The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain Banks

The Culture Series have special place in my hearth. The player of the games is high on the list of best sci-fi I have ever red (maybe because I tried to play card games competitively). The hydrogen sonata introduces a new civilisation on the same level, or slightly higher than the Culture. The book follows their quest for ‚sublimation‘, event that moves the whole civilisation to some ephemeral great form of being. But things will get complicated as usual. It was a great read but I felt little bit disappointed when I finished the book. It felt like all the dead people and all the effort was for nothing . I would rate it as better than Thing of a Phoebes but worse than Player of the games or Use of Weapons.