Transition

Iain M. Banks

Sep 2024 · Hachette+ORM

About this ebook

A shadowy organization influences the world with its invisible agents as a rebellion grows in this science fiction novel by the author of The Wasp Factory.
There is a world that hangs suspended between triumph and catastrophe, between the dismantling of the Wall and the fall of the Twin Towers, frozen in the shadow of suicide terrorism and global financial collapse. Such a world requires a firm hand and a guiding light. But does it need the Concern: an all-powerful organization with a malevolent presiding genius, pervasive influence and numberless invisible operatives in possession of extraordinary powers?
Among those operatives are Temudjin Oh, of mysterious Mongolian origins, an un-killable assassin who journeys between the peaks of Nepal, a version of Victorian London and the dark palaces of Venice under snow; Adrian Cubbish, a restlessly greedy City trader; and a nameless, faceless state-sponsored torturer known only as the Philosopher, who moves between time zones with sinister ease. Then there are those who question the Concern: the bandit queen Mrs. Mulverhill, roaming the worlds recruiting rebels to her side; and Patient 8262, under sedation and feigning madness in a forgotten hospital ward, in hiding from a dirty past.
There is a world that needs help; but whether it needs the Concern is a different matter.
Praise for Transition
"A whirlwind of intricately constructed characters and detailed accounts of their experiences as they "flit" across multiple Earths. . . . Banks's prose is elegant and electric. . . . [He] manages the neat feat of synthesizing 19th-century style with the cutting edge, the irreverent with the philosophical, and the intellectual with the adventurous." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Wildly entertaining. . . . The novel's overall current of paranoia adds a soupcon of The Matrix and Philip K. Dick. . . . Surprises are in store, as well as much slightly kinky lovemaking, a deliberate disordering of the senses in several bravura stylistic passages and, finally, a classic white-knuckle climax." — Washington Post Book World

Ratings and reviews

I don't usually read this kind of science fiction, but I enjoyed how the narrative, told from multiple points of view, came together by the end. A lot went unexplained, so if that bothers you, this may not be the book for you, but if you're okay with a good story, and don't need to understand how/why everything works, this was worth the effort.

Banks is funny, sexy and irreverent in his writing. His style can sometimes be confusing. This one is fairly straightforward despite all the different parallel stories unfolding simulaneously...and is relatively fast-paced compared to some of his other work which can tend to be more descriptive. "Sometimes you cannot tell everything about a thing until you've seen it broken." Banks makes his terrorists Christian extremists in this his most post-9/11 sci-fi.

But not as good as the Culture series. Compared to other authors, 4 stars.

About the author

Iain Banks came to widespread and controversial public notice with the publication of his first novel, The Wasp Factory, in 1984. Consider Phlebas, his first science fiction novel, was published under the name Iain M. Banks in 1987 and began his celebrated ten-book Culture series. He is acclaimed as one of the most powerful, innovative and exciting writers of his generation.