A superb standalone novel from the awesome imagination of Iain M. Banks a master of modern
science fiction. Count Sessine is about to die for the very last time...Chief Scientist Gadfium
is about to receive the mysterious message she has been waiting for from the Plain of Sliding
Stones...And Bascule the Teller in search of an ant is about to enter the chaos of the
crypt...And everything is about to change...For this is the time of the encroachment and
although the dimming sun still shines on the vast towering walls of Serehfa Fastness the end
is close at hand. The King knows it his closest advisers know it yet sill they prosecute the
war against the clan Engineers with increasing savagery. The crypt knows it too so an emissary
has been sent an emissary who holds the key to all their futures.Praise for Iain M.
Banks:'Epic in scope ambitious in its ideas and absorbing in its execution' Independent on
Sunday'Banks has created one of the most enduring and endearing visions of the future'
Guardian'Jam-packed with extraordinary invention' Scotsman'Compulsive reading' Sunday Telegraph
The Culture series:Consider PhlebasThe Player of GamesUse of WeaponsThe State of the
ArtExcessionInversionsLook to WindwardMatterSurface DetailThe Hydrogen SonataOther books by
Iain M. Banks:Against a Dark BackgroundFeersum EndjinnThe Algebraist
