The Hydrogen Sonata (Culture, #10)

by Iain M. Banks

The Scavenger species are circling. It is, truly, the End Days for the Gzilt civilization. An ancient people, organized on military principles and yet almost perversely peaceful, the Gzilt helped set up the Culture ten thousand years earlier and were very nearly one of its founding societies, deciding not to join only at the last moment. Now they've made the collective decision to follow the well-trodden path of millions of other civilizations; they are going to Sublime, elevating themselves to a new and almost infinitely more rich and complex existence. Amid preparations though, the Regimental High Command is destroyed. Lieutenant Commander (reserve) Vyr Cossont appears to have been involved, and she is now wanted - dead, not alive. Aided only by an ancient, reconditioned android and a suspicious Culture avatar, Cossont must complete her last mission given to her by the High Command. She must find the oldest person in the Culture, a man over nine thousand years old, who might have some idea what really happened all that time ago. It seems that the final days of the Gzilt civilization are likely to prove its most perilous.

• ISBN10: 0356501507
• ISBN13: 9780356501505
• Publish Date: 4 October 2012 (first published 1 January 2012)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 5 September 2013
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Orbit
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 528
• Language: English

Reviews

[Metaphorosis Reviews]

3 stars, 3 stars, Metaphorosis Reviews

Summary
The Gzilt are about to Sublime. But the representative Remnant of their long-Sublimed mentors has a message that may change the way they view their entire society. Until the messenger is abruptly destroyed. Why and by whom, and what was the message?

Review
I was a reasonably early convert to Iain M. Banks, picking up his first book, Consider Phlebas, in a bookshop, and falling headfirst into complex, sophisticated Culture. I have read every Culture novel (though not all the stories). I've enjoyed most of them, though as I noted in my review of Surface Detail, it's the society that's memorable more than the characters or the plot. That's true here as well, and I think it's fair to say that the plot of The Hydrogen Sonata is straight up weak.

That doesn't mean the book isn't enjoyable - it's got Banks's usual smooth writing, interesting moment, and understated humor. However, there isn't much innovative about it. I honestly doubt that a year from now, I'll remember much more about it than a few of the decorations - like the Undecagonstring instrument, which itself feels forced, and something of a token effort.

As noted, the plot here seems something of an afterthought - the mystery we're waiting to solve is revealed fairly early, making the end somewhat purposeless. While much of the action concerns a society Subliming, we learn very little about the process (or about the Sublimed themselves), and again it's treated largely as an afterthought - "There's this vastly important, culture-central event that we must all focus on and prepare for, and ... oh it eventually happens."

While the writing is nicely done, I found the book overall slow going, hindered in particular by its seeming aimlessness - a concern borne out by the ending.

I wish I could say that Banks' last Culture novel was a fitting work of genius, but it's not. It's a very run of the mill meander, which is still a decent book by others' standards, but a disappointment here.