Against a Dark Background [SPOILERS]

Warning: Contains spoilers of the book Against a Dark Background
throughout


I've read quite a few reviews and posts about AaDB, quite a few were
negative and most seem to think it was bleak.

The abrupt ending may have just been a stylistic tribute to the old
serials, but it seems like this book may have actually been intended
to have a sequel. The world that was developed was closed and self
destructing, but had two of the defining features of the Culture in
proto-form: freedom for machine intelligence and hints of radical
genofixing being a restricted or lost technology.

I can imagine that attempts to look for ways out of the Dark into the
populated galaxy would almost naturally lead to at least some faction
attempting to enter into a partnership with the AIs and androids. Who
knows what kind of government powers would be left after the war
(and possibly Geis's revenge) to oppose such a group. The idea that
this is the background of the Culture seems to lead naturally to the
idea of Contact and the Culture's well intentioned meddling with other
systems.

Viewed in this light even the title seems to hint that this self-destructive
system may have been the Dark Background against which which the
Culture was born. The competence and friendship shown by the Feril,
as well as the rare moments of Feril's internal dialogue are somewhat
similar to those of the SC drones in the Culture books.

I started to form this impression about halfway through the book and the
introduction of the android as a character just made it stronger - with that
attitude the book did not seem so bleak to me, although the abrupt ending
was a slight shock.

Jason M wrote:
 > Warning: Contains spoilers of the book Against a Dark Background
 > throughout
 >
 >
 > I've read quite a few reviews and posts about AaDB, quite a few were
 > negative and most seem to think it was bleak.
 >
 > The abrupt ending may have just been a stylistic tribute to the old
 > serials, but it seems like this book may have actually been intended
 > to have a sequel. The world that was developed was closed and self
 > destructing, but had two of the defining features of the Culture in
 > proto-form: freedom for machine intelligence and hints of radical
 > genofixing being a restricted or lost technology.
 >
 > I can imagine that attempts to look for ways out of the Dark into the
 > populated galaxy would almost naturally lead to at least some faction
 > attempting to enter into a partnership with the AIs and androids. Who
 > knows what kind of government powers would be left after the war
 > (and possibly Geis's revenge) to oppose such a group. The idea that
 > this is the background of the Culture seems to lead naturally to the
 > idea of Contact and the Culture's well intentioned meddling with other
 > systems.
 >
 > Viewed in this light even the title seems to hint that this
 > self-destructive system may have been the Dark Background against
 > which which the
 > Culture was born. The competence and friendship shown by the Feril,
 > as well as the rare moments of Feril's internal dialogue are somewhat
 > similar to those of the SC drones in the Culture books.
 >

I agree that it calls out for a sequel but Oh dear me no, its nothing to do
with the Culture. I think that is ruled out in Chapter 21. In the Orbit
edition it is bottom of page 402 and top of page 403: " For a distance that
was never less than a million light years in any direction around it,
Thrial - for all its flamboyant dispersion of vivyfying power and its richly
fertile crop of children planets - was an orphan."
The physics is all wrong. Travel times in the Culture galaxy can be weeks
or many months and a million light years is a huge distance in comparison.

 > I started to form this impression about halfway through the book and
 > the introduction of the android as a character just made it stronger
 > - with that attitude the book did not seem so bleak to me, although
 > the abrupt ending was a slight shock.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->