Against A Dark Background: Iain M. Banks

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The Bond villain, when she meets him in his inner sanctum, manages not only to get the situation reversed on him and his trusted lieutenants killed, but also has an escape vehicle standing right there for the taking. But, the way the repeated flashbacks persistently positioned him as a morally ambivalent point of conflict between Sharrow and Breyghun; the near-rape of Sharrow; his repeated ineffectual bleating appearances in the novel that reminded us he was out there and presenting himself as an ally, but actually providing him with not exploration or development: the whole thing was plainly setting him up for a final-act appearance as the villain. It’s so much of a stand alone, in fact, that in one scene, a character looks up into the night sky to note that the closest star is a million light years away. He lived most recently in North Queensferry, a town on the north side of the Firth of Forth near the Forth Bridge and the Forth Road Bridge.

She stood, taking up a shoulder-bag from the seat and smoothing her skirt as the car rumbled into the concrete space of the ancient building. Banks wrote an epilogue to this novel which he posted online but never added to any published copy of the book. Then, about halfway through, the 'meta' picture starts to form, especially with all of Sharrow's flashbacks starting to form a coherent whole. Although packed full of Banks' trademark huge ideas, this non-Culture novel fell entirely flat for me.

Jacket has a 2mm rub to the top fore-edge corner, else very glossy and unmarked, overall a near fine book. But like Feersum Endjinn and The Algebraist, Against a Dark Background not set in the Culture universe (or at least not within the galactic territory traversed by the Culture). Cue Banks' usual gonzo worldbuilding and his deft hand with characters and pacing as Sharrow and her team fly, run and fight their way around a grand and fascinating solar system.

In a way the whole setting, always rising forward to crash in nuclear war and lose most technology is mirrored in the characters. Like many Ian m Banks, the story meanders, only really getting onto gear on the joining of the Android, about halfway through. Great pace and depth of character make this a more intimate read than some of the other culture books that are heavy on the tech.At first, Against a Dark Background seems like a jumble of big ideas and indeed, throughout the novel, Banks tosses in big ideas/tech with almost reckless abandon.