Blurb of the Week: Surface Detail

Welcome to the second to the second installment of these blurbtastic posts. This is an interesting one for me to . About a year ago I wanted to know more fanatasy so naturally I did what I had always done. I headed down to dymocks and had a browse. Now Iain m Banks has some pretty nice covet designs and coupled with my ignorance and tendency to rely on blobs I decided as I saw his long row of scifi books I was determined to buy one and try it. I'd base my choice on the blurb. I bought one and read it and was a bit disappointed so I returned nonetheless and got Surface Detail and below is the blurb that hooked me.

"it begins in the realm of the real where matter still matters

It begins with murder

And it will not end until the Culture has gone to war with death itself

Lededje Y'breq is one of the intagilated, her marked body bearing witness to shame, her life belonging to a man whose lust for power is without limit. Prepared to risk everything for her freedom, her release - when it comes - is at a price, and to put things right she will need the help of the Culture.

Benevolent, enlightened and almost infinitely resourceful though it may be, the Culture can only do so much for any individual. With the assistance of one of it's most powerful - and arguably deranged - warships, Lededje finds herself heading into a combat zone not even sure which side the Culture is really on. A war - brutal, far reaching - is already raging within the digital realms that store souls of the dead, and it's about to erupt into reality.

It started in the realm of the real and that is where it will end. It will touch countless lives and affect entire civilizations, but at the centre of it all is a young woman whose need for revenge masks another motive altogether. "

Story

I have to say reading this again reminds me why I bought this book. It does a great job eh? It shares with us that this is a complex story set in an interesting world where dead souls are kept alive in cyberspace and they're warring.

Then this is balanced against Lededje's story. It's a clever way to draw us into a story starting with an enticing hook then getting us to care about the protagonist and giving us some idea of this complex world.

The idea of the culture though vague is intriguing, who are these god like beings and what about that warship.

Target audience

I can't help thinking the people who designed the blurb were thinking of roping in as wide an audience as possible.

You can't deny the blurb makes you believe this will be an epic tale and One following the journey of Lededje who seems to be an example of that rags to riches story. Basically this appealed to me as a non-fantasy reader who loves stories like lord of the rings, but with the added bonus that it has some really cool stuff thrown in. It's in apace and the idea of cyberspace being a realm of dead souls appeals to anyone who loves high concept movies and films.

Style

Again this is painted epic. I think the most honest notes as to what the book is actually like are in the way the culture warship is described as arguably deranged.

The book itself is a lot more quirky than it gives away in the blurb. The style here is epic, but the book especially when it is in the world of the culture is very chaotic and kinda fun.

I have to admit the blurb and book dot marry for two main reasons for me. First Lededje while purportedly portrayed as the main character has very little stake say or even I don't think any understanding of the war being fought. The tragic story of those inthe cyber world fighting a war against the hells (cyber worlds established to be just that hell for any of the souls inside is completely removed). I think the way the blurb indicates the various thread of this book tie together is misleading. The plot is haphazard and the two main threads of the story are pretty disconnected and for me that was what let the book down.

Still it's powerful blurb hooked me in, so just goes to show how important marketing is for any book.

Anyway catch you next week for another weekly book blurb.