Not totally related, but I wanted to make a question. Iam sure this post will host quite a lot of Culture fans. With which novel should I start with The Culture? The main two candidates are Consider Phlebas and The Player of Games.

Consider Phlebas is an incredibly boring book imo, would not recommend it unless you get way into the series and want to read them all. The Player of Games is great, was engaging throughout and had interesting characters. I would start with that one personally (or another book, but I've only read those two so I can't speak to the rest of the series).

Player. It's slow for a short bit with culture in references until he gets airlifted. Then gets interesting dumping you into convos with intelligences and then the games and court drama. I actually don't recall plebias. googling it reminds me it nay be the one with an unmanned snowpiercer. i remember that not as good.

i like the culture books but they suffer sometimes from jumping unreoated viewpoints, mental instability, and sprawl sometimes.

player is tighter and doesnt jump. probbably a better entry.

sorry auto corect and swype tuened off mid post so speley misteaks

The upside of starting with Consider Phlebas is that the story doesn't really take place within the Culture. It provides you with an outside perspective. It also sets up some things that are referenced in later books.

The downside is that it's quite a bit different from (and imo a bit worse than) the other books and could mislead you about what the series is like - or even turn you off entirely.

If you're already committed to reading the entire series, I'd start with Consider Phlebas. If you're unsure, start with The Player of Games.

I thought Consider Phlebas was very good but a depressing book. I keep hearing Player of Games is awesome, so maybe that?

My first was Use of Weapons and I always recommend that one.

And the second one is "Inversions" But those two are probably fine firsts. Mine was "use of weapons".

Look to Windward.

It’s a very human story, and the technobabble intervenes very little in it. It also has the most connection (of the Culture novels) to our world, being largely a meditation on the first Gulf War. This makes it the most approachable, in my opinion.

It is technically a sequel to Consider Phlebas but the connection is almost nonexistent, no prior knowledge of the Culture-Idiran war required.