Transition Paperback – September 15, 2010

I enjoy Iain M. Banks' writing very much, but I have issues with this book - there is what appears to be a serious internal inconsistency, plus a surprising moral hole in the story.The basic premise is that "transitionaries" working for "the Concern" flit their minds from their home world into the bodies of persons in various other Earths of the multiverse. The transitionary takes over the body (shutting down the mind, apparently), and uses it to accomplish whatever task the Concern has set, often including murder. Task done, the transitioner flits back home, leaving the poor sap whose body was used to deal with the consequences.The transitionaries send only their minds (along with their flit-inducing drug, or, with great talent and effort, a somewhat larger object such as a gun). They cannot send their own bodies; they must find a host-body in the target world. And yet, partway through the book, we find Our Hero (Temudjin Oh) and the cat-eyed Mrs. Mulverhill hot-tubbing on a world on which all life has recently been exterminated. Hello? Whose bodies did they find on a sterile world? Now, Mrs. Mulverhill has many interesting talents, and Oh develops some special tricks of his own, but if their talents included bringing their own original bodies from world to world, I missed it. And in any case, this sterile world is described as "a place where privileged officers of the Concern could holiday," so it's not just Oh and Mrs M. who go there. This is so peculiar and inconsistent that I wonder if Banks is poking us in the eye, although if so I don't get the point. Perhaps we are supposed to remember that Oh (as Patient 8262) describes himself as an unreliable narrator at the beginning of the book. If he's unreliable enough to matter-of-factly describe a lengthy episode that is entirely impossible, it calls into question everything he says in the entire book. But if we're simply supposed to wonder if anything is true, I still don't get the point.I was also bothered by the book's failure to deal at all with the plight of the hosts whose bodies the transitionaries use. Oh brings up the issue, and then drops it. This is peculiar in a book that includes an extensive and impassioned attack on the morality of those who use and justify torture. Surely using somebody's body to commit a murder, and then leaving that somebody bloody-handed for the local police to find is savagely immoral, if not quite the same as torture -- and such misuse of others happens every single time a transitionary travels. Yet Oh, and by extension the author, seem no more than mildly curious about the damage and fear the hosts must certainly suffer. (I know; it's a story about the transitionaries, not about the hosts -- but a story that explicitly takes strong moral positions, yet ignores this apparently central moral issue.)To close on a more positive note, I need to mention a subplot - the question why, given an infinite series of Earths, no aliens seem ever to have shown up from anywhere. Perhaps, it is suggested, they might be here as (hidden) tourists watching something unique to Earth; i.e., a total eclipse of the sun, with the sun's corona showing around the edge of the moon. I loved the hints that Mrs. Mulverhill may be an alien, or part alien. I picture her looking for her alien father or grandfather during a total eclipse in Tibet, shortly after she kills Madame D'Ortolan on the train to Lhasa.Read it, but not if you're a stickler for consistency.

It was well written, with interesting characters, obfuscated narration, clever tricks, flash forwards / backwards / sideways and the sort narrative twisting that reminds me of Use of Weapons. In short, it was a very Iain M Banks novel. He's a fan of complex ideas and complex narratives. To claim that his leftist politics are too intrusive on the story, well, I guess you haven't read many of his other books - he's rarely shied away from making a pointed remark in that direction.My only problem, or complaint, is that it just isn't that well thought out. It's made clear early on (and in several other reviews) that this is fundamentally a Many Worlds idea. Unlike, say, the 1950s Sci Fi efforts of multiple dimensions and alternate earths, this narrative uses an interpretation of modern physics writ large by Brian Greene. For a particle in some quantum state, it may end up in state A or state B - completely at random. Many Worlds is an interpretation of quantum mechanics that says that both of these outcomes are valid and, in fact, occur - there are infinities of universes constantly splitting and spiraling off from each other in countless number, from every little event, even, say, the decay of a radioactive element deep within the crust of the Earth (or some other planet, even). Most people tend to misunderstand this idea and instead ascribe the splitting of universes to individual, conscious choices they make - not really thinking about all the infinities that precede that choice (or if indeed there is such a thing as choice!) or, even taking the idea at its face, thinking about all the choices being made all the time by all the people, animals, insects ... anyway, its an enormous landscape of infinities.Within this interpretation Banks crafts a framework of travel across these infinities, and a group that attempts to improve the state of the world(s). To his credit he addresses briefly the futility of it all - why try to improve the outcome of this one version of reality when there are always an infinite number where they are not improved? What about the infinities of worlds where your efforts have made it worse? The argument presented in the book is basically "even though hopeless, we have to try" - almost a Spiderman like appeal.But the main sticking point for me is within this framework he asserts a sort of unique point of view which we might call the spirit or the consciousness of the transistioner. It is this "mind" or "soul" which moves, and it goes to inhabit some other body (what happens to the displaced?) for a time but it might come back "home" at some point, or even more confusingly, to the "unique" home reality of the Transitioning Concern. As the book actually points out, once you take any kind of belief in the many worlds, and some kind of transfer between them, any idea like solipsism is immediately suspect - but this includes the entire premise of the book, this unique points of view which are the characters.I have a lot of respect of Iain Banks and his skills, so I believe that this must have occurred to him - perhaps this is why the first line of the book is basically "I'm an unreliable narrator". But I think he was too in love with some of the ideas to come up with a solution. For me, it put a sizable damper on my ability to lose myself in the story - I kept scratching my head and saying "but what?" and hoping that in the end it would be addressed or resolved somehow.On the whole, still enjoyable, but I would say : if you like the idea of contemporary settings and large global conspiracy, read The Business. If you like really twisting narratives and dark twists, read Use of Weapons. Both are better than this effort.

Iain Banks blew my mind - again! I usually read and enjoy his sci-fi (published as Iain M. Banks), but I've found his "mainstream" books difficult to follow. This is probably because I can't relate to his Scottish/European reference points. I had no such problem this time! I admire his ability to conjure up imaginary, non-existent locations and situations into my mind, twisting them into believable configurations and weaving them all into a gripping narrative that leaves me intellectually satisfied. This book should have been published under the Iain M Banks sci-fi sobriquet.

Although I’m a big Iain Banks fan, I struggled through this novel. The plot is complex and the key characters are all cyphers. There are parts where the author’s customary brilliance shines through, particularly in the nonsensical ravings of a madwoman. An interesting concept but told too cleverly. Only for truly hardcore fans,

This is meant to be Iain Bank's crossover book, mainstream fiction (no 'M.') but using the SF apparatus of multiple worlds. A secret organisation 'The Concern' runs a policing operation across the infinite universes, intervening by any means up to and including assassination and torture.The hero is an accomplished assassin who begins to have doubts about the motives of The Concern. He is wooed both by the leader of The Concern's council and by her rebellious antagonist. There is much sex.Who has right on their side? Which way will the hero jump? How will it all end up? The novel starts in typical Banks fashion: bottom-up with numerous story lines which make no sense. There's plenty of back-story for the main characters, much of it told achronologically. Yes, it's an intellectual puzzle to read this book and it only really gets exciting towards the end.Many reviewers disliked the book, feeling it was shapeless, self-indulgent, arbitrary and perhaps pointless: I disagree. 'Transition' certainly demands quite a lot of the reader to internalise events and bios whose significance won't become apparent until much later, but it rewards the effort. As you reach the last page, turn immediately to the first chapter which you will now understand.I particularly agreed with Bank's views on torture. He's too intelligent not to know that torture sometimes works. But he also sees how corrosive judicial torture is on any civilized society. So his minor character who 'successfully' tortured a terrorist (and was lauded for it although the details were hushed up) has a conscience-induced breakdown and demands to be prosecuted for his crime, stating that if torture is ever used, even to prevent a great crime, its use is nevertheless also a crime and it must always be punished.

14 years ago, I read "Complicity" by Iain Banks. It's a darkly comic novel about a journalist who is drawn into investigating a series of bizarre (and graphic) tortures and murders. So began my love of Banks' general fiction. (For those who don't know, Banks writes contemporary fiction as Iain Banks and Science Fiction as Iain M Banks).I followed up Complicity with The Wasp Factory (Bank's first novel, and a very highly recommended read) and gradually worked through the rest of his books. Having caught up and read them all, I'm now re-reading them, slotting in his new works as they come. And so to Transition...My anticipation for this book was tempered with some trepidation. Banks' last two fiction books - 2002's Dead Air and 2007's The Steep Approach to Garbadale had failed to impress me. The latter was particularly disappointing as advanced publicity seemed to suggest he was back on form. Had the magic touch deserted Banks for good, or could he produce something in keeping with his reputation?Transition is set on a series of parallel worlds, all of them earth-like, some more developed than others. An organisation known variously as The Concern or l'Expedience has discovered and harnessed a drug-induced ability to "transition" between these realities. As many of the realities are slightly more developed versions of others, the effects seen on the leading Earths can be averted by changes in a lagging versions. The Concern exists to manage these benign interventions.At least, that is the message given to those in "Open" worlds where most people are aware of the multiple realities and existence of The Concern. Those in Closed worlds have no such awareness and are therefore at the whim of the decisions of the central council.The novel revolves around a power struggle between Madame d'Ortolan and Mrs Mulverhill. d'Ortolan is the dominant figure on the council and has her own ideas about the purpose and intent of The Concern. Mulverhill was a senior member in the Transitionary Office who feels The Concern has gone to far. The central narrator is former pupil of Mulverhill's who acts as a Transitionary acting on orders from the council. His interventions range from saving lives to taking lives.As with some of Banks' best works, he is not afraid to play around with the conventional structure of a novel. The story is told through a series of different narrators, who by turns advance the story and relate the history of the concern and the central characters. Gradually these come together, although as with the best books and films, there are still some questions at the end.So, what did I think? Well, it isn't the perfect novel; there are some ideas that are introduced and not developed - one of the realities is in the grip of a threat from Christian Terrorists. There are also, perhaps, too many narrative strands. The character of Adrian, who is in some ways a standard Banks' character, could have been introduced through the narrative strand of Mrs Mulverhill, for example. While it does have flaws, though, none of these are fatal.Overall, it is an enjoyable read set in a series of strange, yet often familiar, realities. Once the book establishes it's rhythm of alternate narrators, it is also an easy read (albeit with some uneasy passages). While some of the political and social issues may not be explored fully, the book does, ultimately, have a satisfactory feel of justice prevailing.When I read a novel, I would normally decide on completion whether it is a book I would want to re-read, and therefore keep, or whether it is bound for Oxfam. Had this been a novel by any other author, I suspect I would keep it, which is not something I'd have said for either Dead Air or The Steep Approach to Garbadale. On that measure, therefore, I am happy to recommend it.Where does it come in relation to Banks' other work, though? Well, laying aside the question as to whether this belongs in the Iain Banks or Iain M Banks canon; I think it's his best book since A Song of Stone, and possibly earlier. It's certainly an easier read than A Song of Stone, which is written entirely in the third person.

I read the reviews of this book before buying it and was a little put off by them. However as Iain is no longer with us, it was my last chance to read one of his amazing SF novels and I am so glad I did.The opening is a swirl of different characters that coalesce into a riveting story of an organisation ('The Concern') operating in a multiverse where they are interfering in different timelines to steer the total civilisation. I will mention no more of the plot to avoid spoilers but the ideas, characters, plot and pace are everything you would want. It left me wanting more - much more.Bravo Iain, you are sadly missed.