I've been stretching my literary tastes lately. I've never been the biggest fan of science fiction, but for reasons that remain obscure, I recently talked myself into buying a copy of The Algebraist, by Iain M. Banks. Banks' name rang a bell, which I took to be a good sign. Banks is apparently well regarded among sci-fi buffs for his Culture series of books. The Algebraist is not part of that series. Having read the book, I would say this unwonted detour into sci-fi left me eager to return to standard fiction and the more temperate climes of non-fiction. From my perspective, The Algebraist is a typical space opera, suffering from the big-ideas/small-plot/no-character-development syndrome.

What we have in The Algebraist is a troika of galactic superpowers warring amongst themselves. The Mercatoria, comprising the largest number of systems in the galaxy, is going great guns for complete hegemony, but is constrained by two smaller though not insignificant antagonistic powers. Fassin Taak is a youngish, promising Human Seer working on his third century of Dweller studies on the gas giant Nasqueron in the Ulubis system. The Dwellers are an unimaginably ancient species which inhabits gas giant planets, the individuals of which may live for billions of years. Radically alien to most other species in the galaxy, the Dwellers possess prodigious troves of scientific, historic, cultural and artistic knowledge from all ages and locations around the galaxy, and they allow a few members of select species to visit them and trade for information with their scholars. During one of his Delves with the Dwellers, Fassin Taak unknowingly turns up a snippet of information which attracts attention from the highest echelons of the Mercatorial hierarchy. The overlords believe that Fassin may have turned up a clue to the legendary system of wormholes created, maintained and used by the Dwellers. With their own network of wormholes slowly being repaired after widespread destruction, and a war on the way, Mercatoria desperately needs to secure the information, if it really exists. But the Beyonders and the rogue Archimandrate are prepared to be equally ruthless to get the information first, and they are bringing the war to Nasqueron on the chance the information might be there. Lowly Fassin quickly finds himself promoted and charged with getting information he doesn't believe exists, from a species he doesn't believe will cooperate, for the sake of a war he doesn't support, knowing that his home system will be the front line of battle.

So much for the plot. I haven't spoiled the ending in any way, but I could pretty much wrap up the entire narrative arc in another three sentences, though the novel runs to well over 500 pages. I realize that many fans of the genre have no problem with hundreds of pages of exegesis. But from my perspective, getting the reader into the imagined world of the novel is the real test of an author's abilities. I found the exposition plodding in the extreme, and Banks' fig leaf methods inelegant (e.g. Fassin went into slow time and meditated... followed by ten pages of Dweller history and cultural notes). I can see and sympathize with the challenges facing imaginative sci-fi writers. Though it's not my preferred genre, I could forgive a good deal of clunky explanation if the author would confine himself to what is truly necessary. But Banks, it would seem, has ideas to spare and not enough novels to cram them into. Some flights of fancy are not just poorly delivered; they are extraneous to the main story. It probably goes without saying that acronyms abound, propulsion methods are minutely described, and one of the bad guys (the oh-so-subtly named Luseferous) would bear a striking resemblance to Ming the Merciless if only Ming had been given a freer rein by the writers and allowed to moonlight on the pay-per-view porn channels.

Furthermore, Banks doesn't seem very interested in his characters unless they are arch bad guys with a penchant for creative sadism. The protagonist is a fairly static stick figure around which to hang the plot, and I never felt all that drawn to Fassin Taak. Banks does seem faintly aware that even fictional characters are supposed to have internal lives and personalities. To address this tiresome requirement, he provides a few pages of nonsensical and inconsequential dithering on Fassin's part. On a couple occasions Fassin's motivations make absolutely no sense in the context of the story. The author apparently couldn't find a good reason for the story to move in the direction he wanted it to, but didn't let that dissuade him from writing it that way. Banks also seems to think killing off characters right and left is another acceptable stand in for character development. The problem is that lots of dead characters don't make the readers any more invested in the outcome unless we've been given a reason to care about whether they live or not. Reading about the meaningless deaths of nameless thousands and a score of the supporting cast didn't cause me any anguish or impress me with the badness of the bad guys. It just made me think Banks likes lots of gruesome deaths in his stories. Way to go, Banks!

Conservative parents will likely want to keep this title away from the kiddies, as much for the liberally sprinkled profanity as for the brief sex scenes, and the post-monotheistic "religious" ideas. Readers with literary standards will want to give it a wide berth for other reasons entirely.


Recommended: No