Against A Dark Background: Iain M. Banks

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On reading the epilogue, it seemed less likely that there would be one (and less necessary, too); on checking the internet a bit further, I guess I'm done with that. Sharrow still suspected these theories were wrong and the explosion had been the Lazy Gun's work, but there was no easy method of proving the matter either for or against, and she wasn't sure that it really made much difference anyway. As the novel opens the Huhsz are on the verge of gaining the right to legally hunt Sharrow down and kill her.

That may well happen in this book but I have no idea what has happened so far as the book is very disjointed. They are conveyed to a desert stronghold and are presented to a man named Molgarin, who claims to be immortal.Despite the fact that Sharrow was constantly on the run and being hunted, there was no sense of urgency about the chase at all; the sub-quests that she and her team embarked on seemed somewhat artificial; a set of twins who constantly shadow and manipulate her are annoying rather than mysterious; and you can figure out who the Big Bad is without much trouble. Single Line of Descent: Sharrow is the last of the female line of the Dascen family, which the Huhsz cult has pledged to wipe out.

Through all this passes Sharrow - hunted by religious extremists and looking for the legendary last Lazy Gun. A very entertaining read, but despite some meaningful reflections, they are lost in the background, so after finishing it you are left almost as you were before. Sharrow met her True Companions while serving in one such conflict: the Five Per Cent War, which was apparently fought over a tax hike. It's a book that begins like a light-hearted sci-fi actioner (albeit salted with darkness from the memorable prologue onward) and ends in a nihilistic explosion of death, loss, and recrimination.For some reason this just feels disjointed and I've found myself having to rewind parts because I feel like I've missed something. The little girl skipped along the floor as they walked towards the exit, swinging this way and that on her mother's arm.

The Man Behind the Man: Sharrow and her friends journey across the face of Golter and beyond, only to find the true puppetmaster behind all their troubles is none other than Sharrow's cousin Geis. Science Fiction and Fantasy is becoming increasingly popular within mainstream readership and Orbit is at the forefront of the action, staff in hand. He related his concerns about the invasion of Iraq in his book Raw Spirit, and the principal protagonist (Alban McGill) in the novel The Steep Approach to Garbadale confronts another character with arguments in a similar vein.

Her hands looked different too, it thought; the skin there appeared harder, as though whatever she did now, it involved working with her hands.