Years have gone by since this attempt (so many books to read, I rarely revisit something that didn’t capture my attention immediately), but a friend recently told me to just skip Plebius and that he guarantees, knowing my taste, I’ll enjoy the rest immensely.
Any HN thoughts here on the series would be appreciated!
Look to Windward is a bit slow paced, but shorter than CP, and has a lot more about the Culture, and it has got a more nuanced emotional tone? It's a very well written novel, and the characters are ones you find sympathy with. It's the first Culture novel I read, and it got me into the series.
Excession is the weirdest in the series, written a lot from the POV of some ships, in a very weird style meant to sort of capture the inside of their thought processes. But it's good in its own way, if you can get into it.
Also it is very interesting that it is a space opera that, instead of focusing in grand scale events and high stakes storylines, it deals with a minor, mostly inconsequential and ultimately futile event.
Also I particularly enjoyed Consider Phlebas more than the 'following' book (player of games), so I do not agree about phlebas being "skippable".
I started with Look to Windward myself, and would probably have started with another if choosing again.
I’d personally start with the excellent Player of Games and go from there.
(Also skip Inversions)
I'd also suggest avoiding Excession until you've become familiar with the Minds. It's my favourite book, I think, but you lose a lot without having a little context.
If you like a bit of medieval stuff in your SF you might consider reading Matter.
I also very much like Surface Detail.
Once you understand it, the whole organization becomes very clear and no problem. If you don't know that, you'll struggle.
I love UoW, it's my favorite book (ahead of the superb Excession), but I haven't read all of the Culture novels.
Consider Phlebas is a terrible beginning (that I also endured), and the much-recommended Player of Games wasn't my cup of tea, either, though it's not bad.
Of the books, the two that manage to stand somewhat on their own as decent books are Player of Games, because what geek doesn't like a book about a planet where the government is based around whose best at board games, and Excession since it's the most Mind-heavy book, and frankly the Minds are Banks' most interesting characters.
This is one of the best qualities of his books. In me those hints trigger my imagination that creates awe inspiring images. I'd hate it if he flooded me with descriptions of everything.
Overdescribed worlds like Warhammer 40000 are uninteresting to me. It's like reading a history book, but fake (not that it makes it any worse).