By Ian M. Banks
For those unaware, Ian M. Banks Culture series is an author tract where he creates as a Utopian post-scarcity society and then runs simulations trying to poke holes in his theories.
In this book the plot device is the introduction of entity so much stronger are powerful than the Culture that they can’t even comprehend it or its motives. It’s like an isolated island tribe still in the stone age witnessing the passing of a modern Carrier Battle Group passing near their shores.
This book is special because a large part of the plot is the interaction of all the Culture minds. And what seems in the earlier books like a unified structure is actually a bit more haphazard with their own internal cliques. The Culture minds are definitely the best part of this book.
9/10, will read again.