[General Battuta]

Iain Banks wrote often grotesque, often touching, always incisive literary fiction.

Iain M. Banks wrote sprawling, sophisticated, funny, intelligent stories about a galaxy-spanning society called the Culture, a place where transhumanity and sophisticated AI lived in harmony, where anyone could be anything they wanted and everything had actually turned out okay. He found conflict and sometimes incredible darkness in this utopian place, and he was willing to question it in profound ways. Unlike most science fiction writers, he could write with real literary quality, and he used that to make the Culture more than a place of easy wish fulfillment. His humor, compassion, hope, and - occasionally - willingness to engage in profound narrative cruelty made him perhaps the greatest science fiction writer of our time.

[Mikes]

[Phantom Hoover]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jun/15/iain-banks-the-final-interview

I don't really know what to say, except that I'm definitely voting 'yes' now.

[Rodo]

Mmm never read anything from him, what would you recommend as a starter book for a science fiction lover hlp?
I'm about to finish the current book so it's prime time for new stuff, and your comments caught my eye.

[Phantom Hoover]

I would recommend skipping the first book and reading The Player of Games and then Use of Weapons.

[Rodo]

Second and third do not refere to stuff about "the Culture" covered on the first?

[Phantom Hoover]

Not really. PoG is probably a better introduction to the Culture than Consider Phlebas anyway; CP is pretty different from the rest of the books.

[Rodo]

Gotcha, will get the second for starters then. Thanks.

[AdmiralRalwood]

I concur that Consider Phlebas isn't a very good introduction to the Culture setting, but I don't think it should be skipped (or, rather, skipped permanently); it's a very good book, and I read it first... although, to be fair, I knew what I was getting into ahead of time because of TVTropes. If you're completely unfamiliar with the Culture series, The Player of Games is excellent introductory material (and also a very good book). Otherwise, I wholeheartedly recommend reading Consider Phlebas, with a warning that it is a very depressing book.

On a more somber note, I literally bought Use of Weapons the day after Iain Banks died, and didn't know about it until I read about it here (a few days ago). It seemed oddly symbolic, given that it was the first novel he wrote.

Spoiler:

I saw the "twist" at the end coming a mile off (given the obvious hint about his name being his own choice early on), and yet it still didn't make much sense to me; if he was really Elethiomel, then... what was the scar over his heart, for example? Unless he was delusional and mixing up himself and the original Cheradenine in the (third-person, no less) flashbacks?

I'm probably going to have to re-read this book, even though I just finished it, to figure out if there was a hidden explanation I missed...

[General Battuta]

There was an explanation you missed, though hardly hidden - pay careful attention to the grammar in the scene where that scar is inflicted.

[Luis Dias]

Haven't read Use of Weapons so far, because the audiobook I have of it is terrible to listen while working (and that's the only way I currently have of "reading" books)...

CP is a really desperate depressing book.

[BloodEagle]

Just finished Consider Phlebas.

And, um. 

Spoiler:

The Red Wedding has nothing on this.

I mean, I saw it all coming a mile away (except for the compressing everyone into a ball (I DID NOT NEED TO READ THAT, THANK YOU)).

It's just, damn.

[General Battuta]

You think that ending was a kicker, go read Use of Weapons!

[MP-Ryan]

I have never read any of his stuff, but I admit my interest is now piqued.  Anyone have any idea if you can purchase his work as eBooks unattached to a particular application/platform?  be nice to be able to just get them as PDFs.

[Phantom Hoover]

On the topic of UoW's ending, I happened across this (NOTE SPOILERS) fairly critical analysis of it; having only a B in Higher English I don't really know what to make of it, except that I vaguely disagree.

[General Battuta]

Yeah, I've read that. I also disagree!

[Phantom Hoover]

uh... good

[Scourge of Ages]

I have never read any of his stuff, but I admit my interest is now piqued.  Anyone have any idea if you can purchase his work as eBooks unattached to a particular application/platform?  be nice to be able to just get them as PDFs.

I rather seriously doubt it (I've searched for other books in pdf format for sale). But Amazon has a Kindle app for just about every platform you could think of, so it might not be considered a deal-breaker.

[BloodEagle]

I found The Player of Games and Use of Weapons in .epub format (it runs in the Firefox plugin) for free on some legit-looking site somewhere (I forget).

[Luis Dias]

You say you downloaded copyrighted books on the internet for free in a "legit-looking site" somewhere in the internets.

Suuuuure man.