Talk:Inversions (novel)

Novels B‑class Mid‑importance

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Things this article needs

Details about edition(s) such as date, publisher, ISBN
References such as a link to a review

Elonka 15:36, 5 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Date is already there. Other details will follow. Guinnog 15:55, 5 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Okay. You may wish to check other book articles on Wikipedia (Stranger in a Strange Land, Starship Troopers, Flight of Eagles) to get an idea of possible format, as well as checking Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books or Template_talk:Infobox_Book for ideas. :) Elonka 16:27, 5 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Hard to be a god?

The plot of of the novel has several similarities with Hard to Be a God by Strugatsky brothers; but right now I'm having trouble finding a non-OR source (better than Amazon reviews etc.) for this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.229.159.15 (talk) 17:28, 19 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

New section

The new section on whether or not this is a Culture novel is a bit long I think. It's practically dominating the article for what is, essentially, a fairly minor point (that's not in dispute). The text that was there before connecting the novel to the Culture universe was plenty. My POV of course, but I think the new text is unnecessary article bloat. Care to discuss? --Plumbago 15:47, 11 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I agree. I slimmed it down somewhat. --Guinnog 16:23, 11 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Cool. But it's still like ~4 times as long as it needs to be. Although its author clearly took some time over it (and it's well-written), my gut feeling was to slim it down to, well, nothing. What was there already summed it up nicely (although I suppose a few points in the new text might be worth retaining). Cheers, --Plumbago 16:52, 11 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

LOL, yes I was tempted to do the same. But, as you say, it's quite good stuff. Maybe we can integrate the old and the new a bit more? --Guinnog 16:56, 11 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the kind remarks. Reading the phrase "Some have debated whether Inversions was a Culture novel", I thought maybe there was some dispute regarding this point, and probably went a little overboard trying to defend a view that doesn't need defending. My general feeling is that if a section on the question "Is Inversions a Culture novel?" is required at all, it may as well be reasonably comprehensive, however. Mujokan 05:55, 12 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Mujokan. You've won me over somewhat. The changes made have improved and shortened the section. Needless to say, I've been unable to resist tweaking it myself. Anyway, I think I'm alright with it now. It was just a shock all that text appearing at once! Cheers, --Plumbago 11:43, 12 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Plumbago. If you guys do decide to cut it down in the future, in my opinion the most "Culture-specific" references are the harback edition preface that capitalizes the word "Culture", the reference to "special circumstances", and DeWar's evident reluctance to use the word "culture". Also, I guess the stories DeWar tells are so close to Banks' other depictions of the "post-scarcity" economy of the Culture that any other interpretation would be somewhat strained. My two cents! Mujokan 07:38, 13 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Then again DeWar seems unfamiliar with projectile weapons. Remember he's suspicious of them but admits that UrLeyn used them effectively.. sounds more Luddite than futuristic sophisticate. Pez00 (talk) 00:59, 21 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I thought about adding a sentence mentioning that the torturers were killed in a manner strongly reminiscent of the knife-missile attack described in Use of Weapons, as that was what alerted me to the possibility of this being a Culture novel in disguise. I wasn't sure if it would just get deleted though. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.41.36.71 (talk • contribs) 22:13, 9 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Having just read this novel without reading any other Culture novels beforehand, I found this article helpful as it stands, setting the novel in the larger context of the series. - Fayenatic (talk) 19:20, 3 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I'm inclined to think that as it currently stands, this section of the article is essentially original research. It should be trimmed drastically to conform with WP:RS. --John (talk) 04:21, 11 April 2008 (UTC) (NB that I am also Guinnog from the posts above; I changed my user name)[reply]

I've done the deed. It saddened me as I pretty much agree with what I removed. Nevertheless, unless there was a valid source for it, we can't really have it. --John (talk) 03:13, 9 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps it's worth noting, I showed this book to a friend once who had never read a culture novel, and she didn't realize it was a science fiction book at all. Her best guess was that the woman was a witch who accomplished what she did through magic. So while the book is instantly recognizable as a Culture book to those familiar with the Culture, others can have a wildly different viewpoint. Maybe it's worth the extra detail. BobThePirate (talk) 19:48, 22 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Criticism?

This article could really do with a "Reception" section or something. Geez what an embarrasing installment to an otherwise flawless series. Pez00 (talk) 00:57, 21 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Rename

Seems rather clumsy. --76.253.6.158 (talk) 15:27, 7 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]