Consider Phlebas was my third Culture novel after Use of Weapons and Player of Games. I very much enjoyed it, but definitely didn't enjoy the Island cult bit!
Its a acquired taste.. it was a fascinating insight though, into a luxurious, post-scarcity societies tolerance for extremes, as long as they all did what they did out of choice, not even a machine could overrule them.
I love, how the tragic choices of the "organics" are mirrored hinted as part of the PTSD of the orbital in "Look to the winward", which can "relive" the destruction of orbitals, ships and worlds in the idiran war in perfect detail. It could have zapped the mindstates of the mortals, like the meat-fucker (Sleeper Service), but choose to not do so out of respect for the choices.
The whole book part of the orbital, was a careful flashed out testing of the extremes of a highly hedonistic, machine governed society thrown in a "culture" war against religious zealots and it explored those themes well.
Reread, you are absolutely right. Shame. I mixed up a machine that is mostly engine and dioramas with a machine that is mostly brainscans and genocide-drama.
I love, how the tragic choices of the "organics" are mirrored hinted as part of the PTSD of the orbital in "Look to the winward", which can "relive" the destruction of orbitals, ships and worlds in the idiran war in perfect detail. It could have zapped the mindstates of the mortals, like the meat-fucker (Sleeper Service), but choose to not do so out of respect for the choices.
The whole book part of the orbital, was a careful flashed out testing of the extremes of a highly hedonistic, machine governed society thrown in a "culture" war against religious zealots and it explored those themes well.