Cultura Serie

Embárcate en un viaje a una sociedad futura, post-escasez, donde inteligencias artificiales gestionan una vasta civilización descentralizada. Esta serie explora las profundas cuestiones éticas y filosóficas que surgen cuando este avanzado colectivo utópico interactúa con civilizaciones menos desarrolladas. Prepárate para emocionantes aventuras y complejas exploraciones de la moral, la conciencia y la naturaleza misma de la existencia a través del cosmos.

Orden recomendado de lectura

1
Consider Phlebas
Iain M. Banks
3,9(81204)Añadir reseña
The war raged across the galaxy. Billions had died, billions more were doomed. Moons, planets, the very stars themselves, faced destruction, cold-blooded, brutal, and worse, random. The Idirans fought for their Faith; the Culture for its moral right to exist. Principles were at stake. There could be no surrender. Within the cosmic conflict, an individual crusade. Deep within a fabled labyrinth on a barren world, a Planet of the Dead proscribed to mortals, lay a fugitive Mind. Both the Culture and the Idirans sought it. It was the fate of Horza, the Changer, and his motley crew of unpredictable mercenaries, human and machine, actually to find it, and with it their own destruction. Consider Phlebas - a space opera of stunning power and awesome imagination.
2
The Player of Games
Iain M. Banks
309 páginas
11 horas de lectura
4,3(60543)Añadir reseña
In The Player of Games, Iain M. Banks presents a distant future that could almost be called the end of history. Humanity has filled the galaxy, and thanks to ultra-high technology everyone has everything they want, no one gets sick, and no one dies. It's a playground society of sports, stellar cruises, parties, and festivals. Jernau Gurgeh, a famed master game player, is looking for something more and finds it when he's invited to a game tournament at a small alien empire. Abruptly Banks veers into different territory. The Empire of Azad is exotic, sensual and vibrant. It has space battle cruisers, a glowing court-- all the stuff of good old science fiction--which appears old-fashioned in contrast to Gurgeh's home. At first it's a relief, but further exploration reveals the empire to be depraved and terrifically unjust. Its defects are gross exaggerations of our own, yet they indict us all the same. Clearly Banks is interested in the idea of a future where everyone can be mature and happy. Yet it's interesting to note that in order to give us this compelling adventure story, he has to return to a more traditional setting. Thoughtful science fiction readers will appreciate the cultural comparisons, and fans of big ideas and action will also be rewarded. -- Brooks Peck
3
Use of Weapons
Iain M. Banks
434 páginas
16 horas de lectura
4,2(42182)Añadir reseña
Special Circumstances had always been the Contact section's moral espionage weapon, the very cutting edge of the Culture's interfering diplomatic policy, the élite of the élite in a society which abhorred élitism. The man known as Cheradenine Zakalwe was one of SC's foremost agents, changing the destiny of planets to suit the Culture through intrigue, dirty tricks or military action.The woman known as Diziet Sma had plucked him from obscurity and pushed him towards his present eminence, but despite all their dealings she did not know him as well as she thought.The drone known as Skaffen-Amtiskaw knew both of these people. It had once saved the woman's life by massacring her attackers in a particularly bloody manner. It believed the man to be a burnt-out case. But not even its machine intelligence could see the horrors in his past.In this brilliant, multilayered book, Iain Banks explores once again the universe of the Culture, which he has previously visited in Consider Phlebas and The Player of Games. Ferociously intelligent, both witty and horrific, Use of Weapons leaves no doubt that Banks is now the outstanding writer of science fiction in Britain.
4
The state of the art
Iain M. Banks
224 páginas
8 horas de lectura
3,7(1434)Añadir reseña
The first ever collection of Iain Banks' short fiction, this volume includes the acclaimed novella, 'The State of the Art'. The stories range from science fiction to horror, dark-coated fantasy to morality tale
5
Excession
Iain M. Banks
4,2(27263)Añadir reseña
Two and a half millennia ago, the artifact appeared in a remote corner of space, beside a trillion-year-old dying sun from a different universe. It was a perfect black-body sphere, and it did nothing. Then it disappeared. Now it is back. 'Banks is a phenomenon ... wildly successful, fearlessly creative' William Gibson 'Thrilling, affecting and comic ... probably the finest science fiction he has written to date' New Scientist 'Banks has rewritten the libretto for the whole space-opera genre' The Times
6
Inversions
Iain M. Banks
393 páginas
14 horas de lectura
4,0(15494)Añadir reseña
The sixth Culture book from the awesome imagination of Iain M. Banks, a modern master of science fiction.
7
Look to windward
Iain M. Banks
4,2(1239)Añadir reseña
It was one of the less glorious incidents of a long-ago war. It led to the destruction of two suns and the billions of lives they supported. Now, eight hundred years later, the light from the first of those ancient mistakes has reached the Culture Orbital, Masaq'. The light from the second may not. 'Confirms Banks as the standard by which the rest of SF is judged' GUARDIAN 'In terms of sheer storytelling prowess and verve, Look to Windward is a work of genius' SFX 'A great book' NEW SCIENTIST
8
Matter
Iain M. Banks
593 páginas
21 horas de lectura
4,1(24099)Añadir reseña
Matter is a novel of dazzling wit and serious purpose. An extraordinary feat of storytelling and breathtaking invention on a grand scale, it is a tour de force from a writer who has turned science fiction on its head. --
9
Surface Detail
Iain M. Banks
4,2(584)Añadir reseña
When sex slave Lededje Y'breq is murdered by a politician on the planet Sichult, the artificial intelligence running one of the Culture's immense starships resurrects her so she can seek revenge. Meanwhile, the Culture is uneasily watching the conflict over whether to preserve virtual Hells for the souls of "sinners" or give them the release of death
10
The Hydrogen Sonata
Iain M. Banks
4,2(18962)Añadir reseña
The Scavenger species are circling. It is, truly, the End Days for the Gzilt civilization. An ancient people, organized on military principles and yet almost perversely peaceful, the Gzilt helped set up the Culture ten thousand years earlier and were very nearly one of its founding societies, deciding not to join only at the last moment. Now they've made the collective decision to follow the well-trodden path of millions of other civilizations; they are going to Sublime, elevating themselves to a new and almost infinitely more rich and complex existence. Amid preparations though, the Regimental High Command is destroyed. Lieutenant Commander (reserve) Vyr Cossont appears to have been involved, and she is now wanted - dead, not alive. Aided only by an ancient, reconditioned android and a suspicious Culture avatar, Cossont must complete her last mission given to her by the High Command. She must find the oldest person in the Culture, a man over nine thousand years old, who might have some idea what really happened all that time ago. It seems that the final days of the Gzilt civilization are likely to prove its most perilous.

Das Kultur-Spiel
Iain M. Banks
4,4(6)Añadir reseña
Zwei Kultur-Romane in einem Band Iain Banks, der Bestsellerautor von „Bedenke Phlebas“ und „Blicke windwärts“, schreibt Space-Operas, wie man sie sich nur wünschen kann – vollgepackt mit Action und Exotik! Dieser Band versammelt erstmals zwei seiner bedeutendsten Romane: „Das Spiel Azad“ und Einsatz der Waffen.