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Excession
- Culture Series, Book 5
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 15 hrs and 55 mins
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Excession
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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
Critic reviews
"Gripping, touching and funny." (TLS)
"A dizzying adventure." (Daily Mail)
"Explosive but tender." (Sunday Times)
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What listeners say about Excession
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 29-01-23
Great story, very well told
Very good narration with accent and tonal changes constantly reflecting characters and situations.
One of the best Culture novels.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kate
- 23-09-23
Great, compiicated.
Classic Banks. What a loss he is. Listen and enjoy. Back checking is needed! Have fun.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous Coward
- 07-04-13
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
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Beenay25
- 28-02-14
Good story let down by subplots.
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Yes as it's a brilliant story despite some shortcomings.
What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)
Some nice summing up but a little anticlimactic.
Have you listened to any of Peter Kenny’s other performances? How does this one compare?
As always, Peter Kenny is excellent.
Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
I found the female lead to be incredibly irritating. She's effectively spent 40 years moping in self obcession and still thinks that she's the victim. Never mind the fact that she committed murder and attempted murder. More than anything the passages about her just made me angry and wanted to skip the section.
Any additional comments?
One thing that doesn't translate well. When long range communications are occurring the entire 'address' of the message is read... So you end up listening to something like "Stuttered type point one eight two point seven eight six three point three nine two four. From Grey Area to Sleeper Service...." And then you hear the actual message. The author even hangs a lantern on the annoyance this causes when a character is reviewing communications and tells the computer to filter out all the unnecessary numbers. I actually cheered when she did that.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- "lokdown1"
- 24-08-19
Great story
Really enjoyable and Peter Kenny's naration is (as in all the other culture audio books) flawless. My only criticism is that the long ship names and lines of "code", which feature a lot in this novel due to the extensive narrative sections involving different ships, don't really work well in audiobook format. If I were reading the paper novel I'd just glance over them and wouldn't actually read them.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Damion Humphreys
- 18-04-18
Peter Kenney has the perfect voice!
Wonderfully performed, the books are brought to life like never before. The Culture novels are intense, complex and multi-layered yet Peter Kenney gives each person, Mind and entity it's own voice and distinct personality. Best audiobook series I've encountered so far!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jonatan Duelund
- 14-10-20
Culture favourite
Brilliant performance, as per usual by many faceted Peter Kenny! The main Story tickles the imagination, "sub-stories" are interesting and have good variety, chapters and parts are evenly paced and not to scattered. Through and through a great listen!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 13-10-17
Great book
This was my 4th book in the culture series that I managed to listen to and it was as good as expected. The story is interesting althou some parts are not so easy to follow especially the communication between the minds.
All in all really good and recomendable.
Peter Kenny is smashing the naration of these books.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jon Harrison
- 18-02-16
Probably the best of the culture novels
A great mix of intricately woven story arcs, with a cracking mix of action, intrigue and the macabre. Banks at his best. RIP.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 07-05-16
ship tastic
Just amazing no one does epic sci fi better ,this is one of his best
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