Consider Phlebas

Started reading this very cautiously because everyone says that this is not a representative book of the Culture setting and also not too good, but I did find it enjoyable. A bit sluggish at times, and sometimes it felt like a series of short stories instead of a cohesive novel, but I did like it. I am yet to start reading the player of games, and maybe I change my opinion about this one, but I was fairly entertained throughout the book.

3 stars for worldbuilding in the first half 1 star for generic and cliche characters (especially female characters)

also (south park voice) "this is what tech accelerationists actually believe"

I guess I expected more… There’s one chapter (the eaters) that you can just skip completly imo. There’s been several times when I just wanted to stop reading (the eater-chapter and gendered stereotypes that continue to exist unchanged in the far future…), but I kept going for some reason and have not been rewarded.