Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • Excession

  • Culture Series, Book 5
  • By: Iain M. Banks
  • Narrated by: Peter Kenny
  • Length: 15 hrs and 55 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (1,993 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Excession cover art

Excession

By: Iain M. Banks
Narrated by: Peter Kenny
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Solar War cover art
The Bridge cover art
Guardian of Night cover art
Ball Lightning cover art
Dissidence cover art
Revelation Space cover art
Espedair Street cover art
Hyperion cover art
Ringworld cover art
Children of Time cover art
The Mote in God's Eye cover art
The Star Fraction cover art
Stealing Light: Shoal, Book 1 cover art
Roboteer cover art
Beyond the Aquila Rift cover art
House of Suns cover art

Summary

The novels of Iain M. Banks have forever changed the face of modern science fiction. His Culture books combine breathtaking imagination with exceptional storytelling, and have secured his reputation as one of the most extraordinary and influential writers in the genre.

Two and a half millennia ago in a remote corner of space, beside a trillion-year-old dying sun from a different universe, the artifact appeared.

It was a perfect black-body sphere, and it did nothing. Then it disappeared.

Now it is back.

Diplomat Genar-Hofoen of Special Circumstances is sent to investigate but, sidetracked by an old flame and the spoiled-brat operative Ulver Seich, and faced with the systematic depravities of a race who call themselves the A­ffront, it's anyone's guess whether he'll succeed . . .

The Culture series:
Consider Phlebas
The Player of Games
Use of Weapons
Excession
Inversions
Look to Windward
Matter
Surface Detail
The Hydrogen Sonata
The State of the Art

Other books by Iain M. Banks:
Against a Dark Background
Feersum Endjinn
The Algebraist

©1996 Iain M. Banks (P)2013 Hachette Digital

Critic reviews

"Gripping, touching and funny." (TLS)

"A dizzying adventure." (Daily Mail)

"Explosive but tender." (Sunday Times)

What listeners say about Excession

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,369
  • 4 Stars
    433
  • 3 Stars
    121
  • 2 Stars
    42
  • 1 Stars
    28
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,427
  • 4 Stars
    279
  • 3 Stars
    44
  • 2 Stars
    15
  • 1 Stars
    16
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,194
  • 4 Stars
    377
  • 3 Stars
    123
  • 2 Stars
    51
  • 1 Stars
    31

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Masterpiece!

I have waited a long time for 'Excession' to be available on Audible and was frankly worried that it couldn't be converted into an audio book but I needn't have worried! Peter Kenny's narration is superb, his interpretation of the characters is spot on and the book is wonderfully presented! I believe this to be 'Iain M. Banks' finest work and I have read them all, it is a true Sci-fi masterpiece on an epic scale, the characters, both the ships AI's, as well as the people, both Contact and alien, are well rounded and interesting, you want to hear their stories and you are sad when the book comes to it's thrilling climax! Lets hope there is a sequel soon! 5*

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

27 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Superb story, better narration

This book is classic sci-fi covering all scales. There are human stories, various races, Culture Ship Minds and even, from certain viewpoints, the microscopic. Although it contains a huge amount of technical information on the Ships (the story being largely concerned with these) it never becomes bogged down in pointless detail and remains constantly fascinating. It treads a fine line between fleshing out the Culture universe as a whole and maintaining a strong element of mystery. It's great to see the all-powerful and infinitely intelligent ship Minds totally stumped and humbled by something they can't even begin to explain.



Peter Kenny's reading is of such a high standard that this constitutes, to my mind, a definitive edition of the story. This reading manages that rare feat of actually improving on the original work. Here's hoping that Iain M. Banks keeps on writing them and that Peter Kenny keeps on reading them!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

22 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

One of my all time favourite banks books

Would you listen to Excession again? Why?

I would listen to this again and again. Its a fantastic story, and performed to perfection. I've read the book several times, and will most definitely listen to this book again and again.

What about Peter Kenny’s performance did you like?

Not only is it a fantastic story in true banks style, but the performance of Peter Kenny is just astounding. Only Peter could take such a challenging book (those that have read the book will understand) and turn it into an fantastic adventure into the culture universe. His range of voices are second to none and his consistency of character personalities and styles boggles the mind. How does he do it! Not only am I a huge fan of Banks, but now a huge fan of Peter Kenny.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This book is one of the funniest in the culture universe. The ships personalities and egos are simply amazing and make this book easily one of banks greatest.

Any additional comments?

Peter Kenny has done this book an immense justice. The paper version of this book can be hard to read with all the ship names and chatter, but Peter Kenny pulls it off and makes this one of the best audio books I've ever listened to. Well done Peter!

Not bought it yet? Why not!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

My favourite fiction book of all time

And really done justice by the reader who is just BRILLIANT. Characters are well voiced, the story is just awesome, I loved it so much when I read it the first time that I turned straight back to the first page and read it all over again. I'm going to do the same with the audio book.



I was so sorry to hear that Iain M. Banks had cancer and wish him all the very best

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Rhysophylla

Great book, best Culture novel along with Use of Weapons, was looking forward to this audio book and it doesn't disappoint. Peter Kenny is brilliant as usual. Just a quick gripe about the review By Lester from Ilford; should you really be accepting reviews from people who haven't even bothered to finish a book before giving a review?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Not one for Audio

Totally my fault, I LOVED the book (read it a few times), and one of the main reasons was the wonderful names of all the ships, cracks me up.

But I should have read the reviews before, while the ships are talking to each other, there's a lot of code.. and more code and more binary stuff... When you read it you can just skip ahead, but listening to every digit was just painful, and in the end utterly lost the rhythm of the actual story (which is brilliant). Sorry.

Author 15 out of 10.
Narration 15 out of 10.

Just for me wasn't meant to be listened to.

Take with the usual critical pinch of salt.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Baffling

I love the culture series but this one completely baffled me. I listen in the car on my commute but found that I couldn't remember what had happened in the last listen and worse than that couldn't get into the book no matter how hard i tried. Navigating the book is near impossible as the chapter numbers appear to be duplicated and random. Most of the book seems to be taken up by communications between Culture ships which is tiring to listen to. The main human characters don't get much of a look in and the fact that their names keep changing as well as their genders, even in the same paragraph, does not make for an easy entertaining listen and as a result a main character is difficult to identify or care about. I think Mr Bainks has over indulged himself here, and although I'm sure its all very clever, as a book a it's a bit of a damp squib and I was just relived to finish it. Last couple of Culture books have disappointed. The majority of the earlier Culture books are superb, this has put me off buying any more. Maybe The Culture series has had it's day, well for me anyway, but if "From: The-smug-ship-name, tra point 5.2.3.42 to the what-on-earth-is-that-all-about mid point 7, stutter low pulse frequency 9.6.21.3..... " floats your boat then you may love it. Ho hum.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

YOU WILL BE AMAZED (OR NOT GET IT AT ALL)!

Ian M Banks has an imagination almost beyond compare. I had not read any of his 'Culture' novels, so did not know what to expect. I don't think this novel would have worked has an audio book without the sheer brilliance of the narrator Peter Kenny.

With its mixture of weired aliens and sentient space ships the size of small planets able to travel at thousands of times the speed of light. The human's seeming to be a only a part of the overall scheme of things. The story is a vast intertwining saga of beauty and madness.

Excession is a story which will appeal to the open minded (or the insane!) Science Fiction fan. For me it was a joy, but be warned, some of you will just not get it!







Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Simply outstanding.

If you could sum up Excession in three words, what would they be?

Clever, clever, clever...

What did you like best about this story?

The story is my favourite of the Culture series. I've been a fan from the very beginning, and am only just starting to get into Audiobooks. I was, I must confess a little sceptical that this could be pulled off satisfactorily in this medium - Excession is involved, complex and quite challenging in all kinds of ways. It is, however, simply brilliant. The story's quality shines through, and the performance (for such it is - rather than just a reading) substantially enhanced it.

Which character – as performed by Peter Kenny – was your favourite?

Peter Kenny's performances (in this, and in other Culture novels - which I'm now working my way through) is utterly brilliant. These novels must present an enormous challenge in the range of characters (human, non-human, machine intelligences etc) who have to be brought to life and differentiated - and he does so with a brilliant range of voices and accents - none of which ever grate (as it would be so easy to do), or do anything other than add to the clarity of the story. It's really amazing.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Of course - but who has got 20 + hours?

Any additional comments?

Even if you're not a sci-fi fan, then Kenny's readings of the Culture novels will be a joy (although, in all honesty, if you're not a sci-fi fan already, then this is probably not the one to start with!)

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant narration

The Culture novels - you either love them or hate them. This is one of the best of the series. The narration is excellent - one of the aspects of the novel that's a bit trying are the conversations between Minds, and the narrator does an amazing job of giving the Minds different voices which makes it much easier to follow.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful