Review of 'Feersum Endjinn'

Feersum Endjinn by Iain M. Banks

I would be lying if I told you that I followed everything that is going on in this book. The story is of such a complex nature with concepts completing awe-inspiring (humans inhabiting settlements consisting of mile-high stories with strange messages beamed from a tower reaching to the very threshold of outer space). I could follow the basic premise, that these massive structures have various political factions that are essentially waging war on one another while the impending “encroachment” darkening their skies threatens them all. A hero (or several) is needed (however unlikely they be) to sort out the mess. The teminology takes some getting used to and somewhat confused me until I grasped (eventually, though continual use) it's meaning. What particularly bothered me though, enlightening though the story is, was that one of the 3-4 narratives was written from the perspective of someone that writes everything phonetically (this gave me a bit of a headache, I must admit, and I did not really look forward to reaching those sections of each chapter). Having said all of that, Banks certainly does know his stuff and the whole is quite incredible with a satisfying (if somewhat confusing, though I would expect nothing less) conclusion. An intriguing read.

Rating: “Really good but I have some issues”

Review Date: 2004-11-02

Genre: Science Fiction

Publisher: Orbit

Publication Date: 1994

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