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The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks
01/02/2005 . Source: Pauline Morgan 
pub: Orbit/Times Warner. 534 page hardback. Price: £17.99 (UK), $42.00 (CAN). ISBN: 1-84149-155-1. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out websites: www.OrbitBooks.co.uk and www.iainbanks.net
Since Iain Banks burst onto the literary scene with 'The Wasp Factory', he has pursued a career with a dual personality. Iain Banks writes the kind of contemporary fiction that attracts the attention of TV film producers and gives us series such as 'The Crow Road'. Occasionally, they have surreal elements such as in 'The Bridge' where the multi-levelled railway bridge circles the world and may be regarded as an allegorical novel. But if Banks inserts an 'M' into his name, then expect to be transported, not just off-world, but into the far future. Many of Iain M. Banks' novels involve an interstellar civilisation known as The Culture. 'The Algebraist' is not a Culture novel but has many of the same characteristics. Events have to be viewed on a galactic scale and in a future where humans are only one of the space-faring races. Banks' aliens are highly inventive, looking and behaving very unlike the bipedal creatures that turn up in film or on TV.
In a galaxy-wide civilisation where star systems are connected by worm-holes, it is unfortunate that Ulubis has been cut of by the destruction of the portal. Because contact has been lost with the outside, it is not known within the star system if this is an isolated incident or a more wide-spread disaster as happened once before. Because of the structure of the narrative, the reader is much better informed. We know that there is a fleet of ships from the Mercatoria, approaching at near light speed with a replacement wormhole portal and engineers to install it. The Mercatoria is an alliance of races that co-operate peacefully for trade. There is also another fleet converging on Ulubis, lead by the Archimandrite Luseferous, a megalomaniac who delights in inventing excruciating tortures to punish anyone who dares annoy him. His intention is to conquest. Meanwhile, life continues around Ulubis.
Long ago, it was discovered that the sentient species could be divided into two types. The Quick are those races that live short (comparatively) frenetic lives, breeding rapidly and indulging in wars. Generally, the duration of their existence and impact on the universe is limited. Humans are Quick. Then there are the Slow species. They live far longer, do things at a slower pace and are less likely to be belligerent. This does not mean that they do not have the technology to defend themselves. On the contrary, they have had the time to develop very sophisticated technologies. They just don't like talking about it. One Slow species is the Dwellers. They can be found living in the atmosphere of most of the gas giants throughout the galaxy. Ulubis' gas giant Nasqueron is one of them.
Fassin Taak is human. He is a Slow Seer. His job is to talk to the Dwellers and persuade them to exchange information. He is successful because he is prepared to meet them in their own territory in person, rather than as an electronic passenger in a remote. This entails being immersed in a capsule totally cushioned by a gel which surrounds his body, inside and out. The capsule has to withstand the crushing atmosphere and be able to protect and nourish him for perhaps years during a dive.
During one of the early dives in his career, he was given a book which was instrumental in helping translate documents from dead cultures. Recently, though, a re-reading of it has thrown up a footnote which might lead to the discovery of the legendary Dweller List. This is supposedly a list of co-ordinates for the secret portals of the wormholes that connect Dweller solar systems. While some believe they exist, no-one has found them even though they have extensively searched in all the most likely places. Both the Mercatoria and the Archimandrite want the List. Fassin is sent down to try and locate it, using his Dweller contacts. At the same time, the advance wave of Lusiferous' fleet attack with a softening up strike and Fassin finds himself almost on his own, cut off from contact with the rest of the system. What follows is good space adventure - tension, battles and chases through space.
It would be a mistake to suggest that this is all the book is about as there are a number of sub-plots and side issues that distract characters at various points. There are also the detailed social structures of the other sentient races and we are never allowed to forget that they look, behave and think differently from us.
Pauline Morgan
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