Consider Phlebas, by Iain M Banks
My first Culture novel, and the first in the series. The universe as set up is creative and wide open to future possibilities. The Idiran-Culture war makes a good backdrop for the plot, which is a straight heist/adventure even though it’s got an ending which questions the point of what the protaganist is trying to do. Drawbacks were the thin characterisation and a few detours to set-pieces that didn’t seem to advance either the plot or the characters’ development. The Palace of Light and the Eaters seemed like great concepts that just held everything up. I didn’t mind the introduction as much as some other reviewers - it seemed like a Bond movie cold-open to me.
I’m interested to see where the rest of the books in the series go - often the first in a batch isn’t representative, but I like the idea of the Culture and the Minds enough to see what happens next.
