/lit/ - Literature

This was my first Banks book and I dig the way this guy writes. When the prose needs to be purple, that shit is turned purple. Descriptions paint an accurate picture; I'm rarely left guessing or wondering what something is or what something appears as.

This story is about some future humanity living in what is essentially a gigantic megastructure on Earth, with rooms several kilometres high and tall. One room has an active volcano system; another has the 'capital' city shaped like a gargantuan chandelier hanging off of the ceiling. There is an underlying computer-like system that encompasses the entire planet and allows for humans to live eight lives apiece, although this particular anecdote doesn't feature heavily into the story. The story itself revolves around an extinction event coming to end life and the subsequent efforts of a handful of unknowning persons in an attempt to stop the Encroachment.

The characters are varied, ranging from an ex-count who wonders the desolate 'Crypt' (the world computer thing), a self-proclaimed Asura, and others. The one who grew on me the most was Bascule, who cannot spell so his chapters are him 'writing' phonetically. I'll include a paragraph out of one of his chapters at the end of this post. The chapters featuring Asura may have been my favorite content wise because its scenes are evocative and it learns how to be 'human'/interact with humans as it goes along from spawning into being to what it ultimately becomes.

Before I read this, I saw that it was a big inspiration for BLAME! and I can see that now that I'm finished. This book was essentially the driving force for the manga. Is there a genre title for "random niggas complete solo quests that culminate into some mega saving the world quest at the end?"