[dcminter]

Feersum Endjinn isn't a culture novel, so "other" doesn't really apply. I like the rest of his works, but this is my actual favourite of his SF genre stuff. Plus it's relatively short and self-contained which is often a plus for someone new to an author.

Of the Culture novels, my favourite is Excession - but I can't see it appealing to someone who hasn't already read any of the others.