#110 Outside context problem: Excession (1996) by Iain M. Banks

Winner of the BSFA Award for Best Novel, Excession (1996) is the fourth novel in Iain M. Banks ever-popular Culture series of SF novels. In this entry, the awesome power of the post-scarcity Culture civilisation is challenged by two linked threats. One is the increasing aggression of a cruel species, the Affront. The other is the emergence of a vast and mysterious structure, the Excession. 

On one level a classic "big dumb object" story, Excession explores previously unseen elements of the Culture setting - not least the workings of its super-intelligent AIs. 

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