Feersum endjinn
by Iain Banks · first published 1994
45% recommend39% neutral15% critical
Why HN recommends it
Imaginative standalone Banks SF with a linear, story-rich journey and a playful, Pratchett-like streak; the phonetic Bascule dialect is hard at first but rewarding. Suits readers who like his non-Culture work.
Common criticism: The phonetically spelled Bascule chapters are hard going for some readers
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Count Sessine is about to die for the very last time ... Chief Scientist Gadfium is about to receive the mysterious message she has been waiting for from the Plain of Sliding Stones ... And Bascule the Teller, in search of an ant, is about to enter the chaos of the crypt ... And everything is about to change ... For this is the time of the encroachment and, although the dimming sun still shines on the vast, towering walls of Serehfa Fastness, the end is close at hand. The King knows it, his closest advisers know it, yet sill they prosecute the war against the clan Engineers with in
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If I remember rightly, this also happened in some regional releases of the film Trainspotting. For the opposite problem, try reading Iain Banks' Feersum Endjinn[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feersum_Endjinn
on “English has been my pain for 15 years” ↗…Seveneves then it might suit you. My personal favourites that might not already be on everyone else's lists: Fiasco - Stanisław Lem This is how you lose the time war - Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone Feersum Endjinn - Iain Banks The Dark Side of the Sun - Terry Pratchett (yes, that one) Blindsight - Peter Watts Bloom - Wil McCarthy Good luck!
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books?” ↗Tales from the White Hart (Clarke, RIP) kicked off my interest in science and thus in IT. So that inspired me most. Still, I think the best SF I've read was Feersum Endjinn by Iain M. Banks.
on “Ask YC: What's the most inspiring sci-fi book you've read?” ↗I got a few sentences into the article before I thought of "House of Leaves". Lo and behold, it's the first example! The other example that comes to mind is "Feersum Endjinn" by Iain M. Banks, which has large sections written in this wild phonetic Cockney-esque dialect. G.E.B also kinda fits the bill. I'm a big fan of these types of books (even though I hadn't heard the…
on “Ergodic Literature” ↗Writing in the vernacular, I believe it's called. I do something like that if I'm texting. The book "Feersum Endjinn" by Iain M. Banks uses something like this for one of its characters to quite good effect.
on “FFmpeg 8.0 adds Whisper support” ↗You should read Feersum Endjinn
on “How to Write a Spelling Corrector” ↗Here's a strong recommendation to anyone who hasn't read yet The Bridge by Banks, to go and read that wonderful novel. Not to mention his classic and highly imaginative Sci-fi novels: The Player of Games, Feersum Endjinn, Use of Weapons, Excession...
on “Iain Banks dies of cancer aged 59” ↗…and destruction that goes on in his books. It's a trait, a sort of sarcastic, righteous rebelliousness in the face iniquity, that he shares with Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. (Speaking of, I found Feersum Endjinn to be a highly Pratchettian novel. It's also quite different from anything else Banks wrote. It's excellent and probably underrated.) As an example of a polar opposite, I would point to Stanislaw Lem,…
on “Quick, How Might the Alien Spacecraft Work?” ↗Feersum Endjinn has this plot line. Can recommend.
on “Amazon Ring's lost dog ad sparks backlash amid fears of mass surveillance” ↗…of what does one do with themselves in a post scarcity existence, especially when advanced AI can just run and do everything. Outside of the Culture series, I also highly recommend the Algebraist and Feersum Endjinn (sp?). edit: I forgot to include "Against a Dark Background" in the outside Culture series recommendations. I've read that one a few times, it's quite good. At one point there was talk about making…
on “Sci-Fi Author Iain M. Banks Gets Asteroid Named after Him” ↗…points. The crux of the problem is really in this distinction between plot and story. A great plot-driven writer who manages a superb synthesis of both is Iain M. Banks. One of his less well-known books, Feersum Endjinn, is a favourite of mine. Its journey is very linear, but it's a journey, a story that happens to a character. The skeleton of the plot is under a thick skin of emotional resonance. It's a good story.…
on “Revisting Neuromancer After Three Decades” ↗…Scottish dialect in The Bridge was a precursor to Bascule. I'd certainly agree with you there. He's variously introduced his readers to Scots, the Doric and the vernacular in his books over many years. Feersum Endjinn was a fun read, especially for me as a Scot who has an interest in the Scots language. > Sorely miss him. I do too. I'd met him at various times over the length of his career. Always a bloody nice guy…
on “Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read?” ↗Feersum Endjinn is great, but would recommend starting with other culture novels first.
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books?” ↗Feersum Endjinn isn't a culture novel, so "other" doesn't really apply. I like the rest of his works, but this is my actual favourite of his SF genre stuff. Plus it's relatively short and self-contained which is often…
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books?” ↗…and found it a bit meandering, like a few of the later books. It was good, but I definitely rate others above it. Excession, Player of Games and Use of Weapons are probably my top Culture novels. With Feersum Endjinn up there in his general SF work, though I must admit I've only read it once as I don't have a copy. Probably far too late for this thread, but lots of his non-SF work is amazing too. Though often dark…
on “The muscular imagination of Iain M. Banks: a future you might want” ↗