Transition
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4.2 • 95 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
There is a world that hangs suspended between triumph and catastrophe, between the dismantling of the Wall and the fall of the Twin Towers, frozen in the shadow of suicide terrorism and global financial collapse. Such a world requires a firm hand and a guiding light. But does it need the Concern: an all-powerful organization with a malevolent presiding genius, pervasive influence and numberless invisible operatives in possession of extraordinary powers?
Among those operatives are Temudjin Oh, of mysterious Mongolian origins, an un-killable assassin who journeys between the peaks of Nepal, a version of Victorian London and the dark palaces of Venice under snow; Adrian Cubbish, a restlessly greedy City trader; and a nameless, faceless state-sponsored torturer known only as the Philosopher, who moves between time zones with sinister ease. Then there are those who question the Concern: the bandit queen Mrs. Mulverhill, roaming the worlds recruiting rebels to her side; and Patient 8262, under sedation and feigning madness in a forgotten hospital ward, in hiding from a dirty past.
There is a world that needs help; but whether it needs the Concern is a different matter.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Banks's latest novel opens with a warning from "Patient 8262" stating that he or she is an unreliable narrator, before the epic takes off, plunging the reader into a whirlwind of intricately constructed characters and detailed accounts of their experiences as they "flit" across multiple Earths. The cast of characters include Adrian, the greedy city trader, emblematic of the selfishness needed to become a "traveler"; the Philosopher, an assassin who despises killing; a catch-me-if-you-can rogue operative named Mrs. Mulverhill; and the imperious Madame d'Ortolan, possibly the leader of the Concern, a vast multi-world organization that claims to protect worlds from chaos, but may also hide a greater, darker purpose. Banks's prose is elegant and electric and his story dizzying, but inevitable contradictions are brilliantly tied together-the only way many characters maintain sanity is to question everything, and readers would be well-advised to do the same. Banks manages the neat feat of synthesizing 19th-century style with the cutting edge, the irreverent with the philosophical, and the intellectual with the adventurous.
Customer Reviews
Perfect writing
I'll admit, it feels a little scattered at first. Beautiful writing, Banks always delivers there, and so immediately engaging of course. But there's just so much thrown at you at once it takes several dozen pages before you get the gist of it all. And then you can't put it down. The world imagined here is infinitely vast, literally, gorgeously complex and not a little hot and steamy at times. A beautiful complete work, and if I have one gripe it's that I'd want to know more of the mechanics of this world. Not that Banks doesn't give you enough, certainly does - but, you know, just where does that drug come from, or this kind of ability, or this character's true origin. No loose ends, it just left me wanting more, in the best possible way.
Transition
Different than his earlier works. If you're familiar with the Culture books, this one will be more difficult to actually get started reading. But it is well worth it.