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Culture #6
Inversions
In the winter palace, the King's new physician has more enemies than she at first realises. But then she also has more remedies to hand than those who wish her ill can know about. In another palace across the mountains, in the service of the regicidal Protector General, the chief bodyguard, too, has his enemies. But his enemies strike more swiftly, and his means of combating them are more traditional. Spiralling round a central core of secrecy, deceit, love and betrayal, INVERSIONS is a spectacular work of science fiction, brilliantly told and wildly imaginative, from an author who has set genre fiction alight.
385 pages, ebook
First published June 1, 1998
381 people are currently reading
11886 people want to read
About the author
Iain M. Banks
58 books6,530 followersIain M. Banks is a pseudonym of Iain Banks which he used to publish his Science Fiction.
Banks's father was an officer in the Admiralty and his mother was once a professional ice skater. Iain Banks was educated at the University of Stirling where he studied English Literature, Philosophy and Psychology. He moved to London and lived in the south of England until 1988 when he returned to Scotland, living in Edinburgh and then Fife.
Banks met his wife Annie in London, before the release of his first book. They married in Hawaii in 1992. However, he announced in early 2007 that, after 25 years together, they had separated. 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.
As with his friend Ken MacLeod (another Scottish writer of technical and social science fiction) a strong awareness of left-wing history shows in his writings. The argument that an economy of abundance renders anarchy and adhocracy viable (or even inevitable) attracts many as an interesting potential experiment, were it ever to become testable. He was a signatory to the Declaration of Calton Hill, which calls for Scottish independence.
In late 2004, Banks was a prominent member of a group of British politicians and media figures who campaigned to have Prime Minister Tony Blair impeached following the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In protest he cut up his passport and posted it to 10 Downing Street. In an interview in Socialist Review he claimed he did this after he "abandoned the idea of crashing my Land Rover through the gates of Fife dockyard, after spotting the guys armed with machine guns." He related his concerns about the invasion of Iraq in his book Raw Spirit, and the principal protagonist (Alban McGill) in the novel The Steep Approach to Garbadale confronts another character with arguments in a similar vein.
Interviewed on Mark Lawson's BBC Four series, first broadcast in the UK on 14 November 2006, Banks explained why his novels are published under two different names. His parents wished to name him Iain Menzies Banks but his father made a mistake when registering the birth and he was officially registered as Iain Banks. Despite this he continued to use his unofficial middle name and it was as Iain M. Banks that he submitted The Wasp Factory for publication. However, his editor asked if he would mind dropping the 'M' as it appeared "too fussy". The editor was also concerned about possible confusion with Rosie M. Banks, a minor character in some of P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves novels who is a romantic novelist. After his first three mainstream novels his publishers agreed to publish his first SF novel, Consider Phlebas. To distinguish between the mainstream and SF novels, Banks suggested the return of the 'M', although at one stage he considered John B. Macallan as his SF pseudonym, the name deriving from his favourite whiskies: Johnnie Walker Black Label and The Macallan single malt.
His latest book was a science fiction (SF) novel in the Culture series, called The Hydrogen Sonata, published in 2012.
Author Iain M. Banks revealed in April 2013 that he had late-stage cancer. He died the following June.
The Scottish writer posted a message on his official website saying his next novel The Quarry, due to be published later this year*, would be his last.
*The Quarry was published in June 2013.
Banks's father was an officer in the Admiralty and his mother was once a professional ice skater. Iain Banks was educated at the University of Stirling where he studied English Literature, Philosophy and Psychology. He moved to London and lived in the south of England until 1988 when he returned to Scotland, living in Edinburgh and then Fife.
Banks met his wife Annie in London, before the release of his first book. They married in Hawaii in 1992. However, he announced in early 2007 that, after 25 years together, they had separated. 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.
As with his friend Ken MacLeod (another Scottish writer of technical and social science fiction) a strong awareness of left-wing history shows in his writings. The argument that an economy of abundance renders anarchy and adhocracy viable (or even inevitable) attracts many as an interesting potential experiment, were it ever to become testable. He was a signatory to the Declaration of Calton Hill, which calls for Scottish independence.
In late 2004, Banks was a prominent member of a group of British politicians and media figures who campaigned to have Prime Minister Tony Blair impeached following the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In protest he cut up his passport and posted it to 10 Downing Street. In an interview in Socialist Review he claimed he did this after he "abandoned the idea of crashing my Land Rover through the gates of Fife dockyard, after spotting the guys armed with machine guns." He related his concerns about the invasion of Iraq in his book Raw Spirit, and the principal protagonist (Alban McGill) in the novel The Steep Approach to Garbadale confronts another character with arguments in a similar vein.
Interviewed on Mark Lawson's BBC Four series, first broadcast in the UK on 14 November 2006, Banks explained why his novels are published under two different names. His parents wished to name him Iain Menzies Banks but his father made a mistake when registering the birth and he was officially registered as Iain Banks. Despite this he continued to use his unofficial middle name and it was as Iain M. Banks that he submitted The Wasp Factory for publication. However, his editor asked if he would mind dropping the 'M' as it appeared "too fussy". The editor was also concerned about possible confusion with Rosie M. Banks, a minor character in some of P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves novels who is a romantic novelist. After his first three mainstream novels his publishers agreed to publish his first SF novel, Consider Phlebas. To distinguish between the mainstream and SF novels, Banks suggested the return of the 'M', although at one stage he considered John B. Macallan as his SF pseudonym, the name deriving from his favourite whiskies: Johnnie Walker Black Label and The Macallan single malt.
His latest book was a science fiction (SF) novel in the Culture series, called The Hydrogen Sonata, published in 2012.
Author Iain M. Banks revealed in April 2013 that he had late-stage cancer. He died the following June.
The Scottish writer posted a message on his official website saying his next novel The Quarry, due to be published later this year*, would be his last.
*The Quarry was published in June 2013.
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December 9, 2010
I must preface my review with my surprise. I just took a look at the responses to this book from my goodreads friends and the star ratings are only fair to middling. It makes me wonder if my love for this book is, perhaps, a little misguided. Either that or I am a more discerning reader than everyone else. Yeah ... that's probably it ;) So here's my review:
Iain M. Banks' books are packed with big, way-out-there moments. Grandmas explode, people wake up in rooms full of shit, ships run intentionally aground, hermaphrodites apply to mechanized killing temples to help them make decisions. His work is big and brash and in your face, and extended subtlety is not something Banks often employs. But he can.
Inversions -- his non-Culture Culture novel -- is all subtlety. It is a delicate double tale unlike any other he's told. Two journals, two narratives run parallel in an unnamed world experiencing a sort of Renaissance. A doctor cares for her King. A bodyguard protects his country's Protector. They are two stories that intertwine in only the subtlest ways, providing meditations on the meaning of perspective and how the smallest differences in perspective can alter everything.
The Culture elements that exist in Inversions enrich an already rich story, suggesting a whole universe beyond the confines of the world (only recently discovered to be round instead of flat) and its people, but this time the story doesn't focus on the Culture. Culture’s Contact is at the heart of the novel. It's two main characters are part of the Contact organization, but we don't hear the tale from their perspective, and so Contact remains a subtle thread in a greater tapestry (or a lesser one, depending on one's perspective).
Inversions is about love & hate, revenge & forgiveness, selfishness & selflessness, men & women, illness & health, healing & wounding, peace & violence, and countless other inversions, but none of these pairings are black and white. None are simple. There is no easy judgment between these potential opposites, no good or bad, they simply are, and what one might want to know about them is likely not put into words within the confines of the story. Banks makes us work by making us fill in the blanks. This is the primary tool of his subtlety. But perhaps it is this silence, the silence of the things that are missing, the subtle hints Banks gives us, that say everything that needs to be said.
This book is beautiful. I've described many Banks books in many ways, but beautiful is a new descriptor for me. I want to share the beauty of this book with everyone, but as I learned before writing this review, I may be the only one who sees the beauty of Inversions. That makes me more than a little sad.
Iain M. Banks' books are packed with big, way-out-there moments. Grandmas explode, people wake up in rooms full of shit, ships run intentionally aground, hermaphrodites apply to mechanized killing temples to help them make decisions. His work is big and brash and in your face, and extended subtlety is not something Banks often employs. But he can.
Inversions -- his non-Culture Culture novel -- is all subtlety. It is a delicate double tale unlike any other he's told. Two journals, two narratives run parallel in an unnamed world experiencing a sort of Renaissance. A doctor cares for her King. A bodyguard protects his country's Protector. They are two stories that intertwine in only the subtlest ways, providing meditations on the meaning of perspective and how the smallest differences in perspective can alter everything.
The Culture elements that exist in Inversions enrich an already rich story, suggesting a whole universe beyond the confines of the world (only recently discovered to be round instead of flat) and its people, but this time the story doesn't focus on the Culture. Culture’s Contact is at the heart of the novel. It's two main characters are part of the Contact organization, but we don't hear the tale from their perspective, and so Contact remains a subtle thread in a greater tapestry (or a lesser one, depending on one's perspective).
Inversions is about love & hate, revenge & forgiveness, selfishness & selflessness, men & women, illness & health, healing & wounding, peace & violence, and countless other inversions, but none of these pairings are black and white. None are simple. There is no easy judgment between these potential opposites, no good or bad, they simply are, and what one might want to know about them is likely not put into words within the confines of the story. Banks makes us work by making us fill in the blanks. This is the primary tool of his subtlety. But perhaps it is this silence, the silence of the things that are missing, the subtle hints Banks gives us, that say everything that needs to be said.
This book is beautiful. I've described many Banks books in many ways, but beautiful is a new descriptor for me. I want to share the beauty of this book with everyone, but as I learned before writing this review, I may be the only one who sees the beauty of Inversions. That makes me more than a little sad.
December 5, 2024
Still waters run deep within Inversions, concealing strange schemes and fierce ambitions, reservoirs of grief, questions on the nature of humanity, longings for death and for love. In terms of setting and scope, this is an intriguing outlier in the Culture series. Yet it has all of its masterful author's hallmarks: ironic and emotionally detached prose, an eye for the small thing symbolic of greater things, a fascination with systems of power and individual culpability, and an ease with ambiguity - in the slow unwinding of his mysteries and in portraying the compelling opacity of personalities carefully holding themselves restrained.
In an unusual turn for Banks, there are twin love stories. Both are subtle and understated, never taking over the plot. One starts slowly, moving from awe to lust to admiration to a despairing devotion; the other is rendered so discreetly as to be disguised, until suddenly the masks are off and love becomes the reason for swift and necessary movement.
Inversions is a medieval historical saga rich with courtly intrigue that is actually a challenging speculative work of futuristic fiction, that is actually one small link in a glittering and ornate space opera chain that spans galaxies, that is actually an intimate chamber piece tracking important moments of personal change and psychological development, that is actually two parallel stories that detail the sociopolitical impact caused by two very different change agents, that is actually a tense and tightly wound mystery about hidden pasts and hidden plans and hidden agendas, that is actually an empathetic feminist tract, that is actually a classic Banks critique of the successes and pitfalls that occur when a technologically superior culture engages with a less advanced culture, that is actually a cheeky yet highly intellectual experiment in illustrating cultural relativity versus individual responsibility and morality - and the always painful collision between the two. This is an objective book about subjectivity. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the book has levels.
In an unusual turn for Banks, there are twin love stories. Both are subtle and understated, never taking over the plot. One starts slowly, moving from awe to lust to admiration to a despairing devotion; the other is rendered so discreetly as to be disguised, until suddenly the masks are off and love becomes the reason for swift and necessary movement.
Inversions is a medieval historical saga rich with courtly intrigue that is actually a challenging speculative work of futuristic fiction, that is actually one small link in a glittering and ornate space opera chain that spans galaxies, that is actually an intimate chamber piece tracking important moments of personal change and psychological development, that is actually two parallel stories that detail the sociopolitical impact caused by two very different change agents, that is actually a tense and tightly wound mystery about hidden pasts and hidden plans and hidden agendas, that is actually an empathetic feminist tract, that is actually a classic Banks critique of the successes and pitfalls that occur when a technologically superior culture engages with a less advanced culture, that is actually a cheeky yet highly intellectual experiment in illustrating cultural relativity versus individual responsibility and morality - and the always painful collision between the two. This is an objective book about subjectivity. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the book has levels.
February 9, 2017
Rather than focus on a grand scale space-opera, I think Banks wanted to dump us into a backwater gravity-well and let us have a sense of what it would be like to tour as a doctor, perhaps Culture trained, among the crude creatures of a Medieval period.
Mind you, I didn't quite pick up any definitive proof of actual Culture interference, mind you, because our PoV is actually from the apprentice to the good doctor who hailed from foreign parts, but I think the guess is a very good one, anyway. :)
So what of the story?
Actually, this one shares in the great reversals of our understanding, just like the other Culture novels. We go along with interesting tales only to have a reveal that shatters our understanding of what we read. That stuff is fantastic, by the way. :)
In this case, meet a doctor who befriends the King and practically ALL of the court and the nobles mistrust and plot against her. If feels like one hell of a romance, honestly. I got into all the characters and loved the banter, rooted for the good guys and hoped all the others would get their just deserts.
It's a simple tale on the surface, yet there's always past horrors to work through and there happens to be a certain Captain of the Guard from where the good doctor came from who is out to bring her back or to justice, traveling all the way across the country. What exactly is going on?
Well that is a great deal of this book's charm, from the opening scene with a torturer to the end where everything gets inverted.
Do you fancy a bit of standing on your head?
I'm very impressed by the tale even if there isn't that much SF or Fantasy to hang your hat on. It reads mostly like a Medieval tale. With some rather interesting outcomes, I might add. :)
It's well worth the read. :)
Mind you, I didn't quite pick up any definitive proof of actual Culture interference, mind you, because our PoV is actually from the apprentice to the good doctor who hailed from foreign parts, but I think the guess is a very good one, anyway. :)
So what of the story?
Actually, this one shares in the great reversals of our understanding, just like the other Culture novels. We go along with interesting tales only to have a reveal that shatters our understanding of what we read. That stuff is fantastic, by the way. :)
In this case, meet a doctor who befriends the King and practically ALL of the court and the nobles mistrust and plot against her. If feels like one hell of a romance, honestly. I got into all the characters and loved the banter, rooted for the good guys and hoped all the others would get their just deserts.
It's a simple tale on the surface, yet there's always past horrors to work through and there happens to be a certain Captain of the Guard from where the good doctor came from who is out to bring her back or to justice, traveling all the way across the country. What exactly is going on?
Well that is a great deal of this book's charm, from the opening scene with a torturer to the end where everything gets inverted.
Do you fancy a bit of standing on your head?
I'm very impressed by the tale even if there isn't that much SF or Fantasy to hang your hat on. It reads mostly like a Medieval tale. With some rather interesting outcomes, I might add. :)
It's well worth the read. :)
April 3, 2016
*Spoilers* Banks' Culture series so far has been, what I will refer to as, hard sci-fi. Gargantuan megaships which house billions of people, immensely advanced Artificial Intelligences independently managing entire worlds, tiny drones with the ability to kill several people in a matter of seconds, Orbitals 3million kilometres in diameter, ships capable of travelling at hundreds of thousands of times the speed of light, tiny weapons with enormous destructive capabilities which can shrink down to a false tooth or brooch when not in use, galactic warfare, assassins, and an array of bizarre and wonderful alien species. His imagination in the series is seemingly limitless, almost boasting of what science fiction is capable of, in all its pomp and excess.
Inversions is the exact opposite. As Banks has described, it was his "attempt to write a Culture novel that wasn't", and as such all of the common motifs that I have grown to love in the series are completely absent. Described as science fiction as fantasy, the book takes place on a world which closely resembles medieval Europe, with castles, palaces, kings, emperors, military generals, balls and banquets. Indeed, the entire locale could be medieval Earth, if not for the binary system in which the planet is located and the descriptions of the two moons in the sky. Where the book is similar to other Culture novels however, is the fantastic twist at the end which if you know of beforehand, I imagine would ruin the book somewhat.
The book takes the form of two alternating narratives, one told in first person concerning a woman named Vosill, physician to the King of a nation named Haspidus. The narrator is a man named Oelph, appearing to be the doctor's assistant, but giving every indication that he is actually a spy for some unknown character referred to as Master. Haspidus is a typical medieval style society in which the country has a King, lands are ruled over by lords and nobles, a caste system is in place, women expected to be nothing more than wives and mothers, and the poor are looked upon with disdain and even disgust by the ruling classes, used to perform menial labour, farming etc. and nothing more. Some of these ingrained prejudices are presented through Oelph, as he is insulting to the poor, acquiescent in regards to the nobility, and at times highly judgmental whenever the doctor does something considered unwomanly.
On the other hand, it is revealed that the King whom the doctor serves has a very progressive attitude for the time, as he enacts reforms which take power away from the country lords and hands it over to the people, allowing them to own their own land, create city councils, and have greater independence from the tyranny of the nobility. Additionally of course, there is the fact that the King has employed a female doctor, who he places a huge amount of trust in and openly treats as an equal, asking her opinion on matters of politics, cartography, and obviously medicine, which supposed experts in these matters snuff with overt scorn, believing that women have no place to have any opinion at all. Because she is held in such high regard by the King, Vosill has many enemies in the Court, and as Oelph narrates the events of the story, a conspiracy is in which dukes, high ranking officials, and other characters plot to dispose of her.
Whenever one of these figures comes close to carrying out such actions however, they are conspicuously murdered, and it becomes obvious that Vosill is in fact an agent of Special Circumstances, working on behalf of the Culture. It is possible to deduce that considering the King's progressive direction, that the Culture has placed Vosill in Haspidus in order to keep the King alive as he brings about radical changes and drives the state towards a more equal society; something which would be greatly hindered if the existing nobility which surround the King were allowed to instill their influence or, much more probably, dispose of the King as he begins to change the status quo which they hold so sacred.
The fact that the characters who seek to do Vosill harm are all killed leads one to the assumption that, although never actually appearing in the course of the novel, Vosill is accompanied on her mission by some sort of Culture device which is able to provide aid and protection as required. Our attention is frequently drawn to a battered old dagger which the doctor carries everywhere. The hilt of the dagger is embedded with a number of small jewels, as well as many empty spaces where jewels once were. Since it is never explicitly stated what this dagger is, we must draw our own conclusions, but it seems fairly obvious that it is some sort of drone or knife missile, able to quickly despatch of any threats on command, and that the jewels could be bugging devices that the doctor uses to spy upon the various conspiracists. Indeed there are a couple of sections which are written as a transcript, which hints that some sort of recording device has been used to uncover the plots being made by Vosill's enemies.
The other story tells of DeWar, chief bodyguard to Urleyn, the Protector of Tasassen, a ruler who gained control of the land after the downfall of the pervious Empire. DeWar is in every sense a loyal servant to Urleyn, and it is frequently mentioned that he never lets his guard down, remaining alert and suspicious at all times, in close proximity to Urleyn in order to step in whenever any threat presents itself. DeWar is obsessive to the extent that he cannot eve play simple board games without his duty being reflected in his gaming style.
It would initially seem that the Protector is the more progressive of the book's two rulers, disposing of titles such as King, Emperor etc. in favour of more positive and/or neutral titles, such as Protector, as well as being responsible for the downfall of the previous Empire. It becomes apparent however, that Uleyn is not the entirely benevolent leader he appears to be, still retaining various militaristic and oppressive stances. Notably, as a direct contrast to the King of Haspidus, when the leaders of a nearby land named Ladenscion desire greater autonomy from Protectorate control, Urleyn responds by denying their requests and threatening war. The barons of Ladenscion initially supported Urleyn's revolution, apparently wishing for freedom from the previous monarch, and now wish for complete independence.
A large number of DeWar's chapters see new problems and threats to the Protector as they present themselves. An assassin almost manages to kill Urleyn, but is closely prevented from doing to by DeWar; the Protector's son Lattens is stricken with a mysterious and debilitating illness, the war in Ladenscion escalates, forcing Urleyn to leave the capital and lead the attacks against the enemy. And overshadowing all this is DeWar's suspicions that there are spies within the court, betraying the Protector's plans to Ladenscion and helping them win the war.
Another character who makes frequent appearances throughout the book is the Protector's confidant, an ex-Concubine named Perrund. Her relationship with Urleyn and her deep friendship with DeWar signify that Perrund an important figure in the narrative, not least because she once saved Urleyn from assassination and was crippled as a result. There is also another contrast here between Urleyn and the King, in that while King Quience has a degree of respect for women, Urleyn is depicted as a womaniser, frequently visiting the palace brothel, and with a sun but no mention of a wife. These subtle hints at Urleyn's character served to generate a growing dislike for him, a man who had such potential for greatness at the onset of the book, but frequently displays unfavourable opinions and actions.
It isn't long after the Protector leaves to take control of the war that he is forced to return home as his son's condition worsens. Urleyn completely fails in his leadership as he locks himself away and refuses to speak to any of his advisors and generals, who begin to question and mock his position. In the final chapters, the suspicions that DeWar has had through the book come to fruition, as he works out that Lattens is being poisoned, and the great twist, that Perrund is responsible, and has also killed Urleyn. In a tense confrontation, the negative attributes of the Protector's character and leadership come together as Perrund explains how he and his squadron once raped her and her family, killing her parents but allowing Perrund to escape. Banks very cleverly presents a complete evolution of both Perrund's and Urleyn's characters, as the Protector appears at the beginning as an idealistic harbinger, who then shows signs of being prejudiced and somewhat despotic, now revealed to be a rapist and murder wearing a guise of altruism.
There is a point in Vosill's story in which the King learns about the Protectorate's war with Ladenscion (which dispelled some of my suspicions that the two narratives may actually have happened at different times). Although the King clearly does not support the Protectorate, he states that he must make every effort in seeming to whilst taking the opportunity to move against Urleyn as it presents itself. I thought nothing of these comments when reading them I will admit, thinking that it was just simple political banter. But as Perrund reveals her history, we learn that she is in fact the opportunity the King is referring to, having escaped to Haspidus after Urleyn killed her family, and acting on the orders of the King to kill Urleyn, but not before bringing about his utter ruin. I am beginning to thoroughly enjoy the enormous twists that Banks employs in most of his novels. It isn't quite on par with Use of Weapons, but it was certainly a good one.
As Banks stated, this is his Culture novel that wasn't really a Culture novel, and I admit that I was in fact expecting at least some explicit clarification toward the end, with a drone or a hips appearing, or one of the characters explaining who they are and who they work for. None of this happens, and after a little mulling over, I have decided that I actually prefer this ambiguity and subtlety. The fact that Inversions is so completely different from the other Culture novels, and in fact, that each Culture novel is so unique, establishes Banks as a brilliant writer. Rather than just give it all away at the end, he decided to use a tale that DeWar tells concerning two children who lived in a country far away, and who disagreed on whether an advanced society should handle primitive cultures, the girl believing in intervention, and the boy believing they should be left to their own devices. It is clear the children are Vosill and DeWar, and that Vosill joined Special Circumstances to continue with her philosophy of instigating change within primitive cultures, whereas it can be guessed that DeWar is a kind of exile from the Culture working by his own means.
Inversions is a beautifully written novel, expertly constructed and never giving away more than it needs to to keep the reader guessing, using subtle hints and references to maintain that this is in fact a Culture novel, whilst exploring a world with a totally different aesthetic. Since the previous book I read was Excession, Inversions was a welcome relief from the intense concentration required by that book, whilst still being incredibly thought provoking, tackling certain issues of equality and prejudice with wit and humour.
One of the most memorable scenes involves a ball in which Vosill and Oelph are invited, to mingle with the upper echelons of society, where one noble lady suggests that when the King grows bored of Vosill she may hire her as a wet-nurse (or something similar), and Oelph reacts be saying that this would be demeaning to the doctor's talents. The lady is gravely offended that her opinion has been questioned, and when she discovers that Oelph was an orphan, she is further mortified. The entire scene explores the notion that the privileged classes believe themselves deserving of respect, better than the poor, no matter how useless they may be by comparison. The lady, I gathered, is the wife to some lord, has no education, no career, and nothing better to do than attend society balls, but still believes herself better than the doctor, despite the doctor being a highly educated and intelligent medical professional. Amusing as this scene is, it is still a distressingly accurate portrayal of society even in the 21st century.
Overall, Banks succeeds in creating a non-Culture Culture novel that is every bit as exciting, intriguing and memorable as the others, and may well stand out even further for being so unique.
Inversions is the exact opposite. As Banks has described, it was his "attempt to write a Culture novel that wasn't", and as such all of the common motifs that I have grown to love in the series are completely absent. Described as science fiction as fantasy, the book takes place on a world which closely resembles medieval Europe, with castles, palaces, kings, emperors, military generals, balls and banquets. Indeed, the entire locale could be medieval Earth, if not for the binary system in which the planet is located and the descriptions of the two moons in the sky. Where the book is similar to other Culture novels however, is the fantastic twist at the end which if you know of beforehand, I imagine would ruin the book somewhat.
The book takes the form of two alternating narratives, one told in first person concerning a woman named Vosill, physician to the King of a nation named Haspidus. The narrator is a man named Oelph, appearing to be the doctor's assistant, but giving every indication that he is actually a spy for some unknown character referred to as Master. Haspidus is a typical medieval style society in which the country has a King, lands are ruled over by lords and nobles, a caste system is in place, women expected to be nothing more than wives and mothers, and the poor are looked upon with disdain and even disgust by the ruling classes, used to perform menial labour, farming etc. and nothing more. Some of these ingrained prejudices are presented through Oelph, as he is insulting to the poor, acquiescent in regards to the nobility, and at times highly judgmental whenever the doctor does something considered unwomanly.
On the other hand, it is revealed that the King whom the doctor serves has a very progressive attitude for the time, as he enacts reforms which take power away from the country lords and hands it over to the people, allowing them to own their own land, create city councils, and have greater independence from the tyranny of the nobility. Additionally of course, there is the fact that the King has employed a female doctor, who he places a huge amount of trust in and openly treats as an equal, asking her opinion on matters of politics, cartography, and obviously medicine, which supposed experts in these matters snuff with overt scorn, believing that women have no place to have any opinion at all. Because she is held in such high regard by the King, Vosill has many enemies in the Court, and as Oelph narrates the events of the story, a conspiracy is in which dukes, high ranking officials, and other characters plot to dispose of her.
Whenever one of these figures comes close to carrying out such actions however, they are conspicuously murdered, and it becomes obvious that Vosill is in fact an agent of Special Circumstances, working on behalf of the Culture. It is possible to deduce that considering the King's progressive direction, that the Culture has placed Vosill in Haspidus in order to keep the King alive as he brings about radical changes and drives the state towards a more equal society; something which would be greatly hindered if the existing nobility which surround the King were allowed to instill their influence or, much more probably, dispose of the King as he begins to change the status quo which they hold so sacred.
The fact that the characters who seek to do Vosill harm are all killed leads one to the assumption that, although never actually appearing in the course of the novel, Vosill is accompanied on her mission by some sort of Culture device which is able to provide aid and protection as required. Our attention is frequently drawn to a battered old dagger which the doctor carries everywhere. The hilt of the dagger is embedded with a number of small jewels, as well as many empty spaces where jewels once were. Since it is never explicitly stated what this dagger is, we must draw our own conclusions, but it seems fairly obvious that it is some sort of drone or knife missile, able to quickly despatch of any threats on command, and that the jewels could be bugging devices that the doctor uses to spy upon the various conspiracists. Indeed there are a couple of sections which are written as a transcript, which hints that some sort of recording device has been used to uncover the plots being made by Vosill's enemies.
The other story tells of DeWar, chief bodyguard to Urleyn, the Protector of Tasassen, a ruler who gained control of the land after the downfall of the pervious Empire. DeWar is in every sense a loyal servant to Urleyn, and it is frequently mentioned that he never lets his guard down, remaining alert and suspicious at all times, in close proximity to Urleyn in order to step in whenever any threat presents itself. DeWar is obsessive to the extent that he cannot eve play simple board games without his duty being reflected in his gaming style.
It would initially seem that the Protector is the more progressive of the book's two rulers, disposing of titles such as King, Emperor etc. in favour of more positive and/or neutral titles, such as Protector, as well as being responsible for the downfall of the previous Empire. It becomes apparent however, that Uleyn is not the entirely benevolent leader he appears to be, still retaining various militaristic and oppressive stances. Notably, as a direct contrast to the King of Haspidus, when the leaders of a nearby land named Ladenscion desire greater autonomy from Protectorate control, Urleyn responds by denying their requests and threatening war. The barons of Ladenscion initially supported Urleyn's revolution, apparently wishing for freedom from the previous monarch, and now wish for complete independence.
A large number of DeWar's chapters see new problems and threats to the Protector as they present themselves. An assassin almost manages to kill Urleyn, but is closely prevented from doing to by DeWar; the Protector's son Lattens is stricken with a mysterious and debilitating illness, the war in Ladenscion escalates, forcing Urleyn to leave the capital and lead the attacks against the enemy. And overshadowing all this is DeWar's suspicions that there are spies within the court, betraying the Protector's plans to Ladenscion and helping them win the war.
Another character who makes frequent appearances throughout the book is the Protector's confidant, an ex-Concubine named Perrund. Her relationship with Urleyn and her deep friendship with DeWar signify that Perrund an important figure in the narrative, not least because she once saved Urleyn from assassination and was crippled as a result. There is also another contrast here between Urleyn and the King, in that while King Quience has a degree of respect for women, Urleyn is depicted as a womaniser, frequently visiting the palace brothel, and with a sun but no mention of a wife. These subtle hints at Urleyn's character served to generate a growing dislike for him, a man who had such potential for greatness at the onset of the book, but frequently displays unfavourable opinions and actions.
It isn't long after the Protector leaves to take control of the war that he is forced to return home as his son's condition worsens. Urleyn completely fails in his leadership as he locks himself away and refuses to speak to any of his advisors and generals, who begin to question and mock his position. In the final chapters, the suspicions that DeWar has had through the book come to fruition, as he works out that Lattens is being poisoned, and the great twist, that Perrund is responsible, and has also killed Urleyn. In a tense confrontation, the negative attributes of the Protector's character and leadership come together as Perrund explains how he and his squadron once raped her and her family, killing her parents but allowing Perrund to escape. Banks very cleverly presents a complete evolution of both Perrund's and Urleyn's characters, as the Protector appears at the beginning as an idealistic harbinger, who then shows signs of being prejudiced and somewhat despotic, now revealed to be a rapist and murder wearing a guise of altruism.
There is a point in Vosill's story in which the King learns about the Protectorate's war with Ladenscion (which dispelled some of my suspicions that the two narratives may actually have happened at different times). Although the King clearly does not support the Protectorate, he states that he must make every effort in seeming to whilst taking the opportunity to move against Urleyn as it presents itself. I thought nothing of these comments when reading them I will admit, thinking that it was just simple political banter. But as Perrund reveals her history, we learn that she is in fact the opportunity the King is referring to, having escaped to Haspidus after Urleyn killed her family, and acting on the orders of the King to kill Urleyn, but not before bringing about his utter ruin. I am beginning to thoroughly enjoy the enormous twists that Banks employs in most of his novels. It isn't quite on par with Use of Weapons, but it was certainly a good one.
As Banks stated, this is his Culture novel that wasn't really a Culture novel, and I admit that I was in fact expecting at least some explicit clarification toward the end, with a drone or a hips appearing, or one of the characters explaining who they are and who they work for. None of this happens, and after a little mulling over, I have decided that I actually prefer this ambiguity and subtlety. The fact that Inversions is so completely different from the other Culture novels, and in fact, that each Culture novel is so unique, establishes Banks as a brilliant writer. Rather than just give it all away at the end, he decided to use a tale that DeWar tells concerning two children who lived in a country far away, and who disagreed on whether an advanced society should handle primitive cultures, the girl believing in intervention, and the boy believing they should be left to their own devices. It is clear the children are Vosill and DeWar, and that Vosill joined Special Circumstances to continue with her philosophy of instigating change within primitive cultures, whereas it can be guessed that DeWar is a kind of exile from the Culture working by his own means.
Inversions is a beautifully written novel, expertly constructed and never giving away more than it needs to to keep the reader guessing, using subtle hints and references to maintain that this is in fact a Culture novel, whilst exploring a world with a totally different aesthetic. Since the previous book I read was Excession, Inversions was a welcome relief from the intense concentration required by that book, whilst still being incredibly thought provoking, tackling certain issues of equality and prejudice with wit and humour.
One of the most memorable scenes involves a ball in which Vosill and Oelph are invited, to mingle with the upper echelons of society, where one noble lady suggests that when the King grows bored of Vosill she may hire her as a wet-nurse (or something similar), and Oelph reacts be saying that this would be demeaning to the doctor's talents. The lady is gravely offended that her opinion has been questioned, and when she discovers that Oelph was an orphan, she is further mortified. The entire scene explores the notion that the privileged classes believe themselves deserving of respect, better than the poor, no matter how useless they may be by comparison. The lady, I gathered, is the wife to some lord, has no education, no career, and nothing better to do than attend society balls, but still believes herself better than the doctor, despite the doctor being a highly educated and intelligent medical professional. Amusing as this scene is, it is still a distressingly accurate portrayal of society even in the 21st century.
Overall, Banks succeeds in creating a non-Culture Culture novel that is every bit as exciting, intriguing and memorable as the others, and may well stand out even further for being so unique.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 14, 2022
Just when you think you are getting a handle on the Culture series, Banks tosses a curve ball, but it is a really sweet pitch! Inversions is strikingly different from its predecessors and outside of a few references, you may not even know it is a Culture novel. The story is narrated by a doctor's apprentice/spy named Oelph who lives on an exotic world with two suns and six moons but seems mired in a quasi feudal social/economic order. Oelph writes this tale as something of a confession at the end of a long and productive life and it takes two parts, one concerning the doctor he worked for in one kingdom and another of a bodyguard to a king from another and the mysterious set of events that transpired in the space of a few years.
The doctor, hailing supposedly from some far off island halfway around the world, proved in her travels to the kingdom that she knew her stuff and upon arrival, became the King's personal doctor. It is pretty clear that she comes from the Culture and her knowledge of the body is far beyond local levels, but what is she doing on this backwater and what does she hope to achieve? The world depicted is patriarchal for sure, with both kings keeping a hoard of concubines and such, and the doctor, a stunning redheaded (but of course!) female takes a lot of stupid flack from other doctors.
One of the motifs Banks employs in the Culture is the debate over what to do when they encounter another civilization. Should they simply announce themselves and absorb it or should they subtly try to change its ways, making it more civilized? This debate was alluded to a few times here, primarily in 'stories' the bodyguard told the King's son on occasion, but if you are unfamiliar with Culture you may miss its significance. So, it seems that the doctor and bodyguard are Culture agents, one trying to keep a rather progressive new king (or as he styles himself, the protector) alive while the Doctor also attempts to keep the other, also rather progressive, king hale.
Inversions is riddled with dark humor and the dialogue between the king and the doctor is priceless at times. Lots of neat twists along the way and conniving nobles also plot their way along. In fact, our narrator is a spy working for one of them, sent to keep track of the mysterious female doctor when he was still a young man. This is also a rather playful novel for Banks, but one also minus anything really to do with high tech as typifies most of his other Culture novels . While perhaps not the best place to start if you are unfamiliar with the Culture, this is probably a must for Culture fans. 4.5 stars, happily rounding up!!
The doctor, hailing supposedly from some far off island halfway around the world, proved in her travels to the kingdom that she knew her stuff and upon arrival, became the King's personal doctor. It is pretty clear that she comes from the Culture and her knowledge of the body is far beyond local levels, but what is she doing on this backwater and what does she hope to achieve? The world depicted is patriarchal for sure, with both kings keeping a hoard of concubines and such, and the doctor, a stunning redheaded (but of course!) female takes a lot of stupid flack from other doctors.
One of the motifs Banks employs in the Culture is the debate over what to do when they encounter another civilization. Should they simply announce themselves and absorb it or should they subtly try to change its ways, making it more civilized? This debate was alluded to a few times here, primarily in 'stories' the bodyguard told the King's son on occasion, but if you are unfamiliar with Culture you may miss its significance. So, it seems that the doctor and bodyguard are Culture agents, one trying to keep a rather progressive new king (or as he styles himself, the protector) alive while the Doctor also attempts to keep the other, also rather progressive, king hale.
Inversions is riddled with dark humor and the dialogue between the king and the doctor is priceless at times. Lots of neat twists along the way and conniving nobles also plot their way along. In fact, our narrator is a spy working for one of them, sent to keep track of the mysterious female doctor when he was still a young man. This is also a rather playful novel for Banks, but one also minus anything really to do with high tech as typifies most of his other Culture novels . While perhaps not the best place to start if you are unfamiliar with the Culture, this is probably a must for Culture fans. 4.5 stars, happily rounding up!!
February 11, 2024
This was an amazing Middle Ages tale with a tiny Culture twist. We follow two storylines that only connect towards the end of the book. Banks does a fantastic job of narration, he truly gets us up close with the protagonists who are drawn in a charismatic manner. There is quite a lot of depth and complexity to the protagonists and typical horror and black humor that is par for the course in the Culture books.
Fino Reviews Iain Banks Culture series
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Fino Reviews Iain Banks Culture series
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October 17, 2019
Banks is in fine form, weaving a wonderfully somber tale full of personal discovery, tormented relationships and intrigue. Rather than a Culture sci-fi story as I was expecting, this has the feel of historical fiction, with a setting akin to war torn medieval Europe. There are only subtle hints of the Culture and really no sci-fi to speak of. The themes are some that recur frequently in the Culture series, focusing particularly on the human and emotional costs of war, self discovery, and especially the dilemma of interference vs non-interference. That is, the question whether advanced societies have a responsibility to aid and guide those who are less developed, or instead leave them to develop naturally. That's a hot topic in the Culture, and while generally they choose not to interfere, at least overtly, there are frequently exceptions. Matter, a later Culture novel, shares these themes as well as a similar setting, yet ties more directly into the Culture, and I think was a more enjoyable read because of that. Still, another fine tale, well told by Mr. Banks.
September 9, 2022
Inversions meets the expectations of the previous novels set in Culture, although it presents a different situation than the one the author had accustomed us to in this series. Far from the space orbitals and the magnificent ships -and their insurmountable names-, in this case the author immerses us in a medieval world, a world closer to fantasy -although it falls within the science fiction genre as well-, a world that I would say it evokes the novels of Jack Vance.
In this imagined world, the author concocts a well-developed history of medieval intrigues and only with a few brief notes on the galactic context of the Culture, to which he does not allude directly at any time... To highlight the role of women in this story and the criticism of the patriarchal environment, which makes it a very current novel.
The author passed away in 2013, leaving us with no more stories of Culture that he surely had left to tell us. We miss you very much Mr. Banks.
In this imagined world, the author concocts a well-developed history of medieval intrigues and only with a few brief notes on the galactic context of the Culture, to which he does not allude directly at any time... To highlight the role of women in this story and the criticism of the patriarchal environment, which makes it a very current novel.
The author passed away in 2013, leaving us with no more stories of Culture that he surely had left to tell us. We miss you very much Mr. Banks.
June 9, 2010
My favorite book by Iain [M] Banks, who is one of my absolute favorite authors. It's in his "Culture" series of novels, but that's only shown by a couple of minor details. It's fully a stand-alone novel - sci-fi with a fantasy feel to it. I stayed up late-late-late last night finishing this - it was a GREAT book. I was really impressed by the way all the little clues fit together... without giving it all away too soon!
January 23, 2019
Inversions, like so many of Banks' books, is slippery. Every time I think I have a hold on it, it slithers out of my grasp. It's this element that keeps drawing me back in to the Culture series, as strange and frustrating as it often is. I keep trying different techniques to pin these books down, thinking at some point I will find the right angle from which to sneak up on them. I hope I never find it.
The plot of Inversions is fairly straightforward - the book is really two interweaved novellas, called The Doctor and The Bodyguard, which both take place on the same medieval planet. The Doctor follows Dr. Vosill, personal physician to King Quience of Haspidus, who raises suspicions at court because she is a woman, and a foreigner, and because her treatments are strangely effective. The Bodyguard follows DeWar, chief of security to General Urleyn, the leader of the Tassasen Protectorate, halfway around the world from Haspidus. Like Vosill, DeWar is a foreigner and therefore inherently suspicious, but his devotion to the General has placed him above reproach. The world itself is in turmoil; meteor strikes a generation ago had killed thousands, altered the climate, and destroyed a global empire, leaving fractured states like Haspidus and Tassasen to battle for dominance. As Vosill and DeWar tend to their charges, the leaders prepare for war.
Inversions, therefore, reads like a fantasy - light on magic, but heavy on court intrigue and battle plans. It's not immediately clear how the book fits into the Culture series, which is about an intergalactic utopia filled with decadent aliens, hyperintelligent spaceships, and smartass drones. Nor is it obvious what the two novellas have to do with each other, despite the assurance in the introduction that they "belong together." These mysteries resolve in the bedtime stories DeWar tells the young prince, Lattens, about a faraway land called "Lavishia":
"In this land there lived two friends, a boy and a girl who were cousins and who had grown up together. They thought they were adults but really they were still just children. They were the best of friends but they disagreed on many things. One of the most important things they disagreed about was what to do when Lavishia chanced upon one of these tribes of poor people. Was it better to leave them alone or was it better to try and make life better for them? Even if you decided it was the right thing to do to make life better for them, which way did you do this? Did you say, Come and join us and be like us? Did you say, Give up all your own ways of doing things, the gods that you worship, the beliefs you hold most dear, the traditions that make you who you are? Or do you say, We have decided you should stay roughly as you are and we will treat you like children and give you toys that might make your life better? Indeed, who even decided what was better?"
This, then, pretty clearly lays out the premise of the book, and invokes a common theme in the series: the Culture's ambivalence toward colonialism (which I talked about in my review of the first book, Consider Phlebas, too). Vosill seems to be championing an interventionist approach, while DeWar adheres more to Star Trek's prime directive.
Where the book gets slippery, though, is in the outcomes - who was right, in the end, if either of them were? Inversions has a lot of tricks up its sleeve, several rogue variables that knock everything out of alignment. In the end, is this world better for having been visited by Vosill and DeWar? Are they better off for having done so? I know better by now than to expect straightforward answers from Banks. His characters just settle in my mind, asking their questions, smiling inscrutably at every answer I propose.
The plot of Inversions is fairly straightforward - the book is really two interweaved novellas, called The Doctor and The Bodyguard, which both take place on the same medieval planet. The Doctor follows Dr. Vosill, personal physician to King Quience of Haspidus, who raises suspicions at court because she is a woman, and a foreigner, and because her treatments are strangely effective. The Bodyguard follows DeWar, chief of security to General Urleyn, the leader of the Tassasen Protectorate, halfway around the world from Haspidus. Like Vosill, DeWar is a foreigner and therefore inherently suspicious, but his devotion to the General has placed him above reproach. The world itself is in turmoil; meteor strikes a generation ago had killed thousands, altered the climate, and destroyed a global empire, leaving fractured states like Haspidus and Tassasen to battle for dominance. As Vosill and DeWar tend to their charges, the leaders prepare for war.
Inversions, therefore, reads like a fantasy - light on magic, but heavy on court intrigue and battle plans. It's not immediately clear how the book fits into the Culture series, which is about an intergalactic utopia filled with decadent aliens, hyperintelligent spaceships, and smartass drones. Nor is it obvious what the two novellas have to do with each other, despite the assurance in the introduction that they "belong together." These mysteries resolve in the bedtime stories DeWar tells the young prince, Lattens, about a faraway land called "Lavishia":
"In this land there lived two friends, a boy and a girl who were cousins and who had grown up together. They thought they were adults but really they were still just children. They were the best of friends but they disagreed on many things. One of the most important things they disagreed about was what to do when Lavishia chanced upon one of these tribes of poor people. Was it better to leave them alone or was it better to try and make life better for them? Even if you decided it was the right thing to do to make life better for them, which way did you do this? Did you say, Come and join us and be like us? Did you say, Give up all your own ways of doing things, the gods that you worship, the beliefs you hold most dear, the traditions that make you who you are? Or do you say, We have decided you should stay roughly as you are and we will treat you like children and give you toys that might make your life better? Indeed, who even decided what was better?"
This, then, pretty clearly lays out the premise of the book, and invokes a common theme in the series: the Culture's ambivalence toward colonialism (which I talked about in my review of the first book, Consider Phlebas, too). Vosill seems to be championing an interventionist approach, while DeWar adheres more to Star Trek's prime directive.
Where the book gets slippery, though, is in the outcomes - who was right, in the end, if either of them were? Inversions has a lot of tricks up its sleeve, several rogue variables that knock everything out of alignment. In the end, is this world better for having been visited by Vosill and DeWar? Are they better off for having done so? I know better by now than to expect straightforward answers from Banks. His characters just settle in my mind, asking their questions, smiling inscrutably at every answer I propose.
March 16, 2010
I have to say, first off, that every single review I saw of this book online (even ones as short as a single line) gives away something you are not supposed to know until the very end, if you figure it out at all. These details that they spoil are not exactly essential to the plot, but one was spoiled for me (and I think the novel lost some of its tautness as a result) and the one that was not spoiled I was very glad wasn't spoiled because it was a minor mystery I spent the first half of the novel picking at (so again, I suspect the novel would have lost some of its appeal had I known the answer to the riddle). All of which is a very roundabout way of saying that if you want to come to the book unspoiled, avoid all online information about it like the plague.
I say right now that I will endeavor to do better than that, and give a truly spoiler-free review.
The difficulty is that without those two bits of information that so many others cavalierly spoiled, there's very little way to talk about the book. Even saying that it is a Culture novel gives you a clue to what one of the pieces of information is, but I felt that was something I could include because Banks himself gave that away. Without spoiling anymore, I will be forced to speak circuitously, which I must beg your forgiveness for. Inversions is set on a planet with a roughly Medieval level of government and medicine, and which is just beginning to experiment with gunpowder but still relies mainly on crossbows and swords. It is narrated by one of the characters, but the narrator does not tell which character he or she is, though that conceit is broken down by about the halfway point. This mysterious narrator relates two parallel tales, one of the King's physician (named Vosill) in a country called Haspidus, and one of the General Protector's bodyguard (called DeWar) in a country called Tassasen, across the mountains from Haspidus. The countries are not at war with one another, but they are uneasy about each other because the world has just suffered a planet-wide disaster which has upset all of the old systems of government.
That, then, is the set-up. The chapters alternate between the Doctor's story, which the narrator relates through her assistant Oelph, who is reporting clandestinely to another Master; and the Bodyguard's story, which the narrator relates through a third-person omniscient voice that is kept relatively confined to DeWar's perspective, but not entirely. As I mentioned above, it becomes clear who the narrator is in these stories about halfway through, but Banks handles that gracefully, not with a big reveal, but by slowly letting the mask the he or she is wearing at first slip away, almost as if unconsciously.
There is little for me to say about the two stories being told; very little happens. This novel, much more than other Banks novels I have read, is a character study, a portrait of two individuals in positions of power at a time of momentous change on this world. There is intriguing against both the Doctor and the Bodyguard, for they are foreigners to their lands and not trusted as a result; there is a touch of romance, mostly unrequited; there are surprising philosophical passages that take on greater weight as events unfold. There is a startlingly vivid hunt scene, and a botched assassination attempt, but otherwise the only action comes in a mock war (complete with catapult) that DeWar has with the General Protector's son. There is ugliness, because Banks never shies from that, and there is quite a bit of witty repartee between the Doctor and her King and between the Bodyguard and the General Protector's favorite concubine. There is also a tale of a land called Lavishia, and two cousins that lived there, that is the only real clue to the bit of information that was spoiled for me.
Ultimately, the stories end, but as with the other Culture novel I have read, the ending is pretty damned emotionally unsatisfactory. But that, too, is a stylistic choice on Banks' part, and one that I respect. They end unsatisfactorily because, unless all of humanity is obliterated, no story ever has a real ending. There will always be loose ends, people who disappear leaving only questions behind them, events that are understood imperfectly, and whose full effects still haven't been seen. It is actually a happier ending than that other Culture novel, I think; at least, the people within the story seem happy with it. The philosophical questions raised are never answered, because how could they be? They have no right answers. . . (I'm looking at you again, Prime Directive!) Instead, we are left to muddle through day by day, doing the best we can, trying to hold onto the best parts of ourselves and make good decisions with imperfect information, just as all the people (in Haspidus, in Tassasen, and even in Lavishia) in this story do.
And that's where Inversions left me, a tad frustrated (but again, I think that was deliberate), a tad philosophical, and fairly impressed. I do believe I succeeded in writing a spoiler-free review, but I'm not sure I managed to say anything at all, lol. I would definitely recommend this book, but you must accept that nothing happens, there is no real ending, and there isn't even a message to it all. That said, Inversions is still one of the strongest books I've read in a while.
I say right now that I will endeavor to do better than that, and give a truly spoiler-free review.
The difficulty is that without those two bits of information that so many others cavalierly spoiled, there's very little way to talk about the book. Even saying that it is a Culture novel gives you a clue to what one of the pieces of information is, but I felt that was something I could include because Banks himself gave that away. Without spoiling anymore, I will be forced to speak circuitously, which I must beg your forgiveness for. Inversions is set on a planet with a roughly Medieval level of government and medicine, and which is just beginning to experiment with gunpowder but still relies mainly on crossbows and swords. It is narrated by one of the characters, but the narrator does not tell which character he or she is, though that conceit is broken down by about the halfway point. This mysterious narrator relates two parallel tales, one of the King's physician (named Vosill) in a country called Haspidus, and one of the General Protector's bodyguard (called DeWar) in a country called Tassasen, across the mountains from Haspidus. The countries are not at war with one another, but they are uneasy about each other because the world has just suffered a planet-wide disaster which has upset all of the old systems of government.
That, then, is the set-up. The chapters alternate between the Doctor's story, which the narrator relates through her assistant Oelph, who is reporting clandestinely to another Master; and the Bodyguard's story, which the narrator relates through a third-person omniscient voice that is kept relatively confined to DeWar's perspective, but not entirely. As I mentioned above, it becomes clear who the narrator is in these stories about halfway through, but Banks handles that gracefully, not with a big reveal, but by slowly letting the mask the he or she is wearing at first slip away, almost as if unconsciously.
There is little for me to say about the two stories being told; very little happens. This novel, much more than other Banks novels I have read, is a character study, a portrait of two individuals in positions of power at a time of momentous change on this world. There is intriguing against both the Doctor and the Bodyguard, for they are foreigners to their lands and not trusted as a result; there is a touch of romance, mostly unrequited; there are surprising philosophical passages that take on greater weight as events unfold. There is a startlingly vivid hunt scene, and a botched assassination attempt, but otherwise the only action comes in a mock war (complete with catapult) that DeWar has with the General Protector's son. There is ugliness, because Banks never shies from that, and there is quite a bit of witty repartee between the Doctor and her King and between the Bodyguard and the General Protector's favorite concubine. There is also a tale of a land called Lavishia, and two cousins that lived there, that is the only real clue to the bit of information that was spoiled for me.
Ultimately, the stories end, but as with the other Culture novel I have read, the ending is pretty damned emotionally unsatisfactory. But that, too, is a stylistic choice on Banks' part, and one that I respect. They end unsatisfactorily because, unless all of humanity is obliterated, no story ever has a real ending. There will always be loose ends, people who disappear leaving only questions behind them, events that are understood imperfectly, and whose full effects still haven't been seen. It is actually a happier ending than that other Culture novel, I think; at least, the people within the story seem happy with it. The philosophical questions raised are never answered, because how could they be? They have no right answers. . . (I'm looking at you again, Prime Directive!) Instead, we are left to muddle through day by day, doing the best we can, trying to hold onto the best parts of ourselves and make good decisions with imperfect information, just as all the people (in Haspidus, in Tassasen, and even in Lavishia) in this story do.
And that's where Inversions left me, a tad frustrated (but again, I think that was deliberate), a tad philosophical, and fairly impressed. I do believe I succeeded in writing a spoiler-free review, but I'm not sure I managed to say anything at all, lol. I would definitely recommend this book, but you must accept that nothing happens, there is no real ending, and there isn't even a message to it all. That said, Inversions is still one of the strongest books I've read in a while.
January 31, 2020
This book is phenomenal.
Inversions is a very different approach to what one expects when reading a Culture novel: there's no spaceships, no Artificial Intelligences and no sci fi elements whatsoever. Because of this, Inversions is commonly regarded has one of the weakest entries in the Culture series, but personally, such assessement couldn't be further from the truth: Inversions stands on par with the rest of the series.
Actually I would go even further: Inversions is one of the strongest books in the series.
Inversions, at its core, is about the juxtaposition between intervention/action vs non-involvement/inaction. Should someone take action regarding situations that doesn't affect himself? What right has someone to impose it's perspective of how things should be upon others? Does some situations demand that one must do something regardless of everything else?
This is a very complex topic that Banks tries to explore without taking sides leaving the definitive answers and subsequent conclusions to the reader.
Inversions is also about perspective. Perspective is a distortion that every person has of reality and it's also something very subjective and inherently ambiguous.
Also, perspective is extremely personal and can be easily 'inverted' making it not only extremely malleable but also forcing one to realize how something so superfluous has such an impact on how we interact and view the world.
Inversions is everything I look for in a book. It has complex and intriguing themes, it's beautifully written, it has very interesting characters and most importantly it is an invitation to every person to meditate and introspect about himself and the others.
Warning: Inversions is a much better experience having a solid knowledge about the Culture. The hints and clues that Banks leaves to the reader are very small, nonetheless someone with no background about the Culture will miss some very subtle but extremely satisfying references.
Inversions is a very different approach to what one expects when reading a Culture novel: there's no spaceships, no Artificial Intelligences and no sci fi elements whatsoever. Because of this, Inversions is commonly regarded has one of the weakest entries in the Culture series, but personally, such assessement couldn't be further from the truth: Inversions stands on par with the rest of the series.
Actually I would go even further: Inversions is one of the strongest books in the series.
Inversions, at its core, is about the juxtaposition between intervention/action vs non-involvement/inaction. Should someone take action regarding situations that doesn't affect himself? What right has someone to impose it's perspective of how things should be upon others? Does some situations demand that one must do something regardless of everything else?
This is a very complex topic that Banks tries to explore without taking sides leaving the definitive answers and subsequent conclusions to the reader.
Inversions is also about perspective. Perspective is a distortion that every person has of reality and it's also something very subjective and inherently ambiguous.
Also, perspective is extremely personal and can be easily 'inverted' making it not only extremely malleable but also forcing one to realize how something so superfluous has such an impact on how we interact and view the world.
Inversions is everything I look for in a book. It has complex and intriguing themes, it's beautifully written, it has very interesting characters and most importantly it is an invitation to every person to meditate and introspect about himself and the others.
Warning: Inversions is a much better experience having a solid knowledge about the Culture. The hints and clues that Banks leaves to the reader are very small, nonetheless someone with no background about the Culture will miss some very subtle but extremely satisfying references.
August 16, 2021
I don't mind that this book was basically not sci-fi in any way. I don't mind that it doesn't have a lot of Culture references. What I do mind is that when the book ended, I felt like, "What? Was that it"?
It was just a completely unsatisfactory ending - on both stories. I plodded through a mostly boring book hoping that in the end it would be worth it. It was not.
It was just a completely unsatisfactory ending - on both stories. I plodded through a mostly boring book hoping that in the end it would be worth it. It was not.
August 18, 2011
This is my favourite Culture novel...probably because it has the least amount of the Culture in it. The smarmy robots, superintelligent AI Minds, and laissez-faire posthumans are all cool and everything, but after you've hung out with them for a few volumes they get kinda same-y. Also, they never pick up the tab at bars. Something about money being barbaric I think.
With Inversions we get, um, an inversion I guess, of what Banks seems to normally do with his Culture stories. Huh. Neat how that worked out, isn't it? Anyway, we find ourselves on one of those non-Culture 'backwards' planets that of course the Culture wants to influence (for their own good, of course) and we are thus presented with two different focuses (or I guess foci) in point of view. One follows the exploits of a mysterious female doctor acting as aide and close confidante to the king of one of the major nations of the planet; the other follows the story of the bodyguard of the de facto Cromwellian despot of another as he in turn follows a philosophically different approach in his 'influence' of events. Both of them are, of course, really Culture agents ultimately trying to prove to the other one that their philosophy is the correct one, though of course none of this is particularly obvious unless you've: a) read other Culture novels and b) read between the lines for some of the less explicable events of the story.
I found both main characters to be compelling and, most of all, interesting in a way that Banks isn't always able to pull off. In addition the narrator of the doctor's story-line, her smitten young apprentice, is quite an interesting figure in himself who displays the paradoxical elements of devoted factotum and scheming spy in equal measure. I guess I like it when Banks is understated. It doesn't happen a lot, but when it does it can be very compelling.
With Inversions we get, um, an inversion I guess, of what Banks seems to normally do with his Culture stories. Huh. Neat how that worked out, isn't it? Anyway, we find ourselves on one of those non-Culture 'backwards' planets that of course the Culture wants to influence (for their own good, of course) and we are thus presented with two different focuses (or I guess foci) in point of view. One follows the exploits of a mysterious female doctor acting as aide and close confidante to the king of one of the major nations of the planet; the other follows the story of the bodyguard of the de facto Cromwellian despot of another as he in turn follows a philosophically different approach in his 'influence' of events. Both of them are, of course, really Culture agents ultimately trying to prove to the other one that their philosophy is the correct one, though of course none of this is particularly obvious unless you've: a) read other Culture novels and b) read between the lines for some of the less explicable events of the story.
I found both main characters to be compelling and, most of all, interesting in a way that Banks isn't always able to pull off. In addition the narrator of the doctor's story-line, her smitten young apprentice, is quite an interesting figure in himself who displays the paradoxical elements of devoted factotum and scheming spy in equal measure. I guess I like it when Banks is understated. It doesn't happen a lot, but when it does it can be very compelling.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 23, 2015
I loved this so much. It's my last virgin read of A Culture book except for the short story collection, and I'm glad it was the last because I found it be the best kind of fairy tale. It actually has no direct mention of the Culture and takes place on your typical medieval fantasy world where women are secondary citizens. There are 2 separate stories taking place in different parts of the world, each one told in alternating chapters, but the narrator of one section tells us on the prologue they are connected although even he isn't sure how, just that the person relating the second says they are.
But there are amusing little hints like this one that tell us the Culture is involved in both: "[...] had been invited to dine with the vessel's captain that evening, but had sent a note declining the invitation, citing an indisposition due to special circumstances.". Heehee.
Well we already knew Special Circumstances were involved since this inside joke comes at the end. We have the nice vantage point of having an increasing omniprecient perspective of what is going on since this book is listed as a Culture novel and it's fun figuring out the specifics. And perception and understanding of the past and present are major motifs here, what is reality?
And as always with Banks there are twists and turns along the way.
If this intended to be your first Culture book what you'll only read is a medei al fantasy. So again, perspective. I recommend reading other Culture books first.0
I'm so glad I bought this so I can reread and be enchanted again. I even want to do it now to find any other Culture references I might have missed.
But there are amusing little hints like this one that tell us the Culture is involved in both: "[...] had been invited to dine with the vessel's captain that evening, but had sent a note declining the invitation, citing an indisposition due to special circumstances.". Heehee.
Well we already knew Special Circumstances were involved since this inside joke comes at the end. We have the nice vantage point of having an increasing omniprecient perspective of what is going on since this book is listed as a Culture novel and it's fun figuring out the specifics. And perception and understanding of the past and present are major motifs here, what is reality?
And as always with Banks there are twists and turns along the way.
If this intended to be your first Culture book what you'll only read is a medei al fantasy. So again, perspective. I recommend reading other Culture books first.0
I'm so glad I bought this so I can reread and be enchanted again. I even want to do it now to find any other Culture references I might have missed.
May 18, 2020
This book goes to show what a sophisticated writer Iain Banks was. I was looking forward to another Culture novel, but a few chapters in, I was confused. The tale is told as two intertwining stories, set in two rather mediaeval societies. There are no AI minds, no sentient space craft, no “Cultured" humanity swanning around. I set my misgivings aside and just enjoyed the interplay of the two tales, at least until I arrived at the final chapters.
Suddenly, things became clear. The stories that the body guard DeWar told to Lettens came into focus. The Doctor, with her extraordinary attention to cleanliness and her omnipresent dull old knife. I won't spoil things for you. You deserve to put the pieces together at your own speed in your own way. I'm sure many people figured things out more quickly than I.
This is a very subtle novel, much different from those that preceded it. I'm betting that Banks was looking for a change and this is a refreshing one. I kind of want to go back to the beginning and re-read the book with my new found realizations informing the experience. However, it is far too soon for that.
I can see eventually wanting to re-read the entire series, but first I must finish it.
Book number 367 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project
Suddenly, things became clear. The stories that the body guard DeWar told to Lettens came into focus. The Doctor, with her extraordinary attention to cleanliness and her omnipresent dull old knife. I won't spoil things for you. You deserve to put the pieces together at your own speed in your own way. I'm sure many people figured things out more quickly than I.
This is a very subtle novel, much different from those that preceded it. I'm betting that Banks was looking for a change and this is a refreshing one. I kind of want to go back to the beginning and re-read the book with my new found realizations informing the experience. However, it is far too soon for that.
I can see eventually wanting to re-read the entire series, but first I must finish it.
Book number 367 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project
August 19, 2016
Resulta irónico que el libro con el que más he disfrutado (de los leídos por ahora) de La Cultura, no contenga elementos de ciencia ficción, salvo en cierta parte del libro del que no se puede hablar para no descubrir el misterio a futuros lectores. Ha sido refrescante encontrarse con el mejor Banks tras la pequeña decepción que supuso 'Excesión', el anterior libro de La Cultura. 'Inversiones' es una novela más literaria, alejada de toda la parafernalia y pirotecnia propia de la space-opera, de esos escenarios y naves grandiosas. Por tanto, se trata de un libro de fantasía épica, pero no fantasía al uso (al fin y al cabo estamos hablando de Banks), sino de una historia en la que hay que estar muy atento a los detalles, ya que se hace un paralelismo con nuestra sociedad (y no para bien; me vienen a la cabeza las "trifulcas" entre la Inglaterra de Cromwell y la Francia de Luis XIV).
La historia son dos realmente, que en un momento parecen no estar relacionadas, hasta que al final sí parecen tener un punto de unión. Por un lado tenemos la parte de La Doctora, en la que la protagonista es la doctora del rey de Haspide, y su ayudante Oelph, el narrador y al mismo tiempo espía de las acciones de la doctora. Ésta es una curiosa mujer, extranjera, que parece tener remedios para todo, y lo que es peor, ideas propias, algo que no cae demasido bien dentro de la corte. Todo lo que sucede está contado desde el punto de vista de Oelph, lo que provoca cierta extrañeza en algunas situaciones. Es delicioso asistir a sus descripciones de lugares y personajes que van cruzándose en su camino.
Por otro lado, tenemos la segunda historia, la del Guardaespaldas, situada en otra ciudad del mismo mundo, y protagonizada por DeWar, el guardaespaldas del Protector, el rey UrLeyn de Tassasen. Esta historia está contada por un narrador omnisciente, aunque es un texto que con posterioridad nos dará a conocer Oelph. DeWar, utilizando los medios a su alcance se dedica a librar a su rey de los diversos intentos de asesinato que sufre, aunque le cuesta Dios y ayuda convencer cada vez a UrLeyn de la conveniencia de su protección. Un personaje importante en esta historia es Perrund, una de las concubinas del monarca, que quedó lisiada de un brazo al intentar salvar a éste. Algunos de los mejores momentos de esta parte son los vividos por DeWar y Perrund durante sus conversaciones mientras pasean o juegan a diversos juegos de mesa.
Lo mejor de la novela son los personajes, con los cuáles vives y sufres por igual. Tienen alma propia. Llegas a empatizar tanto con ellos, que al término de la última página, sabes que los recordarás por mucho tiempo. Banks fue uno de los mejores escritores dentro y fuera del género, tanto por sus descripciones como por las emociones que es capaz de transmitir con su cuidada prosa.
La historia son dos realmente, que en un momento parecen no estar relacionadas, hasta que al final sí parecen tener un punto de unión. Por un lado tenemos la parte de La Doctora, en la que la protagonista es la doctora del rey de Haspide, y su ayudante Oelph, el narrador y al mismo tiempo espía de las acciones de la doctora. Ésta es una curiosa mujer, extranjera, que parece tener remedios para todo, y lo que es peor, ideas propias, algo que no cae demasido bien dentro de la corte. Todo lo que sucede está contado desde el punto de vista de Oelph, lo que provoca cierta extrañeza en algunas situaciones. Es delicioso asistir a sus descripciones de lugares y personajes que van cruzándose en su camino.
Por otro lado, tenemos la segunda historia, la del Guardaespaldas, situada en otra ciudad del mismo mundo, y protagonizada por DeWar, el guardaespaldas del Protector, el rey UrLeyn de Tassasen. Esta historia está contada por un narrador omnisciente, aunque es un texto que con posterioridad nos dará a conocer Oelph. DeWar, utilizando los medios a su alcance se dedica a librar a su rey de los diversos intentos de asesinato que sufre, aunque le cuesta Dios y ayuda convencer cada vez a UrLeyn de la conveniencia de su protección. Un personaje importante en esta historia es Perrund, una de las concubinas del monarca, que quedó lisiada de un brazo al intentar salvar a éste. Algunos de los mejores momentos de esta parte son los vividos por DeWar y Perrund durante sus conversaciones mientras pasean o juegan a diversos juegos de mesa.
Lo mejor de la novela son los personajes, con los cuáles vives y sufres por igual. Tienen alma propia. Llegas a empatizar tanto con ellos, que al término de la última página, sabes que los recordarás por mucho tiempo. Banks fue uno de los mejores escritores dentro y fuera del género, tanto por sus descripciones como por las emociones que es capaz de transmitir con su cuidada prosa.
June 2, 2017
Although my edition lists this as Book 6 in the Culture series, I had left off reading it as even the author had described it as “A Culture novel that wasn’t.” As it turned out, I found it something of an unexpected treat. The author imagines an alien civilisation at a stage of development similar to medieval Eurasia, and the story is told via two narrators based within rival states, with the book structured in alternating chapters. There appears to be some covert interference from the Culture that affects events, but as the story is told from the perspective of the mystified locals, the reader can put their own interpretation on the extent to which this happens.
It’s very difficult to describe the detail without including spoilers, so I’ll just say that I thought the two stories were weaved together very skilfully, and with some subtlety. It was quite late in the book before I actually cottoned on to one of the main themes (maybe I’m just slow on the uptake). It was also a decent adventure tale with plenty of skulduggery thrown in. My favourite Culture novels are “The Player of Games” and “Use of Weapons”, but this fetches up just behind those two. A thoroughly enjoyable read.
It’s very difficult to describe the detail without including spoilers, so I’ll just say that I thought the two stories were weaved together very skilfully, and with some subtlety. It was quite late in the book before I actually cottoned on to one of the main themes (maybe I’m just slow on the uptake). It was also a decent adventure tale with plenty of skulduggery thrown in. My favourite Culture novels are “The Player of Games” and “Use of Weapons”, but this fetches up just behind those two. A thoroughly enjoyable read.
May 24, 2019
It really comes to something to have read such a prolific author that could cover two unique styles of writing, or different genres , one working in a quite quirky, bizarre contemporary field and the other of being really off the cuff, space operatic sci-fi (and also at times totally thought provoking). Iain Banks really sometimes created a few gems of literature; one of his earlier novels 'The Bridge' woke me up with a start as that book was very deep and analogous to a mans coma and reliving his life using the Forth Bridge in Scotland in his coma as some sort of paradoxical understanding. Not all his books were always on the same edge-level though, and the ones that were stand out.
I digress. Inversions is written under his sci-fi pseudonym, Iain M. Banks and is a Culture book, but it does not specifically deal with any usual aspect of the usual things one would expect coming from the Culture Universe; try thinking of a fantasy setting, a quasi-late Medieval World dealing with two different countries (but on the same planet I assume, although that is never really discussed just briefly alluded to) and some traditional story telling going on here. As I stated, this is not about massive, uniquely named giant space ships and autonomous droids etc, it is set in a more of a Medieval era who-done-it - a thriller if you like. You would think that is odd, it is, which is why I found it as fascinating as the authors more deeper books (such as I mentioned 'The Bridge'). Two different realms, two different main characters containing Court machinations, jealousy, murder, spying and various poor attempts to bring down the two protagonists (but with no relation to each other) down because of their influence with the Kings of the respective nations.
One nation hires a Doctor and physician to help their King, and she becomes close to said monarch, causing rifts between the Kings Dukes an advisors and try their hardest to bring her down and discredit her - she actually is the more interesting character focus, and the other in a different continent is a personal bodyguard to their King. Again with soon slightly hidden antipathy and jealousy and dislike against his influence over the King and Court. Explanation being they were both Special Circumstances agents for the Culture to try (as usual) to bring dissent into these countries realms. But it is not directly explainable or obviously stated in the book until we get hints towards the end. Positive dissent as well, which usually most of the time was the Cultures agenda in placing these people on backward countries.
It is an interesting read, easy as it splits in each chapter between The Doctor and then The Bodyguard, hence making it intertwined. It really could be read alone without knowing anything at all about The Culture Universe, as a stand alone thriller as I mentioned. I am giving this a 5 as it was the uniqueness of the novel that made it really interesting.
I digress. Inversions is written under his sci-fi pseudonym, Iain M. Banks and is a Culture book, but it does not specifically deal with any usual aspect of the usual things one would expect coming from the Culture Universe; try thinking of a fantasy setting, a quasi-late Medieval World dealing with two different countries (but on the same planet I assume, although that is never really discussed just briefly alluded to) and some traditional story telling going on here. As I stated, this is not about massive, uniquely named giant space ships and autonomous droids etc, it is set in a more of a Medieval era who-done-it - a thriller if you like. You would think that is odd, it is, which is why I found it as fascinating as the authors more deeper books (such as I mentioned 'The Bridge'). Two different realms, two different main characters containing Court machinations, jealousy, murder, spying and various poor attempts to bring down the two protagonists (but with no relation to each other) down because of their influence with the Kings of the respective nations.
One nation hires a Doctor and physician to help their King, and she becomes close to said monarch, causing rifts between the Kings Dukes an advisors and try their hardest to bring her down and discredit her - she actually is the more interesting character focus, and the other in a different continent is a personal bodyguard to their King. Again with soon slightly hidden antipathy and jealousy and dislike against his influence over the King and Court. Explanation being they were both Special Circumstances agents for the Culture to try (as usual) to bring dissent into these countries realms. But it is not directly explainable or obviously stated in the book until we get hints towards the end. Positive dissent as well, which usually most of the time was the Cultures agenda in placing these people on backward countries.
It is an interesting read, easy as it splits in each chapter between The Doctor and then The Bodyguard, hence making it intertwined. It really could be read alone without knowing anything at all about The Culture Universe, as a stand alone thriller as I mentioned. I am giving this a 5 as it was the uniqueness of the novel that made it really interesting.
August 28, 2016
When there's an "M" in the name it means its a sci-fi. This wasn't a sci-fi, this was a medieval thing and not a good one at that. I feel cheated. Again Banks demonstrates that he's such a great writer, he can write anything and get away with it. But he doesn't get away with this in my book.
There was a kid in the story who was told a few stories, stories that we had to read through in their entirety and I was looking for deep meanings in them but in the end they were just shitty stories that helped us understand that the guy telling them was from the Culture. The guy was from Contact and the way he approached his mission was to become the bodyguard of a moody despot. The other Contact operative became the doctor of a childish pompous little shit king.
This was really a very poor novel. This should have been a short story. Oh yeah: and it was boring.
There was a kid in the story who was told a few stories, stories that we had to read through in their entirety and I was looking for deep meanings in them but in the end they were just shitty stories that helped us understand that the guy telling them was from the Culture. The guy was from Contact and the way he approached his mission was to become the bodyguard of a moody despot. The other Contact operative became the doctor of a childish pompous little shit king.
This was really a very poor novel. This should have been a short story. Oh yeah: and it was boring.
March 1, 2016
-Un libro estupendo pero que sorprenderá por la serie a la que pertenece.-
Género. Ciencia-Ficción (muy al fondo y porque pertenece a La Cultura).
Lo que nos cuenta. La doctora Vosill es el médico del rey de Haspide, pero aunque su práctica es inmaculada no es del agrado de muchos nobles de la corte, celosos de sus múltiples conocimientos en distintas disciplinas y que sospechan de sus orígenes poco claros en un territorio muy lejano. DeWar es el celoso guardaespaldas del líder del protectorado de Tassasen, con ciertos intereses políticos en común con Haspide y otros que se enfrentan. Quinto libro de la saga La Cultura.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com....
Género. Ciencia-Ficción (muy al fondo y porque pertenece a La Cultura).
Lo que nos cuenta. La doctora Vosill es el médico del rey de Haspide, pero aunque su práctica es inmaculada no es del agrado de muchos nobles de la corte, celosos de sus múltiples conocimientos en distintas disciplinas y que sospechan de sus orígenes poco claros en un territorio muy lejano. DeWar es el celoso guardaespaldas del líder del protectorado de Tassasen, con ciertos intereses políticos en común con Haspide y otros que se enfrentan. Quinto libro de la saga La Cultura.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com....
July 12, 2014
Reading the tale about Vossil and DeWar made me excited about the world created by Iain M. Banks, whilethis book was supposed to be part of the "Culture-series" which is a scifi series as I was told this book felt far more like a tale of fantasy. After finishing I still was not sure about the nature of the Doctor (Vossil) and what did happen in those violent episodes of her tale. The story about the bodyguard however was more straigth forward and well written, it did make you kind of comfortabe untill the shit did hit the fan.
A very nicely written book that was a plaesure to read, a nice first acquaintance with this writer. I still have another of his books in my possession so I am sure I will return to his books fairly soon. And hope that it will offer me some more insight in this first book I read.
A very nicely written book that was a plaesure to read, a nice first acquaintance with this writer. I still have another of his books in my possession so I am sure I will return to his books fairly soon. And hope that it will offer me some more insight in this first book I read.
November 16, 2015
I had major problems feeling connected to the last Culture novel I read, It felt like the author was holding things too close to his chest. Banks didn't seem to want to let us into his world very far, and so kept the door only open a crack. I am pleased to say that I felt no such sense of being on the outside in Inversions. This was much more welcoming, a more generous exploration of a world on the edge of being subtly interfered with.
Note: The rest of this review has been withheld due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.
In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook
Note: The rest of this review has been withheld due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.
In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook
June 28, 2018
It has been too long since a visit to Iain M. Banks’ Culture universe. Inversions has really just made me want to go back and re-read the other novels now. And I may very well just do that this summer, because why not?
For those who aren’t familiar with the premise to this one: the Culture is not mentioned by name at all in Inversions. On its surface, this is a split narrative on a pre-industrial planet. Alternating chapters follow Vosill, foreign doctor to the King Quience of Haspidus, and DeWar, bodyguard to the regicide Protector UrLeyn of Tassasen, half a continent away. The two narratives never intersect directly, but they are definitely related. And the Culture is definitely a presence, but it is one that the reader has to tease out and infer—if you haven’t read any of the other Culture novels, then you can still enjoy this story, you’ll just be missing a patina that adds a little bit more flair to that enjoyment. I’m going to address it from the point of view of a Culture fan with a lot of my analysis.
Honestly, I much preferred the Doctor’s narrative over DeWar’s, for a few reasons. First, I like that it’s narrated in first person by her assistant, Oelph, who is spying on her for an unnamed “Master”. It’s fun to see Banks filter Vosill’s extremely foreign nature through the eyes of someone native to this world. Moreover, Oelph provides us with colour commentary and opinions of his own, which is something absent from DeWar’s third person omniscient narrative. Finally, I just found Vosill’s situation—her untenable position as King Quience’s all-knowing physician, openly hated by courtiers, her careful attempts to sidestep court politics that ultimately fail because she’s too clever—much more interesting than DeWar’s. Don’t get me wrong: I liked DeWar’s story too, particularly the stories-within-the-story that provide more hints as to their involvement with the Culture and their presence on this world. And I think Inversions as a novel and a whole is made much stronger with both narratives; if this novel were solely Vosill’s portion, I don’t know if I would have enjoyed it as much.
Certainly it’s a lot of fun to tease out the hints about the Culture’s involvement. Yet Inversions also works on its own merits as a story too. Before long I found myself drawn into the split narrative of these two countries: Tassasen recovering from the break-up of an empire and threatening to fall into civil war; Haspidus enjoying prosperity and a monarch attempting to restructure parts of his society to improve the lives of his subjects. There are two, good overlapping stories that in some ways feel very fantasy-esque yet without a lot of the trappings and tropes of fantasy that don’t exactly get in the way (because we like fantasy tropes, yes we do) but might sometimes distract from the substance of what’s happening.
Because when you get down to it, Banks isn’t telling us stories of political intrigue, backstabbing, etc. He’s telling us some very personal stories about human tragedies: families broken up during war, women who have survived terrible trauma, nobles who are blinded by their own greed and avarice. There are layers to this narrative, beneath even the hints towards the Culture, that make it a very rewarding read indeed.
If you’re trying to get into the Culture novels, I wouldn’t necessarily say this is a place to start. You’ll learn nothing of the Culture universe itself, and you’ll miss the oblique references that you would otherwise enjoy if you read this later. On the other hand, Inversions can definitey stand on its own, if you go into it with the right, open mindset of a story that is more allegory than adventure.
My reviews of the Culture novels:
← Excession
For those who aren’t familiar with the premise to this one: the Culture is not mentioned by name at all in Inversions. On its surface, this is a split narrative on a pre-industrial planet. Alternating chapters follow Vosill, foreign doctor to the King Quience of Haspidus, and DeWar, bodyguard to the regicide Protector UrLeyn of Tassasen, half a continent away. The two narratives never intersect directly, but they are definitely related. And the Culture is definitely a presence, but it is one that the reader has to tease out and infer—if you haven’t read any of the other Culture novels, then you can still enjoy this story, you’ll just be missing a patina that adds a little bit more flair to that enjoyment. I’m going to address it from the point of view of a Culture fan with a lot of my analysis.
Honestly, I much preferred the Doctor’s narrative over DeWar’s, for a few reasons. First, I like that it’s narrated in first person by her assistant, Oelph, who is spying on her for an unnamed “Master”. It’s fun to see Banks filter Vosill’s extremely foreign nature through the eyes of someone native to this world. Moreover, Oelph provides us with colour commentary and opinions of his own, which is something absent from DeWar’s third person omniscient narrative. Finally, I just found Vosill’s situation—her untenable position as King Quience’s all-knowing physician, openly hated by courtiers, her careful attempts to sidestep court politics that ultimately fail because she’s too clever—much more interesting than DeWar’s. Don’t get me wrong: I liked DeWar’s story too, particularly the stories-within-the-story that provide more hints as to their involvement with the Culture and their presence on this world. And I think Inversions as a novel and a whole is made much stronger with both narratives; if this novel were solely Vosill’s portion, I don’t know if I would have enjoyed it as much.
Certainly it’s a lot of fun to tease out the hints about the Culture’s involvement. Yet Inversions also works on its own merits as a story too. Before long I found myself drawn into the split narrative of these two countries: Tassasen recovering from the break-up of an empire and threatening to fall into civil war; Haspidus enjoying prosperity and a monarch attempting to restructure parts of his society to improve the lives of his subjects. There are two, good overlapping stories that in some ways feel very fantasy-esque yet without a lot of the trappings and tropes of fantasy that don’t exactly get in the way (because we like fantasy tropes, yes we do) but might sometimes distract from the substance of what’s happening.
Because when you get down to it, Banks isn’t telling us stories of political intrigue, backstabbing, etc. He’s telling us some very personal stories about human tragedies: families broken up during war, women who have survived terrible trauma, nobles who are blinded by their own greed and avarice. There are layers to this narrative, beneath even the hints towards the Culture, that make it a very rewarding read indeed.
If you’re trying to get into the Culture novels, I wouldn’t necessarily say this is a place to start. You’ll learn nothing of the Culture universe itself, and you’ll miss the oblique references that you would otherwise enjoy if you read this later. On the other hand, Inversions can definitey stand on its own, if you go into it with the right, open mindset of a story that is more allegory than adventure.
My reviews of the Culture novels:
← Excession
July 30, 2015
Inversions although being a culture book is quite different from its predecessors because the book is setup in a medieval background, and throughout the book the culture lurks in the shadow. The story progresses through pov of two protagonist namely the doctor Vosell and the bodyguard Dewar. But the twist is that we are never given their direct pov but instead the narrator is Oelph who acts as an assistant to the doctor. The book keeps building to an exciting end, but the although the twist in the story is quite unexpected but leaves you quite unsatisfied with the end.
Some of the strong points of the book are
1.Doctor's and bodyguard's pov
2.Setting is completely new for culture books.
Some of the weak points of the book
1.Weak plot.
2.Unsatisfactory end.
Let me elaborate on the above points of the book
1.Doctor's and bodyguard's pov
The doctor is somewhat a mystery in the kingdom, because she has come from a far of land and seems to have a cure for all the diseases. Also her methods are somewhat rebellious to the practitioners of medicine. The doctor quickly becomes a go to physician for the king, but the king also starts discussing matters of state with her.
After the king implements some reforms in the kingdoms on the suggestions of doctors, the dukes in the kingdoms start hating her due to her near presence to the king. They start plotting to capture her and torture her but their schemes always seem to fail due an unknown force behind the doctor.
The bodyguard is present in a kingdom completely different from doctor, in his land they do not have kings but the head of the state is called as the protector. the bodyguard is obsessed with his job of protecting the protector. Due to his constant vigil he saves the protector from two assassination attempts.
Things quickly start falling apart when the protectorate attacks another kingdom, the protector's son falls severely ill and the protectorate is not doing so good in the war.
2.Setting is completely new for culture books.
All the previous culture books have had the culture at the forefront trying to contact another planets or species through its special circumstances. but this book has no mention of the culture whatsoever, but as I have already mentioned some force seems to be omnipresent behind the doctor which keeps saving her from terrible fate.
Let me elaborate now on the weak points of book
1.Weak plot.
Throughout the book Banks just keeps on building we have dukes from both kingdoms bitching and plotting against Vosell and Dewar. But their plots are so childish that it starts getting on your nerves to continue with the book.
2.Unsatisfactory end.
As is always the case with Banks books there is a twist at the end where in all the pieces fall in their place, but the reveal leaves you quite unsatisfied wit the story.
I think this one of the weakest books I have read the culture series so far.I give this book 2.5/5 stars.
Some of the strong points of the book are
1.Doctor's and bodyguard's pov
2.Setting is completely new for culture books.
Some of the weak points of the book
1.Weak plot.
2.Unsatisfactory end.
Let me elaborate on the above points of the book
1.Doctor's and bodyguard's pov
The doctor is somewhat a mystery in the kingdom, because she has come from a far of land and seems to have a cure for all the diseases. Also her methods are somewhat rebellious to the practitioners of medicine. The doctor quickly becomes a go to physician for the king, but the king also starts discussing matters of state with her.
After the king implements some reforms in the kingdoms on the suggestions of doctors, the dukes in the kingdoms start hating her due to her near presence to the king. They start plotting to capture her and torture her but their schemes always seem to fail due an unknown force behind the doctor.
The bodyguard is present in a kingdom completely different from doctor, in his land they do not have kings but the head of the state is called as the protector. the bodyguard is obsessed with his job of protecting the protector. Due to his constant vigil he saves the protector from two assassination attempts.
Things quickly start falling apart when the protectorate attacks another kingdom, the protector's son falls severely ill and the protectorate is not doing so good in the war.
2.Setting is completely new for culture books.
All the previous culture books have had the culture at the forefront trying to contact another planets or species through its special circumstances. but this book has no mention of the culture whatsoever, but as I have already mentioned some force seems to be omnipresent behind the doctor which keeps saving her from terrible fate.
Let me elaborate now on the weak points of book
1.Weak plot.
Throughout the book Banks just keeps on building we have dukes from both kingdoms bitching and plotting against Vosell and Dewar. But their plots are so childish that it starts getting on your nerves to continue with the book.
2.Unsatisfactory end.
As is always the case with Banks books there is a twist at the end where in all the pieces fall in their place, but the reveal leaves you quite unsatisfied wit the story.
I think this one of the weakest books I have read the culture series so far.I give this book 2.5/5 stars.
July 29, 2016
Edit: Bumping this down to two stars. I think I felt more neutral about it when I finished it, but looking back my feelings have definitely veered towards negative (especially in contrast to the Culture books I enjoyed, aka every single other one of them)
This was a hard one for me. The last Culture novel I read, Excession, was by far my favorite and finally gave me that epic scifi feel I was looking for. Inversions is, as the name implies, the exact opposite. The scope is very limited, the world is medieval and doesn't have a lick of tech, there are no "big questions" asked (or answered), and most unfortunately there are no snarky Minds or AIs. Okay for a medieval fantasy book, but kind of meh overall. This isn't what I look for in scifi, but it also isn't what I look for in fantasy. I did like some of the characters and the writing was lovely as always, but it was nearly a 2 star read for me.
This was a hard one for me. The last Culture novel I read, Excession, was by far my favorite and finally gave me that epic scifi feel I was looking for. Inversions is, as the name implies, the exact opposite. The scope is very limited, the world is medieval and doesn't have a lick of tech, there are no "big questions" asked (or answered), and most unfortunately there are no snarky Minds or AIs. Okay for a medieval fantasy book, but kind of meh overall. This isn't what I look for in scifi, but it also isn't what I look for in fantasy. I did like some of the characters and the writing was lovely as always, but it was nearly a 2 star read for me.
July 6, 2020
This is one of my favorite installments in the Culture series. This is also a very unusual book, because instead of seeing the story from the high-tech point of view of the Culture, we follow two characters in an almost medieval world who have never even heard of the Culture, space travel, or that their planet might be a round ball circling a sun.
This is a story about choices and secrets, about love and obligation, and about that choice each and everyone of us is faced with sometimes: how far can you bend before you break that steel rod inside your core that makes you who you are? Can you go against your moral and ethical principles if the situation demands it?
This book also follows 2 unique characters with two very unique love stories, and I thought it was very subtly done. I loved how everything slowly built up to the big reveal in the end.
This is definitely a must read book for everyone who loves good intelligent scifi.
This is a story about choices and secrets, about love and obligation, and about that choice each and everyone of us is faced with sometimes: how far can you bend before you break that steel rod inside your core that makes you who you are? Can you go against your moral and ethical principles if the situation demands it?
This book also follows 2 unique characters with two very unique love stories, and I thought it was very subtly done. I loved how everything slowly built up to the big reveal in the end.
This is definitely a must read book for everyone who loves good intelligent scifi.
September 25, 2017
In this volume of Culture's series, the author gives a hint on historical fiction genre. Nice touch.
4* Consider Phlebas (Culture, #1)
4* The Player of Games (Culture, #2)
4* Use of Weapons (Culture, #3)
4* The State of the Art (Culture, #4)
4* Excession (Culture, #5)
4* Inversions (Culture, #6)
TR Look to Windward (Culture, #7)
TR Matter (Culture, #8)
TR Surface Detail (Culture #9)
TR The Hydrogen Sonata (Culture #10)
4* Consider Phlebas (Culture, #1)
4* The Player of Games (Culture, #2)
4* Use of Weapons (Culture, #3)
4* The State of the Art (Culture, #4)
4* Excession (Culture, #5)
4* Inversions (Culture, #6)
TR Look to Windward (Culture, #7)
TR Matter (Culture, #8)
TR Surface Detail (Culture #9)
TR The Hydrogen Sonata (Culture #10)
December 5, 2019
This book confuses me.
Banks is a well-established name in the space opera genre. In the literary world, he's basically synonymous with modern galaxy-spanning stories featuring alien aliens, snarky drones, 50-kilometre spaceships with attitude, absurd tech, taking place in a far-flung, utopian universe that's only utopian because of some very un-utopian tactics used by space agents. Banks literally has the universe in his fingertips. He was established enough as a writer that he could get away with writing anything, so presumably he'd jot down his exact literary vision, telling the story he wants to tell, the way he wants to tell it.
And he chooses to write...this? An (almost) secondary world fantasy, without the fantastical elements, set in a medieval-like time period and only a whiff of the Culture?
That confuses me.
Being a writer with a three-book deal, and relative freedom to write whatever I want and have a major publisher put it out into the world, I'm well aware of the stress and pressure that writing professionally brings. Am I writing what I want to write? Am I telling my story to my full capacity? Am I doing my vision justice? I'm sure Banks was no stranger to this feeling. So I can only assume that Inversions was indeed an exact production of his vision.
Which confuses me, because I'm not sure why someone with his penchant for galaxy-spanning space opera, with a scope about as big as any writer has penned in the genre, rolls back to a singular, backwards world with tech that barely surpasses the wheel. Maybe as a challenge? Maybe to do something different? I'm not sure. I'm also not sure why SC would even bother with a civ like this, let alone care.
The reason I'm giving this three stars, is for Banks' penchant for extreme wit and deliberate word-choice that adds a strong layer of intrigue to the whole affair. . . and the ending, which muses on the nature of storytelling and narrative and memory in a way I wasn't expecting. If he'd done the same in his usual space-opera, it'd be one of my favourites. Alas, it's my least favourite of all the Culture books.
As a completionist, I'm glad I read it, but I'd be hard pressed to say I really enjoyed it.
Banks is a well-established name in the space opera genre. In the literary world, he's basically synonymous with modern galaxy-spanning stories featuring alien aliens, snarky drones, 50-kilometre spaceships with attitude, absurd tech, taking place in a far-flung, utopian universe that's only utopian because of some very un-utopian tactics used by space agents. Banks literally has the universe in his fingertips. He was established enough as a writer that he could get away with writing anything, so presumably he'd jot down his exact literary vision, telling the story he wants to tell, the way he wants to tell it.
And he chooses to write...this? An (almost) secondary world fantasy, without the fantastical elements, set in a medieval-like time period and only a whiff of the Culture?
That confuses me.
Being a writer with a three-book deal, and relative freedom to write whatever I want and have a major publisher put it out into the world, I'm well aware of the stress and pressure that writing professionally brings. Am I writing what I want to write? Am I telling my story to my full capacity? Am I doing my vision justice? I'm sure Banks was no stranger to this feeling. So I can only assume that Inversions was indeed an exact production of his vision.
Which confuses me, because I'm not sure why someone with his penchant for galaxy-spanning space opera, with a scope about as big as any writer has penned in the genre, rolls back to a singular, backwards world with tech that barely surpasses the wheel. Maybe as a challenge? Maybe to do something different? I'm not sure. I'm also not sure why SC would even bother with a civ like this, let alone care.
The reason I'm giving this three stars, is for Banks' penchant for extreme wit and deliberate word-choice that adds a strong layer of intrigue to the whole affair. . . and the ending, which muses on the nature of storytelling and narrative and memory in a way I wasn't expecting. If he'd done the same in his usual space-opera, it'd be one of my favourites. Alas, it's my least favourite of all the Culture books.
As a completionist, I'm glad I read it, but I'd be hard pressed to say I really enjoyed it.
May 21, 2012
I've been going through Banks' The Culture series and, despite their wide acclaim, found myself strangely unmoved. However awesome and amazing it would be to live in a post-scarcity world with Minds and drones and 400-years of life, such a setting also highlights the shallow pettiness that results from being essentially carefree from inception to "death". This may be meaningful in a philosophical sense, but doesn't make for engaging reading, at least not for me.
I've found that my enjoyment of this series falls in two camps: (1) novels where members of The Culture takes the main role, such as Player of Games, Excession, and (2) ones where the bulk of the action were non-Culture, such as Use of Weapons, Inversions, and possibly Matter.
The former I found frivolous and boring. Beings who are raised protected from hardships, suffering and even boredom translate into spoilt creatures who distinctly fail to grasp their triviality in the scheme of things. (I found myself itching to chuck them into the Total Perspective Vortex.) And when technology is so advanced its workings are akin to waving a magic wand, what is left to create narrative tension? How big do the stakes need to become in order for us to care? They read like SF cartoons.
The latter contains much stronger humanist themes, with vivid characters that seem to leap off the page into their own pains and sorrows. Caught up in events they are too small to change -- even with all the wonders of technology and endless life, we can never truly escape the human condition -- I am touched by the bitter-sweetness of first love, the gloating pride of the powerful and helpless hatred of the powerless...
Which is a long way of saying that, so far, Inversions is my favorite of the bunch.
I've found that my enjoyment of this series falls in two camps: (1) novels where members of The Culture takes the main role, such as Player of Games, Excession, and (2) ones where the bulk of the action were non-Culture, such as Use of Weapons, Inversions, and possibly Matter.
The former I found frivolous and boring. Beings who are raised protected from hardships, suffering and even boredom translate into spoilt creatures who distinctly fail to grasp their triviality in the scheme of things. (I found myself itching to chuck them into the Total Perspective Vortex.) And when technology is so advanced its workings are akin to waving a magic wand, what is left to create narrative tension? How big do the stakes need to become in order for us to care? They read like SF cartoons.
The latter contains much stronger humanist themes, with vivid characters that seem to leap off the page into their own pains and sorrows. Caught up in events they are too small to change -- even with all the wonders of technology and endless life, we can never truly escape the human condition -- I am touched by the bitter-sweetness of first love, the gloating pride of the powerful and helpless hatred of the powerless...
Which is a long way of saying that, so far, Inversions is my favorite of the bunch.
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