As much as I enjoyed Excession, I thought Look to Windward was his strongest book. It tells a story that is set closer to the Culture and is less about its viol

As much as I enjoyed Excession, I thought Look to Windward was his strongest book. It tells a story that is set closer to the Culture and is less about its violent interventions into other civilizations; rather, it's portrays the consequences (moral, personal, etc.) of such interventions, and about the resulting trauma among those involved. Personally, I would rank Surface Detail, Consider Phlebas, and Use of Weapons higher than the others. I thought The Hydrogen Sonata had some fun parts, but was otherwise quite slight. Matter was good but also severely bloated, a bit like The Algebraist, with a long middle journey portion that felt unnecessary.