The Hydrogen Sonata

The Hydrogen Sonata
Author		Iain M. Banks
Publisher		Orbit Books
Publication Date		4 October 2012 (UK) 9 October 2012 (USA)
Page Count		528
ISBN		978-0356501505
[Source]

The Hydrogen Sonata is Iain M. Banks' ninth novel in the Culture series, and, due to his passing, also the last.

“	I was lying on a sort of bubble-bed wotsit at the side of a large swimming pool, in the sunlight at a spa complex called Archena, in southern Spain, in October 2011, thinking about an edition of QI I’d seen a week or two earlier, in which Stephen Fry had mentioned something called The Great Disappointment. Bang; the plot of The Hydrogen Sonata just unfolded in my head.	”
–Iain M. Banks , Orbit Books 25th Anniversary Interview

Synopsis

The Hydrogen Sonata is about the Gzilt, a civilisation that almost joined the Culture 10,000 years before the novel, that have decided to Sublime, leaving behind “the Real” to take up residence in higher dimensions. The Zihdren-Remnant, what is left of an older species that Sublimed before the Culture was formed, send an envoy to confess a long-kept secret before the Gzilt depart but a Gzilt warship intercepts and destroys their ship several weeks before the Sublimation is due to take place in order to preserve that secret.

The story follows a group of Culture Minds that are trying to find out the secret and what to do after they find it. The search centers around a truly ancient Culture citizen (Ngaroe QiRia) who is supposed to have taken part in the setup of the Culture some 10.000 years ago.

Artefacts etc.

• Antagonistic Undecagonstring, an eleven stringed musical instrument, designed to be played by a humanoid musician with four arms
• Aphore, an animal a human can ride, analogous to a horse
• Apranipryla, a giant raft, on Perytch IV, capable of storing a body, in a usable state, for decades
• Book of Truth, aka BoT, Gzilt holy book
• Emergency Helmet Collar, a Gzilt safety device, worn like a thick necklace, creates a helmet shaped protective area when needed
• Hydrogen Sonata, a piece of music, clashing and atonal, written for the Antagonistic Undecagonstring by T'ikrin Vilabier, as "a joke", according to QiRia
• Interesting Times Gang, aka ITG, mentioned
• Raspulescent, adj, Of a simulated scenario: becoming ripe with political intrigue, Presumed to be coined after the Russian historical figure, Grigori Rasputin.

Civilisations & Factions

• Dolstre
• Gzilt
• Issialiayns, of Perytch IV, a water world
• Liseiden
• Oglari
• Ronte
• The Culture
• Uwanui, of Cethyd
• Werpesh, builders of the Girdle City on Xown, also the sculptors of Eshri
• Zihdren-Remnanter, the portion of the Zihdren that are in contact with the Gzilt
• Zihdren, a sublimed race

Characters

• Berdle, avatar of Mistake Not...
• Boyuter, Gzilt Marshal
• Briper Drodj, a Gzilt scribe, a disgraced, ruined trader from a fallen aristocratic family with classical military connections, writer of the Book of Truth
• Cagad Agansu, Gzilt
• Chekwri, a Gzilt Marshal
• Chuje, a child
• Docent Luzuge
• Eglyle Parinherm, aka Unit Y988, a Gzilt android
• Folrison
• Frix, Gzilt
• Gaed, Gzilt, Tech Commander
• Gazan'tyo, Gzilt General
• Geljemyn, the Gzilt president.
• Hassipura Plyn-Frie, Culture drone, retired. The size and shape of a large grey suitcase. A rather battered and dusty large grey suitcase.
• Jevan
• Jelwilin Keril, the Iwenick Cultural Mission Director
• Jonsker Ap-Candrechenat, Drone, Culture representative from the Beats Working, to the Ronte
• Mierbuenes, an Iwenick, a Liseiden Ambassador to the Gzilt
• Ngaroe QiRia, aka Isseren, aka Tursensa Ngaroe Hgan QiRia dam Yutton, aka Yutten Turse, an ancient Culture citizen, supposed to have taken part in the setup of the Culture
• Ny-Xandabo-Tyun
• Nyomulde
• Oceanic-Dissonance, oZihdren-Remnanter Adjunct Entity
• Orpe, aka Virisse
• Ossebri 17 Haldesib, Ronte, Swarm Prince, Sub Swarm Divisional Head, Fleet Officer in Charge,
• Pyan, Cossont's familiar
• Quvarond
• Reikl, Gzilt General, Marshal elect
• Scoaliera Tefwe, a friend and a lover of Ngaroe QiRia, when he was already a very old man and she had been of conventional middle age – a little under two hundred
• Septame Banstegeyne
• Sklom, avatar of Warm, Considering
• Solbli
• T.C. Vilabier, aka Vilabier The Younger
• Uhtryn, combat arbite, companion to Cagad Agansu
• Vyr Cossont, a musician, the protagonist
• Warib, Cossont's mother
• Ximenyr, The Master of the Revels, Girdlecity
• Yegres, Quavarond and Int'yom - Gzilt trimes
• Yenilve, Gzilt
• Yoawin, an aphore, hired by Tefwe.
• Yueweag Etalde, commissar colonel
• Ziborlun, an avatar of Passing By And Thought I'd Drop In

Ships

• 5*Gelish-Oplule, Gzilt regimental cruiser
• 7*Uagren, Gzilt
• A Fine Disregard For Awkward Facts, GSV
• Anything Legal Considered, GCU
• Beats Working, Culture, Limited Contact Unit, Scree Class, 5 crew
• Caconym
• Contents May Differ, GSV
• Displacement Activity, Contact Unit (GCU)
• Empiricist, GSV
• Eshri, a Gzilt sculpt planet
• Equatorial 353, vacuum dirigible, the last airship travelling through the Girdlecity
• Exultation-Parsimony III
• Fzan-Juym, sub-summit-orbit satellite of Eshri
• Gellemtyan-Asool-Anafawaya, Liseiden flagship, Collective Purposes vessel, named for a Liseiden hero
• Headcrash, GOU, Delinquent-class Offensive Unit
• Iberre, Jelwilin Keril's private yacht.
• IR-FWS 8*Churkun
• Kakistocrat, Home GSV to Caconym
• Melancholia Enshrines All Triumph, Ronte Flagship
• Mistake Not..., Culture, Erratic Eccentric
• Outloaded, Culture
• Outstanding Contribution To The Historical Process, VFP
• Passing By And Thought I'd Drop In, GSV
• Pressure Drop
• Refreshingly Unconcerned With The Vulgar Exigencies Of Veracity, Very Fast Picket
• Smile Tolerantly, Once a GCU, now a Culture-Zihdren-Remnanter hybrid
• Teething Problems, GSV
• The Washing Instructions Chip In Life's Rich Tapestry, GSV
• Uagren, Gzilt Battle Cruiser
• Unreliable Witness, GSV, The Smile Tolerantly's old home GSV
• Value Judgement, Very Fast Picket
• Warm, Considering, GCU, Delta class
• Xenocrat, GOU, Delinquent-class Offensive Unit
• You Call This Clean?, LSV
• Zoologist, Superlifter, Boulder class

Locations

• Ablate
• Barlbanim, Gzilt world
• Cethyd, a planet in the Heluduz system
• Chyan’tya, a location on the Honn plate of the Dibaldipen Orbital
• Dibaldipen, Culture Orbital
• Eshri a Gzilt world in the Izenion system, a Werpesh Sculpt planet, home of Fourteenth Regiment HQ
• Girdlecity, a large city on Xown
• Heluduz, a star system
• Honn, a plate on the Dibaldipen Orbital
• Hzu Sea, a sea on Zyse
• Izenion, Gzilt world, home of Fourteenth Regiment
• Kwaalon
• Land, the landmass in the Pinicoln Sea, on Zyse
• Launch Falls, in Girdlecity
• Loliscombana, ??
• M'yon
• Neressi fictitious location, claimed by Yutten Turse, another alias but spelt backwards
• Ocean, an ocean on Zyse
• Ospin, a Bokri, microrobital, in a red giant system
• Perytch IV, a water world, home of the Issialiayns
• Sapanatcheon, a star
• The Mountains of the Sound, on Cethyd, in the Heluduz system
• Taushe, Gzilt world
• Xown, a Gzilt world in the Mureite system.
• Zyse, a Gzilt world

Bibliography

To be Added