[vnxli]

Are the Culture the good guys or the bad guys? I read Consider Phlebas first and felt such a whiplash moving into Player of Games or whatever the next one was. I want to like that series but I just can’t figure out if I’m rooting for bad guys or not.

[wannadingo]

The books are meant to make you question your own assumptions of what is good or right. I think what many people like about Banks is that he did not write simple morality plays. Iain Banks also wrote mainstream novels so you could say that he wasn't coming from the normal genre writer's perspective.

[Super_Jambo]

Banks likes twists. The Culture is his attempt at writing a viable techno utopia. Every other book has a more pro-culture viewpoint.

But if you're after 'good guys' and 'bad guys' Banks might not really be for you.

[arethuza]

Wasn't banks pretty clear that the Culture was his attempt to come up with a society that is as "good" as possible - if nothing else to provide a suitable employer for his supreme military genius (who I shall avoid naming).

Edit:

CNN: Would you like to live in the Culture?

Iain M. Banks: Good grief yes, heck, yeah, oh it’s my secular heaven….Yes, I would, absolutely. Again it comes down to wish fulfillment. I haven’t done a study and taken lots of replies across a cross-section of humanity to find out what would be their personal utopia. It’s mine, I thought of it, and I’m going home with it — absolutely, it’s great.

[vnxli]

I think that’s my answer. I like good guys/bad guys. There’s enough grey areas and anti heroes in real life. I want simpler fiction

[simonh]

By and large they're the good guys, or the least-worst guys anyway. Consider Phlebas is the weakest of the series IMO which is a shame as it's dealing with some interesting issues.

[elihu]

I interpret it as that they're mostly the good guys, but Consider Phlebas is written from the point of view of someone who opposes the Culture.

The main thing the Culture did that wasn't what I'd call a "good guy move" was destroying the orbital rather than allowing it to be used as a foothold by the Idirans. Basically, the Culture decided that winning was more important than holding the moral high ground.

[messe]

The Culture believe they are the good guys, and that they are mostly in the right.

[arethuza]

And they have the data to justify that position, even then they still run control experiments, which is where we fit in...

[ngvrnd]

neither/both