The Culture Novels

Banks creates a vision of a galaxy-spanning post-scarcity future that is unique, hopeful and somehow very comforting in its humanity. I was hooked in the early chapters of Consider Phlebas, though lots of folks in r/printSF seem lukewarm on this one. The Player of Games and Use of Weapons are probably better and more accessible starting places. For me, Look to Windward best captures the heart and soul of the Culture.

• Consider Phlebas, 1987 ✓
• The Player of Games, 1988 ✓
• Use of Weapons, 1990 ✓
• The State of the Art (collection), 1991 ✓
• Excession, 1996 ✓
• Inversions, 1998 ✓
• Look to Windward, 2000 ✓
• Matter, 2008 ✓
• Surface Detail, 2010 ✓
• The Hydrogen Sonata, 2012 ✓

Other Novels

• Against a Dark Background, 1993
• Feersum Endjinn, 1994
• The Algebraist, 2004
• Transition, 2009