Look to Windward cover art

Look to Windward

Culture Series, Book 7

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Look to Windward

By: Iain M. Banks
Narrated by: Peter Kenny
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About this listen

The novels of Iain M. Banks have forever changed the face of modern science fiction. His Culture books combine breathtaking imagination with exceptional storytelling, and have secured his reputation as one of the most extraordinary and influential writers in the genre.

It was one of the less glorious incidents of a long-ago war.

It led to atrocities on an extraordinary scale. To the destruction of two suns and the billions of lives they supported.

Now, eight hundred years later, the light from the first of those doomed stars has reached the Culture Orbital, Masaq', bathing its ­fifty billion inhabitants in the rays of their society's ancient mistake.

Amongst them is Major Quilan, sent on a mission so secret that not even he knows what it is, and determined to exact his revenge against the Culture at any cost.

The Culture series:
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

Other books by Iain M. Banks:
Against a Dark Background
Feersum Endjinn
The Algebraist

©2000 Iain M. Banks (P)2013 Hachette Digital Science Fiction Fiction Banking

Critic Reviews

'Banks keeps ratcheting up the suspense' Guardian

'Banks is a phenomenon' William Gibson

'A mordant wit, a certain savagery and a wild imagination' Mail On Sunday
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A classic Culture novel with a similar tilt to Consider Phlebas (it was intended as something of a sequel). It follows a non-Culture protagonist through alien worlds and a huge Culture habitat. There's the usual drone and Mind banter to look forward to and, in classic Banks' style, the story has a complex, multiple arc structure that comes together beautifully in the end. Peter Kenny's narration is brilliant too.

Classic Banks

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Absolutely masterful writing from Banks, and stellar performance (as always) from Peter Kenny. Look to Windward shall be added to my reread list.

Favourite culture novel so far!

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Like the book, like the narrator, love the author. Find this one a little downbeat and the narrator's unwavering approach to voicing of the central character reinforces this. Not sure what I'd have done differently, but then I'm no actor. Unhesitatingly recommended if you like the author, or like palace-intrigue style high concept sci-fi (Think Dune sequels tempered with a bit of less-slapstick-than-Ringworld humour and technical colour)

Downbeat modern sci-fi classic

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I’ve always been a huge fan of the late Iain Banks. I think I’ve read almost all his published work. Look to Windward is a fascinating progression in the Culture series. I was relieved to find that the performance of this audio book was up to the novel it represented. Peter Kenny did a superb, I want to quote Chris Hitchens and say ‘invisible’ job. Bravo

The Performance Does Justice to the Book

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A masterpiece both in the writing and the reading. I look forward to forgetting enough to listen to it again!

Outstanding

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The Culture series by itself is a sci-fi masterpiece unlike anything I've seen elsewhere (and I've been looking hard). and Look to Windward is the best book in the series. Banks' writing is masterfully crafted and deeply thoughtful, with many long conversations that are in equal parts cynical, cheeky, and deeply philosophical. and this story has amazing plot twists many of which I didn't see coming.

I strongly recommend to read Consider Phlebas to understand the background of the Idiran War that is referenced throughout.

the best book of an incredibly talented author

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I was taken to places and situations that boggled my mind. All totally credible though due to the skill with which he writes.

Beautifully complex and irresistible

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Everything I love in the series! S.C. at its devious best. I loved this book.

One of his best culture novels.

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One of the best Sci Fi authors and one of his best novels. Kenny captures Banks novel wonderfully in his excellent narration.
This Sci Fi at its original purist form, using fictional technology and concepts to explore age old philosophical questions in new ways.

Sublime combination

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