From Publishers Weekly
First published in the U.K. in 1998, Banks's latest novel steps back from the usual grand scale and ultra high-tech of his well-known "Culture" SF series (Excession, etc.) to the intrigue-ridden courts of a politically fragmented world. In Haspidus, a woman named Vosill, a foreigner from the distant archipelago nation of Drezen, serves as personal physician to King Quience, in spite of social mores that treat women as little more than property. Vosill's servant--actually a spy reporting to one of Quience's trusted right-hand men--finds himself doubting his master's claims that Vosill is a danger to the king, even as he uncovers evidence that suggests that Vosill is much more than she seems. Meanwhile, across the mountains, the stern warrior DeWar serves as chief bodyguard to General UrLeyn, the Prime Protector of the Tassasen Protectorate. His close contact with UrLeyn earns him the distrust of UrLeyn's fellow generals; those loyal to UrLeyn fear DeWar himself could be the perfect spy and assassin, while others worry he will discover their own secret plots. As conspiracies unfold and loyalties shift dangerously in both lands, the story of Vosill and DeWar and their unspoken connection unfolds with masterful subtlety. Banks's new novel should further expand his reputation for creating challenging, intelligent stories full of notable characters trapped in complex situations that have no easy solutions. (Feb.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
A doctor's devotion to her king and to her profession embroil her in a web of court intrigue and murder as she strives to preserve the health and well-being of the king she has come to love. On the other side of the world, a general's bodyguard risks his life to protect his master. Interweaving a pair of separate but linked tales of devotion and treachery set on a technologically backward world, Banks (The Player of Games) demonstrates his considerable talent for subtle storytelling. Recommended for most sf collections. Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Banks' new thinking person's space opera takes place on an unnamed planet in what seems the universe of Consider Phlebas (1988) and other of his books. The plot involves an alliance of necessity, even desperation, between court physician Dr. Vosill, a woman on a planet that doesn't regard women highly, and DeWar, bodyguard of the potentate who governs another region of the planet. Collaborating enables them to advance their personal agendas, survive numerous enemies equipped with everything from daggers to lasers, and provide a thoroughly absorbing tour of a large swatch of their homeworld and its society. Banks' eye for detail and knack for suitable description remain sound; the planet's six moons are particularly well handled, making the place impressively alien. In particular, Inversions recalls such other distinguished essays in sword-and-spaceship as Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan saga and Margaret Weis' Star of the Guardians series, whose fans should find its appeal irresistible. Roland Green


From Kirkus Reviews
Another book that, despite a June 1998 UK hardcover and a May 1999 UK paperback, the US publishers somehow were unable to convey to Kirkus swiftly enough for a timely pre-publication review. (Publishers: For future reference, Kirkus reads English English and American English with equal facility, and understands other English variants too.) Here, Banks's near-ubiquitous Culture (Excession, 1997, etc.), controlled by super-smart artificial Minds, figures only at great remove. On a planet with a late-medieval culture, Doctor Vosill attends ailing King Quience as his personal physician. As both an outlander and a woman, Vosill attracts enormous attention, much of it hostile, none of it trusting, from the king's advisers and functionaries; indeed, Adlain, the king's guard commander, has ordered Vosill's assistant, narrator Oelph, to spy on her. The other narrative strand features bodyguard DeWar of distant Tassasen. By the nature of his task, DeWar trusts nobody in safeguarding Prime Protector UrLeyn, with the possible exception of UrLeyn's chief concubine, the Lady Perrund. Though Vosill and DeWar never meet, it turns out the two are connected. Both claim an exotic origin (origins more mysterious than anyone on the planet suspects, but not difficult for readers acquainted with Banks's previous yarns to figure out) and, more indirectly but more fatefully, through King Quience himself. Atmospheric, ironic, resourceful, and all the parts add upyet something sets the teeth on edge. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

On a backwards world with six moons, an alert spy reports on the doings of one Dr. Vosill, who has mysteriously become the personal physician to the king, despite being a foreigner and, even more unthinkably, a woman. Vosill hasmore enemies than she first realizes. But then she also has more remedies to hand than those who wish her ill can ever guess.

Elsewhere, in another palace across the mountains, a man named DeWar serves as chief bodyguard to the Protector General of Tassasen, a profession he describes as the business of "assassinating assassins." DeWar, too, hashis enemies, but his foes strike more swiftly, and his means of combatting them are more direct.

None trust the doctor, while the bodyguard trusts no one, but what is the hidden commonality linking their disparate histories? Spiraling around a central core of mystery, deceit, love, and betrayal, Inversions is a dazzling work of science fiction from a versatile and imaginative author writing at the height of his remarkable powers.

About the Author:

Iain M. Banks, one of the United Kingdom's bestselling authors of science fiction, has written such highly-regarded novels as Excession, Feersum Endjinn, Use of Weapons, The State of the Art, and Against a Dark Background. As "Iain Banks," he also writes mainstream novels, including The Wasp Factory and A Song of Stone. He lives in Scotland.

FROM THE CRITICS

Science Fiction Weekly

Inversions is extremely clever, yet not cynical. Perhaps the most audacious thing about Inversions is its optimism, its sense of hope and burgeoning possibility.

Publishers Weekly

First published in the U.K. in 1998, Banks's latest novel steps back from the usual grand scale and ultra high-tech of his well-known "Culture" SF series (Excession, etc.) to the intrigue-ridden courts of a politically fragmented world. In Haspidus, a woman named Vosill, a foreigner from the distant archipelago nation of Drezen, serves as personal physician to King Quience, in spite of social mores that treat women as little more than property. Vosill's servant--actually a spy reporting to one of Quience's trusted right-hand men--finds himself doubting his master's claims that Vosill is a danger to the king, even as he uncovers evidence that suggests that Vosill is much more than she seems. Meanwhile, across the mountains, the stern warrior DeWar serves as chief bodyguard to General UrLeyn, the Prime Protector of the Tassasen Protectorate. His close contact with UrLeyn earns him the distrust of UrLeyn's fellow generals; those loyal to UrLeyn fear DeWar himself could be the perfect spy and assassin, while others worry he will discover their own secret plots. As conspiracies unfold and loyalties shift dangerously in both lands, the story of Vosill and DeWar and their unspoken connection unfolds with masterful subtlety. Banks's new novel should further expand his reputation for creating challenging, intelligent stories full of notable characters trapped in complex situations that have no easy solutions. (Feb.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

KLIATT

The fantasy world of Tassasen is under attack by insidious nobles who want power. Woman doctor Vosill and bodyguard DeWar are each trying to protect the king and the protector general with integrity, but they must fight those same evil plotters. Neither Vosill nor DeWar are appreciated by the powerful, for they are mysterious and independent-minded. Chapters alternate between the two settings, and show how the protectors approache their dangerous task—and discover their own pasts. A sophisticated fantasy adventure of intrigue, this tale does a satisfactory job of character development. The setting itself is murkier, probably because the plot overrides other considerations. Readers will enjoy the suspense, and the final resolution of good overcoming evil. Recommended for older readers. KLIATT Codes: SA—Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 1998, Pocket Books, 376p., $7.99. Ages 16 to adult. Reviewer: Dr. Lesley S.J. Farmer; Lib. Media/Teacher Svcs., Cal. State Univ., Long B , September 2001 (Vol. 35 No. 5)

Library Journal