The State of the Art Audiobook By Iain M. Banks cover art

The State of the Art

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The State of the Art

By: Iain M. Banks
Narrated by: Peter Kenny
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About this listen

From New York Times bestselling and modern master of science fiction, Iain M. Banks, The State of the Art is the acclaimed collection of Banks's short fiction.

“Banks is a phenomenon...writing pure science fiction of a peculiarly gnarly energy and elegance.”–William Gibson

This is a striking addition to the body of Culture lore, and adds definition and scale to the previous works by using the Earth of 1977 as contrast. The stories in the collection range from science fiction to horror, dark-coated fantasy to morality tale. All bear the indefinable stamp of Iain Banks's staggering talent.

“Few of us have been exposed to a talent so manifest and of such extraordinary breadth.”–New York Review of Science Fiction

“[Banks] can summon up sense-of-wonder Big Concepts you've never seen before and display them with narration as deft as a conjuror's fingers."–scifi.com

The Culture series:

Consider Phlebas

The Player of Games

Use of Weapons

The State of the Art

Excession

Inversions

Look to Windward

Matter

Surface Detail

The Hydrogen Sonata

©2024 Iain M. Banks (P)2024 Orbit
Anthologies & Short Stories Fiction Science Fiction Short Stories Space Space Exploration Space Opera Interstellar
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Critic reviews

“Banks writes with a sophistication that will surprise anyone unfamiliar with modern science fiction.”—The New York Times

“Banks never lets up in a dizzying array of characters, mind-bending ideas, and dazzling action.”—Booklist

What listeners say about The State of the Art

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

not the best of the culture novels.

read the other ones over this this entry in b the series. ok, but eh.

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    3 out of 5 stars

some good. some eh!

some stories not very good. probably not my best purchase. other full length books much better

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Terrible compared to the preceding books

Disappointing to say the least. Narration is great but storyline is all over the place and not in a good way.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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Great(but missing final chapter)

Great reading of a fantastic collection of short stories.. BUT the final chapter of the book is left out - which is a huge oversight as the final chapter is probably the most important offering in the whole book... it is in fact the whole reason I had pre ordered this when they announced it on Audible, so that is really unfortunate.

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4 people found this helpful

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Great read by a great narrator

I’ve always enjoyed this book and can’t thank Peter Kenny enough for the spot on narration - the Drone

ps. can’t wait to hear The Algebraist all over again!!

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Audio is too quiet

For some reason this book seems like it’s half as loud as normal. Even with my volume up all the way it’s hard to hear sometimes and sounds like the reader is practically whispering

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1 person found this helpful

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Finally

Can we get the rest of the Culture series now? The work itself is great, a short story collection.

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Brilliant

What can’t the imagination of Mr Banks encompass and expose? Superb narration as always by Mr Kenny.

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Short story format was great!

I wasn't sure i was going to like it, but definitely at the top with Banks other books.

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Awesome- now give us Excesion in US !

Excellent narration. Just waiting for all of the series to be available in the us - hopefully soon!

-the Drone

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