The Steep Approach to Garbadale

Banks seems to put more energy and thought into his SF novels these days. While this is head and shoulders above such recent fare as Whit and The Business, it falls far short of his early work, especially The Crow Road, to my mind his best non-genre novel.

Centred around Alban McGill, prodigal relation of the Wopuld family who invented and own the Empire! game, and his life long infatuation with his cousin Sophie, the book has the usual Banksian flashbacks, all leading up to an EGM at the titular Garbadale House, where the Spraint Corporation seek to buy out the family.

There is some wonderful writing along the way, and Alban is a likeable enough protaganist but somehow the plot, although neatly tied up at the end, just didn't grab me. And unfortunately, towards the end, Banks gives in to his weakness for diatribes against American Imperialism.

So, all in all, an enjoyable read, but not one of his best. Roll on the next Culture novel!

The closest that he came to writing another family saga ala The Crow Road, but it isn't quite as good. The whole thing jumping back and forth through the lead characters life and the reults of his actions works really well, but the ;payoff in the final chapter feels a bit rushed and was reasonably obvious throughout the book anyway. I was actually hoping it would push the envelope a little further than it actually did. Still really enjoyed it, for books like this alone Banks will be sorely missed, let alone of the other stuff, especially the SF.