The State of the Art

“Banks is a phenomenon...writing pure science fiction of a peculiarly gnarly energy and elegance.”—William Gibson

“Banks writes with a sophistication that will surprise anyone unfamiliar with modern science fiction.”—The New York Times

“Banks never lets up in a dizzying array of characters, mind-bending ideas, and dazzling action.”—Booklist

“Few of us have been exposed to a talent so manifest and of such extraordinary breadth.”—New York Review of Science Fiction

“[Banks] can summon up sense-of-wonder Big Concepts you've never seen before and display them with narration as deft as a conjuror's fingers." —scifi.com

"Nobody does it better."—Times (UK)

"Banks writes space opera on the grand scale: he measures time in eons, space in lightyears, tragedies in gigadeaths."—Time