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Consider Phlebas
- Culture Series, Book 1
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 16 hrs and 25 mins
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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.
War rages across the galaxy. Billions have died, billions more are doomed. Moons, planets, the very stars themselves, face cold-blooded, brutal destruction. The Idirans fight for their Faith; the Culture for its moral right to exist. Principles are at stake. There can be no surrender.
Within this cosmic conflict, a crucial battle of wits is waged. Deep within a fabled labyrinth, on a Planet of the Dead forbidden to mortals, lies a fugitive Mind. Both the Culture and the Idirans desperately seek it. It is the fate of Horza, the Changer, and his motley crew of unpredictable mercenaries, human and machine, to actually find it - and with it their own destruction.
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
'Banks is a phenomenon' William Gibson
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What listeners say about Consider Phlebas
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- Amazon Customer
- 04-09-21
Great book, great audio book
Well read and voiced for the main characters. The right pace and tension in all chapters. A great listen.
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- Anonymous User
- 09-02-22
O you who turn the wheel and look to windward...
A wonderful Culture novel with all the exquisite imagination of Banks narrated by Peter Kenny what's not to like !!
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- AP Terry
- 16-01-22
Left feeling "what was all that about"?!
I didn't know what to expect for this and it was certainly a unique book. 2000ad style future visions of an epic space opera. Yet despite some interesting set pieces and quirky characters I thought the ending was a bizarre truncation for many of the characters. The appendix that tied up the loose ends didn't work for me.
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- Valtric
- 16-02-22
Great galactic wide story.
My first Iain M Banks book and I loved it. Great characters and epic scale setting. Looking forward to the next one in the series.
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- Meraki
- 05-11-20
Disappointing
Had heard great things about Ian Banks and this novel. Great idea, great opening but story just became bogged down with over-inflated scenes which did very little to move the story froward. And the characters and events in chapters called State of Play seemed to have no real bearing on anything! Such a shame. I really wanted to like this more ...
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- Jono
- 17-05-18
Great book, some dodgy audio recording.
Great, hard sci-fi, look forward to listening to the rest of the series.
Note: this recording has problems from around page / location 121 where the start of most sentences is missing / clipped, most notably while the protagonists are on the mega ship on the doomed orbital Ring.
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- Mick
- 20-08-20
Riproaring space jaunt
Great story fantastically narrated to an intriguing conclusion that leaves me reaching for the next in series
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- Parley
- 16-05-16
Sci-fi Opera at its best
My first foray into audio books. Had seen this title on my brothers shelf for ages. If you like Sci-fi you will love this. Peter Kenny nails the narration. Shame I've to wait a month for a credit to get the next book in the series.
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- J.E.Thomas
- 26-02-15
Revisiting this great storey after so much time
attention grabbing to the last. I'd forgotten how absorbing the story was and how surprising the end was.
It took me a while to get used to the Narrator, Peter Kenny; I had imagined different accents for the characters but grew to enjoy the narrator's tone and pace.
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- Mr
- 22-04-15
Too good to miss
Space opera at its best. I've read the book at least three times and this performance did not disappoint. Excellent.
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