It’s been a very long time since we have had a new Culture novel from Mr Banks, and I must say I was thrilled to bits when Mathew was sent an Advanced Reading Copy (thanks George!) – not only would I be able to read it before it hit the shops, but it came in time for the Christmas holidays.

It’s hard to say what I find so compelling about the Culture series – perhaps it’s Banks’ decision to allow it to sprawl both in space and time, to be such a mindblowingly large, diverse and decentralized civilisation. It means that while many elements will be familiar to repeated readers, Banks has given himself a lot of freedom to shape each narrative, to the extent that you could probably read Culture novels in any order without feeling too excluded. I am also a sucker for the sentient ships and AIs, with their sassy attitudes and bizarre, self-selected names (such as Funny, It Worked Last Time, Just Read The Instructions and Lightly Seared On The Reality Grill – there’s a full list on Wikipedia).

Matter tells the story of three siblings: two brothers and a sister, scions of the King of the Sarl race, who inhabit the Ninth Level of the Shellworld of Sursamen (a shellworld is a vast, multi-level artificial planet with a dormant alien at its centre, worshipped as a god by the Sarl). The sister, Djan Seriy Anaplian, left her home to end up as an agent in the Culture’s shadowy Special Circumstances (think CIA with spaceships), but she has to make the journey back home the murder of her father throws the Sarl in to chaos and endangers the lives of her brothers.

There is just as much emphasis on Sursamen as there is on the Culture in Matter, which provides a considerable contrast between the two main strands of the book – the Sarl are a primitive (by Culture standards, and perhaps even by ours), steam-powered proto-industrial society, in stark contrast to the scientific marvels and virtual immortality on offer to Culture citizens, but the shellworld environment makes for some fascinating twists on conventional reality, with mechanical suns rolling across the sky (the many-miles-high ceiling) and giant columns linking the levels together. The interventions of the Evolved species in the lives of the Shellworld-dwellers evoke the interfering imperialism of parts of our own history, and there is a strong sense that Banks could have based the entire novel around the shellword and its inhabitants, had he so chosen, it’s so well realised.

The journey of the elder brother Ferbin Hausk out in to the wider universe to find his sister provides ample opportunity for us to see the Culture, and other highly evolved galactic civilisations, from our own humble perspective, although the experiences of the younger prince, Oramen, keeping a watchful eye on the treacherous Regent, Mertis tyl Loesp, are perhaps the flabbiest aspect of the novel.

It’s a cleverly plotted story with a range of engaging characters – the developing relationship between Ferbin and his servant is particularly satisfying and shows that Banks has a deft comic touch when needed. The main criticism I would make is that the ‘first ending’ that finishes the story itself is somewhat rushed – as if having maneuvered all of his characters in to position, Banks doesn’t quite know what to do with them. The ‘second ending’ (an Appendix followed by an Epilogue) does round things off nicely, and I would say overall Matter is a very satisfying read. I just hope we don’t have to wait another seven years for another fix of the Culture.

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