this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2023
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Look to Windward
Iain M Banks.
SF.
Banks is one of my favourite authors and LTW is also my favourite. I have reread it every year or two since it was published in 2000.
I recommend Banks to everyone who has a passing interest in SF, his non SF works, published under Iain Banks are also great especially The Bridge.
According to StoryGraph that one is #7 in the "Culture" series. How tightly are the books integrated, do you need to read them in order? Would you recommend starting at #1?
Each story is standalone, and you could read any first but LTW does broadly reference events from early books.
A good starting point is Player of Games, which was my first. Solely because that it was the first one a friend gave me to read.
I read Consider Phlebas next and was hooked. Either is a good starting point. From there published order works.
I’ve never read any Banks. How would you compare him to Alastair Reynolds? I’m a HUGE Reynolds fan, especially stuff like House of Suns and Pushing Ice.
I’m looking for some new epic space opera to read :)
I have never read Reynolds looks like time for me to check him out.
Banks is the best post-scarcity space opera I have ever read. The galaxy (ours...) is filled with millions of sentient beings at various tech levels and many stories involve The Culture's interaction with civs below (and sometimes above) them on the tech tree. The human civ, The Culture is always my answer to the question: If you could live in any fictional universe, which would it be?.
Each book is a stand-alone story that stretch across about 800 years of time and can be read in any order. A good starting point is Player of Games.
Cheers! Too many good books to read!!