The Hydrogen Sonata

This is the last book in my favourite series. The end of the Culture, and what a swan song. This is a book that's melancholy and not sad and, with the context of Banks' life at the time, feels like one long philosophical take on death and the afterlife, or lack thereof. It's a wonderful read, one that I couldn't help but savour, and a wonderful, creative send-off to one of the greatest sci-fi series ever put to paper. It's profoundly sad to me that I'll never read another new Culture novel, but what we got is all phenomenal, and I'm glad that I got to read it.