Iain Banks

Part of me wishes that I'd come to Iain Banks novels much earlier - I did read one of his 'Culture' novels a long time ago, but it never really compelled me to read more. If I had done, and especially if I'd read both his genre and non-genre novels, I suspect he would have become one of my favourite authors, I would have eagerly awaited the release of each novel as it came, and would have quickly devoured each one.

As it is, I've been reading them one a month for about a year now. And while the standard is generally high, each novel is quite different from the others, which almost inevitably means that they're a mixed bag. Some of them are very good indeed; some of them, not so much.

(I've been somewhat surprised to find that I've tended to enjoy the non-genre novels a bit more, on average, than the genre novels. I had expected the sci-fi to be the better. Given that I read all the sci-fi first, that's no bad thing.)

On the other hand, part of me is aware that if I had come to his novels earlier, and he had become a favourite author, that would have meant losing another favourite a few years ago. Which always sucks. So perhaps it's better this way.

#9: "Dead Air", by Iain Banks

(Incidentally, this novel was okay but I felt it was one of the poorer ones - it didn't feel like it really had quite enough plot to carry the novel, and so it felt more like an extended rant about various political topics. Not that I'm averse to a good political rant...)