Book Review: Matter by Iain M Banks
Mar. 1st, 2026 09:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
coffeeteethThis was a wonderful book. SPOILERS:
I kinda love that almost every named character dies. And that so many of them could have carried a novel or subplot if they had lived.
My favorite is Oramen who might have outgrown the vices he was being taught to distract him. Unsuccessfully. But in the long run he might have been unable to run a kingdom or been the best monarch his family could produce. And the world will never know because the Oct wouldn't admit to being less than the greatest. Talk about picking a course of action to suit conclusions rather than checking one's work.
I liked the trajectory for Ferbin going from being a cautionary tale about too little responsibility with too much status to being a cautionary tale about giving up autonomy for an edge in battle. An upper class twit on battle drugs. I love the intersection of genre expectations for the scope Ferb8n lives at and the scope Djan lives at.
I love the complicated web of influence between the different species. The Aultridia really aren't doing anything wrong except being in competition with the Oct. The Morthanveld group psychology is fascinating.
Tyl Loesp is another example of a man who might have been a good monarch if the Oct hadn't screwed everything up.
Djan is a delight and I don't mind that she's not permadead. I also like the brand of servant who is wiser than his social betters. Choubris Holse and Djan being the true inheritors of the conflict.
The epilog is perfect.
I kinda love that almost every named character dies. And that so many of them could have carried a novel or subplot if they had lived.
My favorite is Oramen who might have outgrown the vices he was being taught to distract him. Unsuccessfully. But in the long run he might have been unable to run a kingdom or been the best monarch his family could produce. And the world will never know because the Oct wouldn't admit to being less than the greatest. Talk about picking a course of action to suit conclusions rather than checking one's work.
I liked the trajectory for Ferbin going from being a cautionary tale about too little responsibility with too much status to being a cautionary tale about giving up autonomy for an edge in battle. An upper class twit on battle drugs. I love the intersection of genre expectations for the scope Ferb8n lives at and the scope Djan lives at.
I love the complicated web of influence between the different species. The Aultridia really aren't doing anything wrong except being in competition with the Oct. The Morthanveld group psychology is fascinating.
Tyl Loesp is another example of a man who might have been a good monarch if the Oct hadn't screwed everything up.
Djan is a delight and I don't mind that she's not permadead. I also like the brand of servant who is wiser than his social betters. Choubris Holse and Djan being the true inheritors of the conflict.
The epilog is perfect.
