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  • Against a Dark Background

  • By: Iain M. Banks
  • Narrated by: Peter Kenny
  • Length: 18 hrs and 19 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (59 ratings)

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Against a Dark Background cover art

Against a Dark Background

By: Iain M. Banks
Narrated by: Peter Kenny
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Publisher's Summary

The novels of Iain M. Banks have forever changed the face of modern science fiction. With breathtaking imagination and extraordinary storytelling, they have secured his reputation as one of the most extraordinary and influential writers in the genre.

Lady Sharrow was once the fearless leader of a combat team in one of the sporadic little commercial wars in the vicinity of the planet Golter. Now she is hunted by the Huhsz - a religious cult hellbent on assassinating her - and her only hope of escape is to ­find the last of the apocalyptically powerful Lazy Guns before the Huhsz track her down.

Her journey through the exotic Golterian system is a destructive and savage odyssey into her past, and that of her family and of the system itself.

Books by Iain M. Banks:
Consider Phlebas
The Player of Games
Use of Weapons
Excession
Inversions
Look to Windward
Matter
Surface Detail
The Hydrogen Sonata
The State of the Art
Against a Dark Background
Feersum Endjinn
The Algebraist

©1993 Iain M. Banks (P)2012 Hachette Digital

Critic Reviews

"Imaginatively brilliant." (Daily Mail)

"Banks ain't kidding. He warned you up front that this is a dark novel." (Norman Spinrad)

"Few of us have been exposed to a talent so manifest and of such extraordinary breadth." (The New York Review of Science Fiction)

What listeners say about Against a Dark Background

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not one of his best stories

the only Iain M Banks that I've not greatly enjoyed. the characters are ok, the story is reasonably interesting, but it lacks any real depth and the ending seems to me to be a bit weak

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

quite a good yarn

not up to the standard of other banks books.

still worth listening to. it is rather hard to follow at times.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant story read brilliantly

A dark story of a flawed character from Banks. Kenny's range of voices and story-telling is really impressive.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Another masterpiece

Iain M. Banks doesn't disappoint with another hugely imaginative piece of work expertly delivered by Peter Kenny. Although lacking the quintessential humor of the Cultures minds, this story holds it's own in the unmistakable style which you will all recognize.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

great narration. story a bit grim.

narrator is fab at voice characterisation. story is good but rather dark - no happy ending - left me a bit unsatisfied.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A fully complete work of genius craftsmanship

I have read this a few times now and it keeps bearing fruit. I lover Peter Kenny’s voice, a perfect companion to this crafted work, a multi layered work with the ultimate take no sh1t heroine.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Too long, boring, pointless.

I skipped 9 of the last chapters so i could finish the book, after trying my best to get into the first 20hrs.
I couldn't get into the storyline or the characters at all. I wanted to like this book, i really did ... but it is about 4x longer than it should be.
I felt altogether detached from this story.

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