has two careers: one writing contemporary literary fiction, and the other, as Iain M. Banks, turning out politically savvy science fiction. His new novel, Transition, brings the two together.
The book imagines a vast, secretive organisation known as the Concern that keeps a discreet stranglehold on human affairs. The central character, Temudjin Oh, is an assassin in its employ, who comes to question whether the Concern is, as it claims, dedicated to improving humanity’s well-being, or instead something altogether nefarious.
Science fiction elements are subtly introduced, weaved in with the characterisation and realpolitik, and it only gradually becomes clear just what a fantastical story this is.
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Banks deploys his usual complex structure, using multiple narrators, variously in the first and third person, and intricately nested flashbacks. In some of his books these structural gymnastics seem precious, but here they heighten the alien mood and help build the tension, leading to a nail-biting finale.
Transition may not be one of Banks’s very best, but it is thumpingly good.
Sci-fi special: The fiction of now
Little, Brown/Orbit