Dropped one star from the review during this re-read. The book was still good, but I couldn't help comparing Consider Phlebas to his later books and miss the more nuanced and intelligent touch those have. Even the ethics and psychology of the main event in this book, the war between Idirans and Culture, is discussed more thoughtfully in Banks' later books.

If you haven't yet read Banks' science fiction, I'd recommend that you do not start with this book, even though it is the first one he wrote.