Book Review: Surface Detail - Ian M Banks

I went into the only book store in Jersey to grab some books. I was slightly horrified to find Ian M Bank’s Matter in the science fiction, new releases section. Matter was actually published in 2008 as the 8th novel in Bank’s Culture series. Surface Detail (released 2010) is the 9th and latest novel. This too was in Jersey’s new releases section and is still high on the current best seller list – so far enough! But reluctant to be behind the times (or at least as behind as Jersey), I thought it best to write a review now.



As I’ve mentioned previously in this blog, certain Culture books can be read without much knowledge of the series – some cannot. I would consider this the latter. Banks explains in a technology intricacy the details of the functioning fighter ships and the fundamentals of new age safety suit but assumes the reader is already up to date on the Culture. I think the Culture novels, particularly Surface Detail has the complexity and traditional theatrics of a space opera that can be lost on the less hard core SF fan. Banks has the credentials’ and themes that reach into literary success but sometimes the operatic drama can damage Bank’s true potential and credibility as the serious writer that you see in Wasp Factory. Personally, I think this is one of the most entertaining Culture novels I have read. And the space opera is brilliant. But then, I’m a space opera fan.

It begins in the realm of the Real, where matter still matters.

It begins with a murder.

And it will not end until the Culture has gone to war with death itself.
Lededje Y'breq is one of the Intagliated, her marked body bearing witness to a family shame, her life belonging to a man whose lust for power is without limit. Prepared to risk everything for her freedom, her release, when it comes, is at a price, and to put things right she will need the help of the Culture.

Benevolent, enlightened and almost infinitely resourceful though it may be, the Culture can only do so much for any individual. With the assistance of one of its most powerful - and arguably deranged - warships, Lededje finds herself heading into a combat zone not even sure which side the Culture is really on. A war - brutal, far-reaching - is already raging within the digital realms that store the souls of the dead, and it's about to erupt into reality.

It started in the realm of the Real and that is where it will end. It will touch countless lives and affect entire civilizations, but at the center of it all is a young woman whose need for revenge masks another motive altogether.

Surface Detail as the blurb suggests, begins in the real. We are introduced to three great characters who we like. Each one is immediately killed. Suddenly we are placed in the reality of Bank’s new world, where it doesn’t really matter. With the use of a neural lace that is placed in your brain, minds are backed up like a computer hard drive - stored and saved. Your body can be replicated and replaced. Death is no longer irreversible.

The technology within Bank’s world is extremely advanced and his techno-galactic world building is what makes him stand out as a good SF author. Virtual realities are the main focus of the novel. Minds are poured into virtual simulations, scenarios and realities to the point where whole lives and wars are fulfilled within these fake realities.

The novel following five different plots that centre around the concept, or in this case, the reality of Hell. In Bank’s super-advanced future, virtual realities are common place. These are civilisations where minds never die and virtual realities have been created as after lives for the disembodied. Sadistically, and all too plausibly, some civilisations have decided it necessary to create not only a heaven afterlife but a hell. The result in Bank’s novel is perversion of Dante’s hell; biblical torture carried out by monstrous and alien demons that destroy their victims in countlessly atrocious ways, endless lives filled with pain.

The war that brings the novel together is the war is to decide whether to destroy or keep these hell-realities within the galaxy. Vateuil is a soldier fighting in this never ending war. Chay, is trapped in hell after attempting to expose it’s horror to influence a sympathetic vote . Special Circumstance agent Yime Nsokyi, is assigned to find Lededje who may change the conclusion of the war. And, Lededje herself, completely unaware of the consequences is embarking on a revenge mission that may be pivotal to the fighting’s end.

The Surface Detail in the title works itself throughout the novel, most notably a reference to Lededje's fractal tattoo. The main way in which Bank’s illustrates the detail is by moving from the micro view and actions of his characters to the macro movement of the whole galaxy. The story becomes the age old question of whether one person’s plights is as important as the greater good. Is Lededje's revenge worth the war against Hells failing? Is Chay’s salvation worth every other soul in hells suffering?

I really enjoyed Surface Detail It has been criticized for mixing serious SF with the more traditional and frivolous which quite frankly Bank’s does well and is entertaining. I loved the Abominator class ship called the "Falling Outside the Normal Moral Constraints". The names are ridiculous. But with an eternity or intelligence and time in front of you – why wouldn’t you get a little silly? Falling Out of the Normal Constraints is hilarious and has some brilliant one liners. It is the first Culture novel where I have genuinely liked the characters apart from Yime, who is pretty much pointless. Although, apparently that’s the point? So it becomes a little pedantic to complain. It’s got an interesting and well thought out concept behind it and in my opinion, well worth the read.

BUY SURFACE DETAIL