The Steep Approach to Garbadale is the latest non-M Iain Banks. To me, it reads like a pretty exact cross-breed of The Crow Road and The Business. I like the Crow Road genes much better, for instance the contemporaneity (if there is such a word) of some of the topics. The Business is one of those books that left me with a feeling of “Was that all there was?” and a paranoia that maybe I missed some subtle level or trick because of linguistic problems… Not so with this one. The book is well rounded and mature, very readable and enjoyable. Contains even some current politics, which is very nice. There is a dark undercurrent of anger; climate-change, Iraq, global politics. Still, I have a small problem of finding things to identify with: the people are so rich and well-groomed.
It seems that Banks himself has done some greening by selling his sports-cars and buying a Lexus hybrid. I guess that means a partial re-interpretation of the liberal communist ideal that shines through Banks’ books.
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