Iain M Banks sci-fi novels - any recommendations?

[Dunk!]

Excession is my personal favourite followed by Use of Weapons, Player of Games plus more recently Surface Detail and Matter - which has a belter of an ending IMHO.

The only dud for me was Inversions but after the vast expanse of Excession I'm happy to acknowledge any following book may have been found wanting.

Dunk!

[Richard]

Use of Weapons is amazing.

[JayzusB.Christ]

Just remembered that he died last year.  A sad loss.  He seems to have squeezed quite a few good books into his life though

[Jim_Campbell]

(Sci-fi ones, that is.  I read The Wasp Factory - liked it but didn't love it.)

Walking on Glass and The Bridge are definitely worth reading, of the non-SF Banks. I found his 'literary' books suffered from diminishing returns as he seemed to deploy the same handful of narrative elements in different combinations but some of the early ones are fierce and imaginative — those two particularly stick in my mind.

Cheers

Jim

[von Boom]

Overall I'd pick the Algebraist, maybe, it's too hard to decide. I loved Consider Phlebas, which some people I've spoken to don't like. Also Use of Weapons is just great. Any of Banks' books are well worth reading, so you can't go wrong really.

[JayzusB.Christ]

I loved Consider Phlebas too. To be honest I can't quite remember the overall storyline but some of the individual scenes were nothing short of breathtaking.  We've discussed the Orbital's destruction, but there was also the gigantic creatures fighting in slow-motion on the ceiling for entertainment, the starving tribe led by an obese and malevolent dictator, and the very first scene where Horza is condemned to die from drowning in sewage.

Might delve into a couple of the non-science-fiction stuff too on Jim's recommendations.  As I said, I wasn't completely blown away by The Wasp Factory but it too had some unforgettable scenes.

[Tiplodocus]

Is USE OF WEAPONS they really cleverly structured one which at first you think is just a conceit [spoiler]but is, in fact, the only way you could tell the story and retain the twist?[/spoiler]

[Richmond Clements]

Is USE OF WEAPONS they really cleverly structured one which at first you think is just a conceit [spoiler]but is, in fact, the only way you could tell the story and retain the twist?[/spoiler]

Yup!

[pauljholden]

The State of the Art BBC radio play on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRl9D_agLbU (this is a bit naughty I suppose, but I pays me licence fee...)

[pauljholden]

Also: Something Real a fanbased culture film which is actually surprisingly good.

-pj

[ZenArcade]

I think there was word of a film being made from one of the shorts in State of the Art, A gift from the Culture if memory serves.
A film of Consider Phlebas would be something else. It is out and out space opera. Z