A standalone 1993 science fiction novel from Iain M. Banks, Against a Dark Background is the story of how Lady Sharrow and the remaining members of her military squad recover the last Lazy Gun before a religious cult kills her to fulfill a prophecy that will allow their messiah to come.
Banks sets this tale just a few years prior to the celebration of 10,000 years of human civilization on the planet Golter, though he makes little of this and the people–limited to the planets and moons of their solar system–seem to know nothing of Earth and think they originated on Golter. They aren’t particularly longlived nor do they seem to have passed through any technological singularity. This seems odd to me, as a literary element, but otherwise doesn’t detract from an excellent book.
As with The Algebraist Banks creates a hugely imaginative tableau and a plot that requires all of it. Golter itself is a huge world, reminding me of Robert Silverberg’s Majipoor in breadth and variety, but the true wonder is on a distant planet called Miykenns.
The not especially small world is home to a plant, a single living thing, naturally born/evolved (i.e., as far as these folks know, humans had nothing to do with its creation) named Extraxrln. This plant is over two million years old and spans several continents and oceans, so huge that after humans developed space flight they built cities and villages within and underneath it.
Sharrow, of course, is smarter than any 28 year old could really be, and her opponents, including one who’s managed to stretch his own lifespan to over 400, far less so. I can’t imagine any of you will be surprised to learn that she manages to survive all the traps and travails, and I don’t think it matters. What does is the meal of adventure we follow, and Dark Background is a sumptuous banquet.
recommended
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