I have now read 21 books by Banks, some of them multiple times. I have one book half-read (Feersum Endjinn) that I gave up on some years ago but it's still sitting on my shelf less than 2m away from me as I type this, and seeing as it's now the only book by Banks I have not read I suspect I will try to tackle it again very soon.

I find it completely unbelievable that it has been over 7 years since I read the last really good mainstream book by Banks, Whit. 7 years? No, can't believe it. I was a wee little lad of 23 years then, still in the middle of my studies, living in student housing, and generally having no idea whatsoever of how the world worked. And looking back at the timing of things, I seem to have read 8 mainstream books by Banks in the year 2000. Huh. I may have been an ignorant brat, but at least I recognized a good thing when I blindly stumbled on one.

It is bizarre that since that time, over 7 years ago, I've only read Dead Air, The Business, and A Song Of Stone by him (excluding his SF books here). They are all ok books but pale compared to the best of his work.

Let us hope that his divorce from his wife will now free him to return to his usual style of writing a book a year. I certainly do not want to imagine an another 7-year stretch of relatively Banks-free existence.

Enough with the preambles, then. This book? A glorious return to form. I could comment at length on the various things in the book, but I will leave the full joy of discovery to you, my dear readers. I am happy to report Banks continues to share my viewpoints on things, and some of the anti-USA stuff in the book is just brilliant.

A while ago I was wondering if I had somehow lost my enjoyment in reading, but it seems I was only lacking good books to read. I shall try not to let that ever happen again.