Post by inrepose on Sept 2, 2011 9:01:25 GMT -5
This Ian Banks novel is one of my favorites. He originally wrote it in 1984 and re-wrote for release in 1987.
It follows Horza a sort of secret assassin / changeling and his various adventures with the crew of a ship called "Clear Air Turbulence" (CAT).
It is a nice intro to the standard Ian Banks setting of the Culture and has some great action.
Slight spoiler - Two amazing moments:
There is one scene where the main character Horza gets into a fight in a Hovercraft launch bay (think very very large rubber-skirt based hover passenger ferry's). The fight ends up under the rubber skirt and the description of them being buffeted between the concrete and rubber by the skirts of the hovercraft was amazing. I have never read or seen anything similar but imagine the experience to be painful.
>>>I ran an RPG game with a skirmish in this exact scene and the combat was played out with characters using the rubber skirts of the giant hover craft as cover..
Flight through a General Systems Vehicle (GSV). GSV's are enormous orbital class space ships which have populations in the millions. They often have open gallery areas which are miles across in the centre of the GSV and there is a great chase scene as Horza pilots the CAT through this central area (used for recreational flying/hand gliding etc). It is carnage as his hyperspace capable space ship tears its way through the people enjoying fun in the huge atrium.
There are loads of other great moments in the books with various encounters with the Iridians (three legged) aliens with 2 hearts and a war like stubborn nature.
Probably one of the best endings to a Banks SCI-FI novel (IMHO).
I name all my Full-Thrust star ships after ships from Banks Novels - they have great names like "Screw Loose" or "Just Read the Instructions". Most of the ships have their own "Minds" which are massive AI systems that have quirky personalities (hence the odd names). Here is a list of Ship names from all the Banks SCI-FI novels - A fun list! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ships_of_the_Culture_setting
It follows Horza a sort of secret assassin / changeling and his various adventures with the crew of a ship called "Clear Air Turbulence" (CAT).
It is a nice intro to the standard Ian Banks setting of the Culture and has some great action.
Slight spoiler - Two amazing moments:
There is one scene where the main character Horza gets into a fight in a Hovercraft launch bay (think very very large rubber-skirt based hover passenger ferry's). The fight ends up under the rubber skirt and the description of them being buffeted between the concrete and rubber by the skirts of the hovercraft was amazing. I have never read or seen anything similar but imagine the experience to be painful.
>>>I ran an RPG game with a skirmish in this exact scene and the combat was played out with characters using the rubber skirts of the giant hover craft as cover..
Flight through a General Systems Vehicle (GSV). GSV's are enormous orbital class space ships which have populations in the millions. They often have open gallery areas which are miles across in the centre of the GSV and there is a great chase scene as Horza pilots the CAT through this central area (used for recreational flying/hand gliding etc). It is carnage as his hyperspace capable space ship tears its way through the people enjoying fun in the huge atrium.
There are loads of other great moments in the books with various encounters with the Iridians (three legged) aliens with 2 hearts and a war like stubborn nature.
Probably one of the best endings to a Banks SCI-FI novel (IMHO).
I name all my Full-Thrust star ships after ships from Banks Novels - they have great names like "Screw Loose" or "Just Read the Instructions". Most of the ships have their own "Minds" which are massive AI systems that have quirky personalities (hence the odd names). Here is a list of Ship names from all the Banks SCI-FI novels - A fun list! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ships_of_the_Culture_setting
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