Excession

Book Details

50% complete

Author(s):

Iain M Banks

First Pub:

1996

Genre(s):

Science Fiction

First Read:

2013

Times Read:

1 time

Rating:

Chapters:

See 14

Prologue

1 - Outside Context Problem

2 - Not Invented Here

3 - Uninvited Guests

4 - Dependency Principle

5 - Kiss the Blade

6 - Pittance

7 - Tier

8 - Killing Time

9 - Unacceptable Bhavior

10 - Heavy Messing

11 - Regarding Gravious

12 - Faring Weel

Epilogue

Internal ID:

1446

Series:

The State of the Art
Inversions

Culture Series*

#5 of 10

Culture Series*

A loosly related series of science fiction books that all take place in the same universe. Written by Iain M Banks.

View this series in the book list

1) Consider Phlebas
2) The Player of Games
3) Use of Weapons
4) The State of the Art
5) Excession
6) Inversions
7) Look to Windward
8) Matter
9) Surface Detail
10) The Hydrogen Sonata

Copyright:

Dedication:

To the memory of Joan Woods

First Sentence:

A little more than one hundred days into the fortieth year of her confinement, Dajeil Gelian was visited in her lonely tower overlooking the sea by an avatar of the great ship that was her home.

Last Sentence:

May contain spoilers

'Oh, I could give it a try,' the avatar said.

Comments:

Comments may contain spoilers

Another culture book. Read this just after Dispatches from a Bitter America and while reading The Sign of the Four.

Extract not on file

Added: 31-Jan-2015

Last Updated: 29-Jan-2023

02-Feb-1998

Bantam Books

Mass Market Paperback

Date Issued:

02-Feb-1998

Format:

Mass Market Paperback

Cover Price:

$7.99

Pages*:

499

Read:

Once

Reading(s):

1) 9 Jan 2013 - 6 Mar 2013

Cover Link(s):

amazon.com

Internal ID:

1491

Publisher:

Bantam Books

ISBN:

0-553-57537-6

ISBN-13:

978-0-553-57537-8

Printing:

Country:

United States

Language:

English

Credits:

Paul Youll - Cover Artist

Iain M. Banks's brilliant speculative fiction has transported us into worlds of unbounded imagination. Now he takes us on the ultimate trip - to the heart of a cosmic puzzle....

Diplomat Byr Genar-Hofoen has been selected by the Cuture to undertake a delicate and dangerous mission. The Department of Special Circumstances - the Culture's espianage and dirty tricks section - has sent him off to investigate a 2,500-year-old mystery: the sudden disappearance of a star fifty times older than the universe itself. But in seeking the secret of the lost sun, Byr risks losing himself. There is only one way to break the silence of millenia: steal the soul of the long-dead starship captain who first encountered the star, and convince her to be reborn. And in accepting this mission, Byr will be swept into a vast conspiracy that could lead the universe into and age of peace... or to the brink of annihilation.

Cover:

Notes and Comments:

Orbit edition published in Great Britain / 1996
Bantam trade edition / February 1997
Bantam mass market edition / February 1998
Ninth printing based on the number line

Other book covers for this series run

Date Issued:

Cir 01-Jan-2011

Format:

Trade Paperback

Cover Price:

£9.99

Pages*:

455

Cover Link(s):

amazon.com

Internal ID:

2476

Publisher:

Orbit

ISBN:

1-857-23457-X

ISBN-13:

978-1-857-23457-2

Country:

United Kingdom

Language:

English

Two and a half millenia ago, the artifact appeared in a remote corner of space, beside a trillion year-old dying sun from a different universe. It was a perfect black-body sphere, and it did nothing. Then it disappeared.

Now it is back.

'Banks is a phenomenon... wildly successful, fearlessly creative' - William Gibson

'Thrilling, affecting and comic... probably the finest scienc fiction he has written to date' NEW SCIENTIST

'Banks has rewritten the libretto for the whole space-opera genre' THE TIMES

'Gripping, touching and funny' TLS

'The story is vital and urgent and has a brilliantly subtle resolution... wildly enjoyable' INTERZONE

'A dizzying adventure' DAILY MAIL

'Explosive but tender' SUNDAY TIMES

Cover:

Notes and Comments:

Other book covers for this series run

02-Feb-1998
Bantam Books
Mass Market Paperback

01-Jan-2011
Orbit
Trade Paperback

Author(s)

Iain M Banks
Birth: 16 Feb 1959 Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, UK
Death: 09 Jun 2013 Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland, UK

Awards

1996	British Science Fiction Association	Best Novel	Winner
1997	Britsh Fantasy Society	August Derleth Award	Nominee

I try to maintain page numbers for audiobooks even though obviously there aren't any. I do this to keep track of pages read and I try to use the Kindle version page numbers for this.
Synopses marked with an asterisk (*) were generated by an AI. There aren't a lot since this is an iffy way to do it - AI seems to make stuff up.
When specific publication dates are unknown (ie prefixed with a "Cir"), I try to get the publication date that is closest to the specific printing that I can.
When listing chapters, I only list chapters relevant to the story. I will usually leave off Author Notes, Indices, Acknowledgements, etc unless they are relevant to the story or the book is non-fiction.
Page numbers on this site are for the end of the main story. I normally do not include appendices, extra material, and other miscellaneous stuff at the end of the book in the page count.

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Excession

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