Transition by Iain Banks Search Amazon for other books by or about Iain Banks. Rating: Reviewed by: John Walsh

Transition is the new novel by Iain Banks--not, readers might notice, Iain M. Banks. This is noteworthy in that Banks has over a number of years alternated works of science fiction (when he uses the "M") and mainstream fiction (albeit with some speculative elements) when the "M" is noticeably absent.* However, this is a story about people who can transition or flit from body to body across a multitude of parallel worlds, some of which are almost identical to our world and some are completely different, with continents still in Pangaea-like states and so forth. Inevitably, perhaps, this vital technology is kept under tight control by a powerful elite who use it to accumulate sufficient resources to maintain secrecy and as much luxury for elite members as they might reasonably expect. This elite calls itself the Concern and its operatives travel from world to world to undertake various dangerous and secret missions in the name of & well, this is the problem. Who is to say that the leaders of the Concern are in a position to determine who is to live and who is to die? In a universe in which torture has become widely accepted, the practice has spread and become the first or one of the first techniques employed by unaccountable security forces. This new status quo is supported by the Concern, one way or another, even if its operatives maintain the fiction that they are working in the interests of peace, stability and democracy. Since this is a Banks book, then, we can reasonably anticipate that there will be some dissidents aiming to bring down the system, plenty of sex, and smashed lives and bodies. He does not, as ever, disappoint in these respects.

If this is perhaps not the best book that Banks has written then he might be forgiven because he has written some excellent books. This one feels a little rushed, as if the author has been spooked by the financial crisis and its impact on contracts and advances for authors. Nevertheless, it has its moments and characters such as Mrs. Mulverhill are distinctive and enjoyable. The worldview is one which Banks has explored in previous works and he remains loyal to his opinions: humanist, left-leaning, and in favour of personal liberty. The writing is as lucid and witty as ever and the action skips along at an enjoyably brisk pace. This is a book that would be eminently suitable as a holiday book or one to take on a journey or just to enjoy in its own right.

* I note, from having just checked the link at Amazon, that the American edition of this novel lists the author as Iain M. Banks. My edition (which I bought here in Bangkok) does not.