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The novels of Iain M. Banks have forever changed the face of modern science fiction. His Culture books combine breathtaking imagination with exceptional storytelling, and have secured his reputation as one of the most extraordinary and influential writers in the genre.

''Banks is a phenomenon'' William Gibson

The "War in Heaven", a simulated war game, rages between civilisations. Its virtual battles have been fought for decades, and the victors will decide the fate of the digital Hells - torturous artificial afterlives with horrors beyond imagination.

In the Sichultian Enablement, Y''breq is one of the Intagliated, her marked body bearing witness to a family shame, her life belonging to a man whose lust for power is without limit.

As the virtual war threatens to spill into the Real, Y''breq is willing to risk everything for her freedom - but she''ll need the Culture, and its help comes at a price. The Culture is going to war with death itse