Look to Windward - by Iain M Banks (Paperback)

About the Book

It was one of the less glorious incidents of a long-ago war. It led to the destruction of two suns and the billions of lives they supported. Now, eight hundred years later, the light from the first of thos ancient deaths has reached the Culture's Orbital called Masaq'. For the Hub Mind, an overseer of the massive bracelet world, its arrival is particularly poignant. But it may still be eclipsed by events from the Culture's more recent past.

Book Synopsis

This "sophisticated space opera" (The New York Times), filled with suspense and humor, masterfully explores the horrors of war--from the acclaimed author of The Wasp Factory.

The Twin Novae battle had been one of the last of the Idiran war--and one of the most horrific. Desperate to avert their inevitable defeat, the Idirans had induced not one but two suns to explode, snuffing out worlds and biospheres teeming with sentient life. They were attacks of incredible proportion--gigadeathcrimes. But the war ended, and life went on.

Now, eight hundred years later, light from the first explosion is about to reach the Masaq' Orbital, home to the Culture's most adventurous and decadent souls. There it will fall upon Masaq's 50 billion inhabitants, gathered to commemorate the deaths of the innocent and to reflect, if only for a moment, on what some call the Culture's own complicity in the terrible event.

Also journeying to Masaq' is Major Quilan, an emissary from the war-ravaged world of Chel. In the aftermath of the conflict that split his world apart, most believe he has come to Masaq' to bring home Chel's most brilliant star and self-exiled dissident, the honored Composer Ziller.

Ziller claims he will do anything to avoid a meeting with Major Quilan, who he suspects has come to murder him. But the Major's true assignment will have far greater consequences than the death of a mere political dissident, as part of a conspiracy more ambitious than even he can know--a mission his superiors have buried so deeply in his mind that even he cannot remember it.

Hailed by SFX Magazine as "an excellent hopping-on point if you've never read a Banks science fiction novel before", Look to Windward is an awe-inspiring immersion into the wildly original, vividly realized civilization that Banks calls the Culture.

Review Quotes

"Locus""Look to Windward" is a serious novel [yet] levity and humor seep through the cracks... it is elegant, moral, funny. What more could a reader ask?

"Starburst" Banks' mind-expanding future history is unrivaled for imaginative sweep, startling ideas, and savage but wry sense of humor. One of the very best just got even better.

"SFX" A page-turner of reader's cramp-inducing intensity....A book that could only be harder to put down if it was superglued to your fingers..."Look to Windward" is a work of genius.

"The Guardian" (U.K.) Like some latter-day Isaac Asimov, [Banks writes] space operas, complete with galactic civilizations, mighty spaceships, and brains the size of planets... Banks has tremendous fun....He crams in his beloved battle scenes, wickedly named space-ships (I Blame the Parents; Lapsed Pacifist; Now Look What You Made Me Do...)... and all the time Banks keeps ratcheting up the suspense.

"The New York Times" Set in a far-future, multi-species galaxy rife with hope and despair, this sophisticated space opera deals artfully with the appeal of terrorism and the necessary dangers of a free society....Banks writes with a sophistication that will surprise anyone unfamiliar with modern science fiction.

About the Author

Iain M. Banks (1954-2013), one of the United Kingdom's most popular science fiction authors, wrote such highly regarded novels as Consider Phlebas, Excession, and Inversions. Under the name "Iain Banks," he also published mainstream fiction, including such novels as The Wasp Factory and A Song of Stone.