Les enfers virtuels

French language

Published March 14, 2013

ISBN:
978-2-253-16977-2
Copied ISBN!

View on Inventaire

3 stars (3 reviews)

It begins in the realm of the Real, where matter still matters.

It begins with a murder.

And it will not end until the Culture has gone to war with death itself.

Lededje Y'breq is one of the Intagliated, her marked body bearing witness to a family shame, her life belonging to a man whose lust for power is without limit. Prepared to risk everything for her freedom, her release, when it comes, is at a price, and to put things right she will need the help of the Culture.

Benevolent, enlightened and almost infinitely resourceful though it may be, the Culture can only do so much for any individual. With the assistance of one of its most powerful - and arguably deranged - warships, Lededje finds herself heading into a combat zone not even sure which side the Culture is really on. A war - brutal, far-reaching - is …

7 editions

Surface Detail

4 stars

« Surface Detail » est le neuvième et avant-dernier tome du cycle de la Culture de Iain M. Banks. Malgré ses qualité indéniables, c’est peut-être celui que j’ai pris le moins plaisir à lire. Certains passages m’ont beaucoup plu, mais je dois avouer que j’ai fini par me lasser de la multitude de scènes d’action, qui n’ont jamais été mes scènes préférées dans la littérature de science-fiction.

Le roman parle principalement de réalités virtuelles, de religion, de pénitence, et du concept de réalité, le tout au sein d’un récit de vengeance digne d’une tragédie grecque (c’est un compliment venant de moi) et de complots intergalactiques pas toujours aisés à suivre. Nous suivons plusieurs personnages plus ou moins sympathiques et attachants : il y a ceux dont j’ai suivi les aventures avec plaisir, ceux que j’ai adoré détester, ceux qui m’ont ému, et ceux qui m’ont laissé totalement indifférent.

Ce roman …

Review of 'Surface Detail' on 'Storygraph'

1 star

If this were a movie, I'd be blinking myself awake in a chair, belly stuffed full of popcorn, remembering vaguely that there were lots of explosions and weak acting, and feeling a bit silly for having hoped it was going to be something else.

I really wanted to like this book. And I did, when it was called Excession. Banks has had these problems before in other novels, but here it really all comes together. It's a Culture Novel by the tropes.

Seriously, there's nothing in this book that you haven't seen before. Wacky minds? Check. Ultimately meaningless emotional sideplot involving humans? Check. Massively competent SC operative awkwardly standing by the sidelines? Idiot slapstick military trying to take on an Abominator class and failing? Check. Over the top self obsessed villain? Check. And the guy who's supposedly pushing all of this -- the head of the Trapeze gang -- is …