Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?
This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.
Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.
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Notes -
State of the Art was pretty awful and threw me off bigly. The only story I liked was about that suit from the crash-landed guy.
If I were telling anyone else new to the series how to read it, I would say "skip it".
I do think it's a bit "overrated" as far as sci-fi goes. None of the books is going to change your life like some other 5/5 sci-fi, especially not the back half of the series. However, re-looking at the synopses for Matter/Surface Detail/Inversions/Look to Windward, I will say you still have some exciting books left. Hydrogen Sonata was a bit weaker, but still worth reading to complete things.
All that said, none of them are set primarily in the culture. If that's what kept you hooked, then be warned.
No love for Excession? That's got to be in my top 3 among the series.
I also loved Inversions, but IIRC it's about as far from the Culture parts of the Culture universe as you can get.
I found Look to Windward so uninteresting that I remember my annoyance with that better than I remember any of the plot.
Matter and certainly Surface Detail were both worth reading; perhaps better than Consider Phlebas, if you don't give the latter credit for introducing the whole universe.
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