The Algebraist - not really a review.

I finished it about an hour ago. You have to understand - I am a fan,
particularly of his SF. I was predisposed to liking this book. And Banks
certainly didn't let me down.

He uses many of his story telling tricks - the long ago events which drive
the character's actions, the sudden revelations which change the reader's
perspective the clues to the true situation hidden in plain sight. And he
uses them to great effect.

I'm definitely going to have to read the book again because I finished it at
a gallop - anxious to find out what came next - and most certainly missed
some of the subtleties.

Spoiler space -

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Spoiler space follows
















That's a few lines




























That's a few more



































Nearly there now.






















Okay - Though despite the spoiler space I'm not going to reveal any of the
plot twists.

The blurb on the dust jacket reads -

"It is 4034 ad. Humanity has made it to the stars. Fassin Taak, a slow
seer at the court of the Nasqueron Dwellers, will be fortunate if he makes
it to the end of the year.

The Nasqueron Dwellers inhabit a gas giant on the outskirts of the galaxy,
in a system awaiting its wormhole connection to the rest of civilisation.
In the meantime, they are dismissed as decadents living in a state of highly
developed barbarism, hoarding data without order, hunting their own young
and fighting pointless formal wars.

Seconded to a military-religious order he's barely heard of - part of the
baroque hierarchy of the Mercatoria, the latest galactic hegemony - Fassin
Taak has to travel again amongst the Dwellers. He is in search of a secret
hidden for half a billion years. But with each day that passes a war draws
closer - a war that threatens to overwhelm everything and everyone he's ever
known."

And that's a pretty effective précis of the set-up. This galaxy is, at least
a little, reminiscent of the one in Brin's uplift series. Humanity is a
minor species low down the pecking order. There are billions of years of -
sometimes not very well - recorded history full of the rise and fall of
empires and species.

FTL travel is only possible by means of artificial wormholes. And if the
wormhole terminus in a system gets destroyed the only way to re-establish a
link is to construct a new wormhole and fly one end of it to wherever it is
you want it to go at sub-light speed.

The Dwellers are not as much like the Affront as the 'hunt their children'
comment suggests. They are incredibly long-lived and one of the oldest
species in the galaxy. They are also not part of the Mercatoria and hold
themselves generally aloof from the rest of sentient life.

Fassin Taak's search is more than a mere quest - though there is some
treking from place to place. There is far more discovery than battle. And at
several points it is at least suggested that he is being manipulated by one
or more of the several different factions involved.

Being Banks there is also some of his political viewpoint underlying the
story. There are a number of aspects to the story which could easily be seen
as metaphorical comments on globalisation and the current 'war on terror'.

Although there are tragedies and atrocities along the way in the end this is
not as dark a book as many of his previous outings. It even has an ending
which - if not quite happy - is at least hopeful. Maybe our man is
mellowing with age.

Whatever - IMO this is Banks on the top of his game. I'd rank it up there
with UoW and PoG. It's certainly a huge improvement on LtW.

--
SB