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Transition

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Transition

By: Iain Banks
Narrated by: Peter Kenny
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Summary

 A world that hangs suspended between triumph and catastrophe, between the dismantling of the Wall and the fall of the Twin Towers, frozen in the shadow of suicide terrorism and global financial collapse, such a world requires a firm hand and a guiding light. But does it need the Concern: an all-powerful organisation with a malevolent presiding genius, pervasive influence and numberless invisible operatives in possession of extraordinary powers?

On the Concern's books are Temudjin Oh, an un-killable assassin who journeys between the peaks of Nepal, a version of Victorian London and the dark palaces of Venice; and a nameless, faceless torturer known only as the Philosopher. And then there's the renegade Mrs Mulverhill, who recruits rebels to her side; and Patient 8262, hiding out from a dirty past in a forgotten hospital ward. As these vivid, strange and sensuous worlds circle and collide, the implications of turning traitor to the Concern become horribly apparent, and an unstable universe is set on a dizzying course.©2009 Iain Banks Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction Thought-Provoking Nepal
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Critic reviews

Wildly imaginative... A corker of a thriller, a classic good versus bad tale, and one which the author uses to tackle some seriously big moral and philosophical issues - but always in his typically light-handed and darkly humorous fashion... A book that makes you think, one that makes you look at the world around you in a different light, and it's also a properly thrilling read
Transition is Banks at his exuberant, flamboyant, head-spinning best
Iain Banks is gifted with wonderful fluency and dizzying imaginative flair
A labyrinthine tale of great conception and craft... A memorable array of characters... Transition is awash with energy and dark wit
Brilliantly compulsive
Baroque, digressive, kinetic, teeming with big ideas and grand theories, it's a novel to get lost in... gripping
A highly readable and engrossing sci-fi thriller
An engrossing, futuristic fable with plenty to say about the here and now
One of Iain Banks's most imaginative and compelling novels yet
** 'Baroque, digressive, kinetic, teeming with big ideas and grand theories, it's a novel to get lost in . . . gripping
** 'Stunning . . . tackles the issues of the responsibility of power, the moral implications of intervention and even the philosophical conundrum of what constitutes life itself. If only more contemporary fiction were like it . . . A book that makes you l
** 'One of Iain Banks's most imaginative and compelling novels yet
All stars
Most relevant
Greatvstory, well read. A real combination of both Iain Banks and Iain M Banks. Such a shame there won't be any more...

A great combination of both his genres

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Interesting and very different but not up to the standard you normally get from Banks. Just a bit to way out.

Below Par

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Loads of twists, turns and fascinating settings. More of a sci-fi than the usual Iain without an M Banks. The book has been unfavourably reviewed by the Guardian and Telegraph but if you like Banks you'll enjoy it. I agree with Doug Johnstone in his review in the Independent that it's a properly thrilling read. Narration excellent except for Adrian's slightly dodgy Londoner accent... but then I suppose he reveals himself at the start as a faux barrow-boy.

Love this book. One of my favourite Iain Banks

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My first Banks audio book. I was not let down in any way with this offering.. Did the book justice in every way. Consider Phlebas next!

The narration was just brilliant.

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The combination of Iain Banks / Iain M Banks and Peter Kenny never fails to impress. Totally original writing and flawless Voicework make this a must listen.

Absolutely brilliant

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