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The State of the Art
- Culture Series, Book 4
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 6 hrs and 20 mins
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The State of the Art
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Summary
The works of Iain M. Banks have forever changed the face of modern science fiction. With breathtaking imagination and extraordinary storytelling, they have secured his reputation as one of the most extraordinary and influential writers in the genre.
The State of the Art is the only collection of Iain M. Banks's short fiction and includes the acclaimed Culture novella of the same name.
From science fiction to horror, dark fantasy to twisted comedy, all eight stories bear the indefinable stamp of Banks's staggering talent.
The novels of Iain M. Banks:
The Culture series
Consider Phlebas
The Player of Games
Use of Weapons
Excession
Inversions
Look to Windward
Matter
Surface Detail
The Hydrogen Sonata
The State of the Art
Other books by Iain M. Banks
Against a Dark Background
Feersum Endjinn
The Algebraist
Critic reviews
'Banks is a phenomenon' William Gibson
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What listeners say about The State of the Art
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Nick
- 29-08-19
This is a fantastic listen.
Peter Kenny gives a bravura performance once again and Iain M. Banks' writing is superb.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 11-07-19
Beautifully read.
Loved listening to a favourite book. Listening to all the Culture books, it is like I have absorbed them for the first time. Fab.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Zotric
- 21-07-22
Great story poor reading
I find some of Banks' prose spoiled by over use of certain phrases or idioms and by over lengthy descriptive narrative as well as rather basic characterisations. For all that I love the Culture series, like the characters, like the way that issues challenge them (liberal world order anyone?) and I will not fault the story line.
what I take issue with is how the reader persistently amplifies the ironical and offhanded tone found in much of the dialogue. To some extent I believe the tone expresses attitudes as intended by the author, and I think such attitudes appropriate to the Culture's milieu. But the reader's intonation makes it constantly jarring. I think a slightly more sober reading would add to the overall effect.
Anyway I'm glad I listened as I work through the series. Excession is next.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- luke goold
- 13-10-20
A close look
Really makes you think what it is to be living and what our personal and social responsibilities are.
Peter Kenny is absolutely brilliant.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Mr. J. Young
- 25-07-20
Audio issue
The audio pulled me out of the story quite frequently because you can really hear that the guy is sitting inside a voice recording booth. He did a great job with his energetic readings, but the reverberation and echoes on the walls of the recording booth were distracting to me. The production company would do well to isolate his voice further by using a different microphone or checking his distance and gain.
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With only the one story being of any merit, you can go ahead and skip to the title piece in this collection of stories, or at least writing exercises.
State of the Art was interesting only as an Earth-focussed side note to the culture series, but incredibly basic and boring mild preaching about human nature. There's no real deeper challenge to your thinking, or captivating story elements that are sometimes presented through the stories of aliens within or beside the Culture.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Rabbit Stew
- 20-07-15
An interesting collection of stories
Any additional comments?
This works well as an introduction to Iain M Banks as its a little less daunting than some of his epics. It contains interesting and varied stories that explore his relationship with the wider world and the sf genre alongside the novella State of the Art. This is a good read (listen) as a standalone story but is better if read after Use of Weapons as it explores two of the key characters.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- A L C
- 05-02-17
Mixed bag, but brilliant narration
Peter Kenny is now officially my favourite narrator- this book shows he can adapt to many different characters' voices and he makes this book come alive. Liked reading it a lot before, but even more enjoyable to listen to!
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Tinram
- 04-03-22
Good but not his best.
A nice bit of backstory for Diziet Sma from Use of Weapons. Some OK short stuff, but Banks is better with novels.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Josh M
- 06-08-17
Culture Series (minor spoiler)
This is the first book in the series that was short, and I understand why. It was nice to get an insight into Earth.
Peter Kenny continues to be an amazing narrator but the story was a little less engaging this time around. I still very much look forward to the next book!
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Simon
- 08-05-18
Mixed Bag
Really worth reading/ listening for the Culture stories and altered perspectives of some of the shorts. The last 12 minutes is hard going and may sound better as a “12 inch dance remix” to quote a line.
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1 person found this helpful