Whit

Review

The synopsis is the story’s protagonist is Isis, Beloved Elect of God (one of his very few female protagonists) who was born on February 29th. By nature of that fact she is the successor to her Grandfather as leader of the Luskentyrians, a Scottish cult. She is sent off into the wilds of England to try and track down her cousin who has renounced the faith. As this is a book about a cult written by Iain Banks this clearly sets off a series of events that will *sarcastic spoiler alert* SHAKE THE FOUNDATIONS OF HER FAITH!1! Mild spoilers with a censor at the end for real spoilers. So anyway, I think the book is really good. One of Banks’ strengths as a writer is world building. This is more on display in his SF but I think that without a doubt it plays a role in much of his mainstream fiction (Espedair Street comes to mind.) He uses world building to great effect here creating a view of a modern cult whit a narrator that believes wholeheartedly which rings true. Well, rings authentic, ‘true’ might be the wrong word when talking about an Atheist writing about a cult. Anyway… I enjoyed the book a lot. It starts as an adventure story or maybe a coming of age story. This being Banks DARK SECRETS become involved and you start to wonder where things will end up. The young woman from a rustic cult going to the big city angle works well especially as Isis brow-beats most of those she meets into assisting her. This makes the characters she can’t control that much more important. Throughout the book reading it as an atheist I was rooting against the cult as could be expected. I’d expect a good number of god-fearing Christians to do the same if for other reasons. However the reader is also rooting for Isis which creates some internal conflicts of interest that I personally enjoyed. In the end so I liked how the book ended. At some level I wanted Isis to burn the place to the ground, literally or figuratively both work. However I think the book ended well and open-ended (omg does Isis like the ladies?) which is the best in cases such as this. Isis’ role and the community’s survival seem secured. What Isis wants beyond the community is unclear, especially to her and that is okay, she is a young woman. My one complaint is that I thought Salvador's robbery in the past was a little unnecessary. The plot as written needed it but I think the book would have been better with something a little less dramatic.

Consumption history1

1. Oct 31, 2013

   Completed★ 4 / 5

   physical