This is my third or fourth Culture book, and probably the one I liked least. Basically (theme on all my dislikes) I didn't like the characters, even the protagonist. And his motivation of "this side of the war, I guess" just didn't really feel like it held up.

I think on a re-read I'd be less irritated by how the protagonist (admittedly, realistically) just lurches from situation to situation without any real overarching plan, but as with every other Banks book, I struggle to summarise the plot simply. A lot of things happen but their end relation to the plot on the cover is low.