by Nicholas Cockayne

Created on: March 24, 2008

'Matter' (2008) is the latest and long awaited new science fiction novel in the Culture series from the superb author Iain M. Banks.

The novel centres around three members of the royal household of the Sarl, a people who live in a pre-industrial stage society on the eighth level of a massive multi tiered and artificial planet called a shell world. The action centres around three siblings: Ferbin, the wastrel next in line to the throne who is on the run after having witnessed his father, the King, being murdered; Oramen, his younger brother who in Ferbin's absence will inherit the throne on his next birthday if only he can survive that long; and their sister Djan, who was sent to the Culture as payment for a debt and is now a member of the elite Special Circumstances organisation returning to her home world to avenge her father's death. Each of them has their part to play in the drama initiated by the King's death, and the consequences of their actions will shake the shellworld to the very core.

Banks' skill with fiction is evident in that he is able to weave three (at the very least) story lines into a coherent whole that is utterly involving and fascinating to read. Ferbin's story is one of comic exploration of the shellworld as the prince stumbles from one disaster to the next, aided only by his trusty and sarcastic servant and a Shakespearean sense of personal hubris. Oramen's story is one of political intrigue firmly based in the workings of the Sarl court. Finally Djan's story focuses on her role as a Special Circumstances agent for the Culture, a pan-galactic, idyllic, anarchistic society at the peak of technological evolution.

Banks is able to weave these three narrative threads, set in different cultures, with different tones and characters into a single unified whole that is simply thrilling to read. Likewise Banks amalgamates the more traditional elements of hard science fiction, technology, alien races, computer intelligences, into what is essentially a very human story.

It's impossible to write a review of 'Matter' without touching on the sheer literary brilliance of the novel. Written about a shellworld, a whole world with layers within layers, with different threads of plot written with different styles (comic, political, sci fi) that weave into a whole, and populated with layers of alien species mentoring one another in a limitless pan-galactic social hierarchy. Well, it's obvious to say that Banks consummate literary skill is clearly on display

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