The Blog of Lone

The Steep Approach to Garbadale

Author Iain Banks;
Publication date 05 October, 2007
Genre Fiction





Rating 3 Badgers Nick Cockayne November 30, 2007

‘The Steep Approach to Garbadale’ is Iain Banks latest fiction, and a book I’ve been looking forward to for some time.  The novel centres around the fate of Alban, a reluctant member of the Wopulds, a family whose riches are built upon the board game Empire!  As a crucial event in the future of the family business approaches so does the culmination of Alban’s personal growth and the revelation of some shocking family secrets. 
The book flits skilfully between action in the present and remembered scenes in the past which serve to put both characters and events in context without disorientating the reader.  Like all of Banks’ books the characters are wonderfully written, warmly imagined, and gifted with convincing personalities that make them inevitably likable.  Likewise Banks’ style of writing is humorous, humanitarian and uplifting; breathing energy into his subject matter and bringing both landscapes and scenes to life deftly.
All in all this should be an engaging and exciting novel, but somehow it never quite manages to hit the mark. 
The problem lies in the fact that, like Bank’s last novel ‘Dead Air’, the story lacks some of the imaginative edginess and twisted perspective that mark Banks’ earlier novels as a step above the rest of the market.  ‘The Steep Approach to Garbadale’ is entertaining in its own right, but for anyone familiar with Banks’ other fiction it strays perilously close to the much better ‘The Crow Road’ in both style and plot.  Whereas ‘The Crow Road’ shocks with its wit and vibrancy this latest novel feels a little flat in comparison and not quite up to Iain Banks’ normally brilliant standard.

A book well worth reading, but not quite up to Iain Banks’ usual standard of greatness.