The universe seems to be facing a chaos when the story starts because there is death and destruction all around. No one is safe and slowly everyone is losing everything that he holds dear. Planets have shattered in the war between the Idirans and Culture and there is still more to come. Both sides are now exhausted because of the constant war but they cannot put an end to everything unless one of them gets destroyed completely.
Between all of this there is one man who has his own agenda to fulfill. Horza is going on a solo mission to the part of the world which would result in his doom as well if he fails to get to his goal. Along with his men that are humans and machines, Horza is going to find something which Idirans and Culture are looking for.
That force which exists on a dead planet can put an end to the war without further damage but reaching it is the first difficult thing. Horza who is the Changer in origin wants to reach it before anyone else. There is also a serious threat that this could result in the death and destruction of the whole crew.
Author Iain M. Banks with Peter Kenny in narrator’s seat has created a book which is more twisted than The Player of Games and Use of Weapons. There are a lot of ambiguities in the story which get solved later on but the listener has to be patient during the whole thing. Development of the scenes is slow and this slowness actually creates the magic in everything present in the book.
