This was the first book I had read by Iain Banks and I do not see myself reading more in the future unless his storytelling style is dramatically different than it was in this book. 
 I found this book a very challenging read and almost gave up on it several times. The repeated shifts in time and location of the main character were sometimes confusing and did not always seem to add anything of substance to the story. I did like the explination and twist at the end despite that this book did not live up to the hype. If it had not been for the large number of positive reviews I would have given up halfway through.