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  • Inversions

  • Culture Series, Book 6
  • By: Iain M. Banks
  • Narrated by: Peter Kenny
  • Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (914 ratings)
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Inversions cover art

Inversions

By: Iain M. Banks
Narrated by: Peter Kenny
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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.

In the winter palace, the King's new physician has more enemies than she realises. But then she also has more defences than even her most hardened adversaries could imagine.

In another palace, far across the mountains, sits the regicidal Protector General. His chief bodyguard also has enemies to worry about, with the threat of treachery and assassination never far away.

And beneath the surface of these feudal courts - behind the spies, murders, politics and intrigues - lies an entirely di­fferent kind of threat, an entity that nobody would ever suspect.

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

©1998 Iain M. Banks (P)2013 Hachette Digital

Critic reviews

"A fantastic, awe-inspiring book...I can't imagine anyone not being won over by this deeply entertaining, thought-provoking and humane story" (Express)

"Taut, hilarious and wicked" (Mail on Sunday)

"Compulsive Banksian reading...thoughtful, intelligently bloody stuff" (SFX)

What listeners say about Inversions

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

One of his best if you prefer subtlety

I think that this, like Feersum Enjinn is one of Banks' best novels. More relaxed and less in your face than some. A good read which leaves space for thought.

Peter Kenny is an excellent narrator.

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5 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Not exactly SciFi, a view from outside The Culture

Although not a Culture book as such, being set in a medieval world of wars and scheming factions, it follows the lives of two people: The Doctor, and The Bodyguard. Written from the point of view of someone from this medieval planet, we are never sure where these people come from, but the way they act and the events that ensue, you are left with the feeling that they are an example of The Culture interacting with a less advanced race.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Do gods walk among us?

What did you like most about Inversions?

I really liked the experience evoked in this book of being subjected to the Culture's influence.

What other book might you compare Inversions to, and why?

I think this book and the whole Culture series bares positive comparison with Azimov's Foundation. Iain Bank's presents us with a richer and more elaborate universe.

Which scene did you most enjoy?

I actually liked the scenes of blatant sexism and prejudice. They were comical and some might think a bit extreme. Literature of this kind can hold a mirror to us and if we don't like what is reflected then we know we need to do something. Sometimes seeing the extremes is the challenge we need to prevent it happening.

Any additional comments?

Once again Peter Kenny presents this book with outstanding skill.

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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A very good story, well read.

This is a very nice story that is well read. Despite recording a lot of books Peter Kenny seems to have actullaly read the script before reading. He has a good range of voices and speaks with emotion.

The story is typical Iain M Banks perfection and shows full time fantasy writers how it should be done.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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A different view of the Culture

I'm a big fan of the Culture, though I understand that there is an issue with the lack of jeopardy in stories set in a post scarcity society with almost omnipotent Minds in control. This book takes things another way, with the Culture in the background of a story set in a medieval-type society, with all the jeopardy that entails. The dramatic irony is well sustained, and there are characters here to despise, admire, and everything in between. The fact that the two main characters are in some ways set outside the societies they find themselves in gives a strange sense of detachment - but I'm not sure that's a bad thing. A good story well told, that gives us further insight into the Culture, but not my very favourite Culture novel. Great narration.

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2 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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Only glancingly Culture, but good glances.

Good narration between the king and the doctor. Well worth a listen. Not a disappointment if it's the last culture novel you've got left. Can another great 'mind' please create more.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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Banks brilliance!

As usual, Banks (via the excellent Kenny) tells an absorbing and seductive tale sublimely well.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Banks - we have lost your wonderful imagination

He died this week - been dreading it for a couple of months - no more Banks!
Inversions is a pleasant and relaxing listen and is pretty well read by Kenny, sorry this review is rubbish, because Banks can do no wrong.
So the characters are interesting and it is imaginative and sufficiently paced to keep the attention. An award winning story or pair of stories, but I think he has done better.
Banks is a hero of my generation!
Do you think he could have arranged for someone to 'channel' more stories form the other side? Just joking!

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Underwhelming, conceited, badly narrated.

Peter Kenny has the ability to turn any book he touches into rubbish. This aside, I was quite looking forward to a return to Iain M Banks, but unfortunately all that I found here was well-trodden literary territory, 1001 Arabian nights- flavoured intrigue with a touch of The Culture, but told in a slap-dash way that makes me think that the great writer penned this during a fortnight holiday in Portugal. Definitely shouldn't be the first on your list of Iain M Banks novels. And not your second either.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Different but good

Loved it, but you must read other Culture books to understand it. Not really a Sci fi story but very enjoyable.

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