132,902
edits
Changes
From TheBookbag
Jump to navigationJump to searchno edit summary
{{infoboxsortinfobox1
|title=The Algebraist
|sort=Algebraist
Of all the creations in ''The Algebraist'' the Dwellers are, undoubtedly the best. Totally over the top, physiologically and physically impossible, they are truly delightful. Most ancient races in most sci-fi are portrayed as wise and spiritual or decadent bordering on evil. Dwellers are whimsical, playful, strange and impenetrable; with a value system based on gathering 'kudos' and very much interested in extreme sports (Gas Clipper Races or Formal War) and hunting and definitely not in the fate of humanity. It doesn't need to be said that they are, of course, not entirely what they seem to be and that the unravelling of their Big Secret (as well as few smaller ones) is fantastically exciting in the best adventure story tradition.
Definitely recommended for fans of the genre and those who can cope with uncertainty for many pages to start with. In some ways it's not a bad novel to dip into sci-fi for a person who normally reads higher-brow stuff; though less baroquely complicated offerings from the Culture series ([[''Look to Windward]]'', [[''Inversions]]'') will be a bit easier on the brain.
It goes without saying that this book is well-written. The skill shows less on the level of words and sentences - these are transparent, without visible technical fireworks - and more in the construction, suspense building, managing characters who are both topical and believable and effortless juggling with the convention of space-opera.
A lot of ambitious sci-fi is very dark, and there is a bit of that here: Byzantine politics, cynical characters, war and genocide; but less of the darkness of human insanity that can be found in Iain Banks's mainstream novels or writings of authors like Harlan Elisson or JG Ballard, or even some of the Banks's own Culture novels ( [[''Consider Phlebas]]'')
''The Algebraist'' is a piece of dazzling entertainment, a grand sweep of a novel, exciting, tantalising and engaging for a reader who makes an effort to try and work out what's going on. The vision is huge, the politics complicated, the science totally implausible, the human characters presented in depth and believable and engaging, and the social set-ups suitably varied; while the Dwellers are something else altogether. Is there any deeper meaning or sense to it? Probably not, apart of course from it being great, escapist fun. True to the cover blurb, Iain M. Banks sets the standard by which the rest of sci-fi should be judged.
