the hydrogen sonata

Lately there has been some upheaval on the home front (episode redacted for this post) affecting our lives.  So for some much needed sci-fi escapism I’d been looking forward to reading the latest installment in Iain M. Banks‘ Culture novels, The Hydrogen Sonata.

(No spoilers in this post – ask and ye shall get slap-droned.)

I am well into the novel at this point and feel a very nice homecoming.  The milieu is what I expect from a Culture novel: viewpoint tangential to the Culture, technology not as a focus but to further color the story and characters, witty Ship Mind banter / seeming aloofness (not to mention the naturally classic choice of ship self-naming) and [finally] a wonderful stirring of the Sublime pot.

(Culture shift)

Another novel I was looking forward to reading was Hannu Rajaniemi‘s The Fractal Prince.  It’s a reality headspin and like The Quantum Thief is a great breath of post-Singularity-rehash-sci-fi fresh air.  I finished it just before returning to the Culture.  Great job Hannu.  Superlatives abound.  Looking forward to at least one more romp around weirdness with Jean le Flambeur.

(Dreaming)

And just before reading the above I walked the Silfen paths through Peter F. Hamilton‘s Commonwealth / Void series.

Escapism at its best – right Edeard?