Consider Phlebas is a space opera novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1987.
The novel revolves around the Idiran-Culture War, and Banks plays on that theme by presenting various microcosms of that conflict. Perhaps surprisingly, especially since this is the first (published) Culture novel, its protagonist Bora Horza Gobuchul is actually an enemy of the Culture.
Consider Phlebas is Banks' first science fiction novel set in t...
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Consider Phlebas is a space opera novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1987.
The novel revolves around the Idiran-Culture War, and Banks plays on that theme by presenting various microcosms of that conflict. Perhaps surprisingly, especially since this is the first (published) Culture novel, its protagonist Bora Horza Gobuchul is actually an enemy of the Culture.
Consider Phlebas is Banks' first science fiction novel set in the Culture, and takes its title from a line in T. S. Eliot's poem The Waste Land. Look to Windward (2000), whose title comes from the previous line of the same poem, can be considered a loose follow-up.
The Culture and the Idiran Empire are at war in a galaxy-spanning conflict. Horza, a mercenary capable of altering his appearance at will (a Changer), is assigned the task of retrieving a dispossessed Culture Mind by his Idiran handlers. The Mind, while fleeing attacking Idirans who consider its existence an abomination, has taken refuge on...
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