SciFi and Fantasy eBook Club discussion

I finished this last night, and found myself somewhat ambivalent about it. I think perhaps my biggest gripe was the time the author spent describing things in the virtual realities (both the "confliction" sim and the "Hell" sim). After the first couple visits I had gotten the ideas, and did not need them pounded into me any more. Perhaps if I the characters involved in those sims had been more interesting to me, it would have been different; but they, as most of the characters, felt rather dull to me -- the only exceptions being Veppers (who was interesting if not at all likable) and the avatar of the "Abominator" class Culture ship (I'm too lazy to look up how to spell his name) who was obnoxious but interesting.

That was offset to some degree by the generally good writing and interesting plot -- if somewhat difficult for me to fully buy into. I'll probably give it 3 GoodReads stars, though I haven't decides for sure yet. I'd have to say that I liked Excession quite a bit more than this offering from Mr. Banks.

I thought Surface Detail was a notch below his first three science fiction books but overall very satisfying. The repetitive visits and descriptions of hell didn't bother me. In fact, the female (I forget her name) showed fortitude and strength of character by refusing to hope against hope that resonates with me on a much deeper than action oriented heroines.

Also, I like it when author put in true moral quandaries into novels because there probably are real people who think or support the idea of sending others to hell for punishment when their beliefs and behavior don't tow the same line. Where Banks fails, I think, is exploring more of the nature or theory of punishment in such an advanced society as the Culture.

With the caveat here that I did overall enjoy the book and do not regret spending the time reading it, I still felt some disappointment -- perhaps because I was hoping for something that impressed me as much as some of his other books. Maybe because so much was centered around the hells theme, as a result it seemed that most of the main characters were kind of downers: humorless and not very dynamic. While I appreciated Chay's adventure in Hell, I just didn't really empathize with her for whatever reason. Instead, by the 2nd half of the book, I found myself skimming through her parts of the story, and the same for Vatueil's (sp?) military sim stuff. Maybe I've just had enough of VR themes in sci-fi for now?

Maybe it was also tempered by my not really buying into the whole concept of advanced civilizations officially instituting such cruel and unusual punishment -- or maybe hoping that if our civilization ever makes it that far, then we will have gotten past such inhumanity toward each other?

All I know is that it has made me feel like going back and re-reading Excession again to compare and contrast, so maybe that's a good thing? :)