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Banks is heavy on the plot, the conceptual stuff sits more in the background. I wouldn’t think to compare it to The Dispossessed tbh.
That said, I enjoyed The Dispossessed so you can probably discount my opinion.
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Not very similar at all I wouldn't say. I really like The Dispossessed (and I'm not too bothered about the Culture series) but it's very heavy handed with the political messages. The Culture deals with it a fair bit more subtly and it's not the driving point of the narrative as it is in The Dispossessed.
On a related note, I've been re-reading the Earthsea series by Le Guin for the first time since I was a kid and I'm really enjoying it. Quite a lot darker than I remembered.
Eejit
ltc
@bothwell
I just read Ursula Le Guin's The Dispossessed and hated it.
People say "oh if you liked The Dispossessed you should read Iain Banks' Culture series!!!!"
I've had people recommend the Culture series to me independently of The Dispossessed and I thought it looked pretty great, but I've now seen it being recommended so many times to readers of Le Guin that its got me paranoid that it is actually like The Dispossessed and that I'll hate the whole Culture series.
People who have read both: how similar are they, really? Is there anything else the Culture series reminds you of that maybe I don't hate?
The reasons I hated the Le Guin are: 1. very boring; 2. very philosophy; 3. already read Conquest of Bread reh teh teh, and it's all well and good but what I really want is a novel, not a hectoring pamphlet :-(