to severalise a expert story . In Hydrogen Sonata , he may have created one of most bittersweet , melancholy infinite operas you ’ll ever register .
Christian Bible reviewBooksIain M. Banks
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