I did not start here on my journey, I came back to it.
This was neat. I’ve read a lot of Culture books and this war was referenced quite a few times throughout the series. If you are just beginning here good job. If you liked it, know that every Culture book will be different. The framework remains the same but the view, the quadrant, galaxy, timing, subplot, will all be different. It’s a large universe.
That is what makes Culture books great though. It is a dive for a moment into a scenario with conditions. Human, alien, technology, time, beyond. Great stuff.
How does CP measure up? Well, it’s a bit complicated. CP takes us on a small fleck of a tour in the Idrian war. In hindsight, it was a momentous moment. The minds started developing a bit more specialized, trying a few new things out, all because–war. In our own history, a war footing gives us some of our most advanced technological innovations.
The story at hand is interesting, but I didn’t feel as drawn to it as others. This is not unique though, some Culture books you will be magnetized to, some you will have a bit more apathy towards. This one follows a shape changer to get a Mind that is hiding deep on a planet of the Dead, in this it means the planet was visited by a planetary genocide (also war driven), and care taken by a post-sublimed species who keeps these kinds of planets–like a museum piece I suppose. The adventure is where the meat is, the final leg is interesting if not a bit overly interdialogy (yea, like that word?), and the ending is very Culture.
You may like this, you may not, it’s ok. I invite you to press on. This series is overall amazing and I assure you, if you like what the Culture has to offer, it’s going to make you ponder a whole lot about a future civ you’d like to be a part of.