Consider Phlebas

Almost everything about this novel is average. The storyline is a standard yarn about a spy whose mission is to steal top secret technology from the enemy. The spy is what you would get if your neighbor went through some super spy school. Meaning he is not the best but he gets the job done. The secondary characters are members of a pirate ship that our spy ends up on through pure chance. These pirates are also all average bit characters: The drunk, the overly ambitious second in command, the crazy captain, and the sexy vixen. Combined together they make a competent spy novel. Unfortunately this spy novel is set in perhaps one of the more interesting sci-fi universes I have had a chance to explore, except you don’t get to explore it. Instead you are stuck on the proverbial Ferris wheel and all you can do is imagine what it would be like to ride all the other rides. Throughout the book all you get is glimpses of this greater world as our average Joe spy has to pull off more and more elaborate shenanigans to stay alive. If this was a comedy you could say “oh no, not again” as you laugh your head off, instead you find yourself saying “oh no, why did I buy this book.”

Heavy on meandering dialogue, wordy and overly elaborate scenery, and random explosions. Light on plot, story, or movement. Painful injections of tangential and aloof poetry and philosophy. Usually finish a series out of curiosity - dont really care how this one ends. Hope you enjoy this more than I did if you choose to buy.

I had a great time reading Consider Phlebas. Every character is well developed and has a unique personality that makes their interactions totally believable. I really liked the writing style - exposition was more for moving the plot forward than just adding extra details, even if by the end I felt I had a good understanding of their universe and background. Overall, I felt that the book had really good pacing. There are chapters which are told from a different perspective, but they interleave nicely with the story and are topical to what is going on with the main crew, rather than completely unrelated. I'm definitely looking for diving into the next book of the Culture series!