Book description
It begins in the realm of the Real, where matter still matters. It
begins with a murder. And it will not end until the Culture has gone to
war with death itself. Lededje Y'breq is one of the Intagliated, her
marked body bearing witness to a family shame, her life belonging to a
man whose lust for power is without limit. Prepared to risk everything
for her freedom, her release, when it comes, is at a price, and to put
things right she will need the help of the Culture. Benevolent,
enlightened and almost infinitely resourceful though it may be, the
Culture can only do so much for any individual. With the assistance of
one of its most powerful - and arguably deranged - warships, Lededje
finds herself heading into a combat zone not even sure which side the
Culture is really on. A war - brutal, far-reaching - is already raging
within the digital realms that store the souls of the dead, and it's
about to erupt into reality. It started in the realm of the Real and
that is where it will end. It will touch countless lives and affect
entire civilizations, but at the centre of it all is a young woman whose
need for revenge masks another motive altogether. Iain Banks came to
widespread and controversial public notice with the publication of his
first novel, THE WASP FACTORY, in 1984. He has since gained enormous
popular and critical acclaim for both his mainstream and his science
fiction novels.
