The Steep Approach To Garbadale - Iain Banks
As any fan of Iain Banks will probably have already gathered from the synopsis, there’s not a great deal new in The Steep Approach To Garbadale . It’s another family saga in the style of The Crow Road - one with hidden secrets, black sheep, unexplained deaths and illicit affairs that are left unspoken and buried in the past. Mixed in with this - since the family in question are the Wopulds whose family business has expanded from the ‘Risk’-like board game ‘Empire!’ to computer game derivations – you get some mild satire of the corporate affairs of The Business . Alas, although neither The Crow Road nor The Business are the heights of Banks’ output (not even of the non-M variety), if this new novel had even had a fraction of their limited wit and imagination, it wouldn’t be the slog it is. The plot is pedestrian stuff that is centred around the gathering of the Wopuld family at the ancestral home at Garbadale to consider an offer of a buy-out from an American firm, where Alban hopes ...