The Little Dog Laughed

I suppose Look to Windward was sufficiently interesting to keep me reading to the end, but I can't say I'm impressed by it. Nothing happens. You can't keep the reader in suspense if you can't convince them the threat is real--and my suspicion that it wasn't was amply justified in the denouement--and if you conceal entirely any clues to the Big Reveal, it's just yeah? and?

Lots of skimming was done.

Also, the aliens? Not very alien.

I think this one could go to a charity shop with no feelings of regret on my part.

Iain M. Banks' Look to Windward. I've had a difficult relationship with the Culture novels, not helped by the first one I picked up opening with a character drowning in shit. I thought Player of Games was pretty damn good, but haven't been champing at the bit to read more. For one thing, it's hard to accept the Culture as the good guys.

However, this was cheap and it was there and so what the heck. So far, unimpressed. There doesn't seem to be much driving the plot and there's a lot of description and world-buildy stuff that I just find boring. Presumably it'll pick up when the antagonist (whoever that is) and the protagonist (whoever THAT is) finally get to be at least on the same orbital. Maybe?