Review by Booklist Review
This extremely fine piece of storytelling vividly depicts a gigantic interstellar war and an almost equally large cast of characters. The war is being fought between the rationalistic humanoids of the Culture and the religious tripedal Idirans. Horza, a Changer (able to take on the form of any human being), serves the Idirans out of conviction that the Culture is overly dominated by its increasingly sophisticated machines, including the sapient Minds. The action is practically nonstop, and Banks proves himself adept at poetic prose, characterization, and descriptions of marvelous technical devices. Highly recommended for all sf collections. RG. [OCLC] 87-36718
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
In the midst of a war between two galactic empires, a shapechanging agent of the Iridans undertakes a clandestine mission to a forbidden planet in search of an intelligent, fugitive machine whose actions could alter the course of the conflict. Banks ( Walking on Glass ) demonstrates a talent for suspense in a new wave sf novel that should appeal to fans of space adventure. For large sf collections. JC (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
From the author of The Wasp Factory and Walking on Glass: a voluminous, sometimes exciting space-opera where character motivations are the most troubling of several knotty problems. Two far-future galactic empires are at war: the Earth-derived Culture, tolerant, unwarlike, vaguely communistic, is ruled by Minds, artificial intelligences of imponderable power and scope; the Idirans, bulky, three-legged alien conquerors who have made warfare into a religion, are implacably opposed to the Minds. Horza, a genetically engineered human with shape-shifting abilities, sides with the Idirans because he prefers biologicals to machines. His mission--numerous adventures intervene--is to capture a disabled Mind that has taken refuge in some ancient tunnels on a Planet of the Dead. In pursuing the Mind, Horza finds himself fighting the same Idirans who are supposed to be his allies. The mechanics of all this haven't been thought through--Horza's adventures, for instance (actually short stories tacked on), eclipse his supposedly supremely important mission. Neither does his decision to fight for the brutal, fanatical Idirans against the vastly more civilized and appealing Culture add up. And we never learn what the Minds do, or what the Idiran religion consists of. Overextended and jarring, then, but imaginative and gripping in places. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
