Just finished : Inversions

Started reading again :-)

I have cycles where I'll devour several books very quickly, interspersed with periods where it takes me ages to get through one. The latest is Inversions by Iain M. Banks.

He's a decent author but his books tend to be somewhat inconsistent. I think it's the aim behind the book. Is the book relating to galaxy shaping events or is there something more philosophical going on. I tend to deal more in absolutes and have trouble getting my head around philosophical stuff. Page turners for me tend to be more about will that starship make it through, which of the crew have the Sword of Damocles hanging over them. I like things to happen.

Maybe that's why I like watching rugby and cricket but find football tedious. Lots of narrative in football but very little in the way of game changing events (goals & sending offs).

Anyway - Inversions is a tale set in two countries in a far off planet. It's not earth but a similar analogue. The narrative alternates between a Doctor and her apprentice in one country and the bodyguard of the Protector (King) of the other. You have intrigue inside the court and intrigue between the countries. There's lots here that should make it interesting but to be honest, most of that is telegraphed long before the actual action happens.

Yep - it's more a philosophy message book than Armies Invade Spacefleets Clash. Must read Consider Phlebas or The Algebraist again soon as they keep the reader guessing much more in a "how the hell can the characters get out of this mess ????" kind of way.

Not a bad book, just not as many surprises here as in his other books. Not much "science" fiction here too. There's touches of sci-fi in there but it's very light.

What's next ? That'll be the Exiles Trilogy by Ben Bova. It's a trilogy two thirds written before I was born. I'm 100 pages out of 450 in so far and it's escaping the obsolence trap that a lot of older sci-fi books fall into. The tech is what you would expect from extrapolating from what we see today, in that it thinks we'll have Better versions of what we have now. Progress through evolution instead of revolution. Computer tech is a bit behind though. We have advanced in hardware (if not AI) far more than what anyone in the Apollo years would have expected.

Ben Bova's books can be a bit "Writing By Numbers" (the way David Weber has gone) but they usually keep the reader guessing along the way. And that's what counts, we don't want to know the outcome before we read it.