Not quite a space soap opera, but I found this installment of Iain M. Banks' sci-fi novels to be the most 'melodramatic' one that I've read. It doesn't take anything away from the quality of the story and the fascinating immersive parallel universe, but I feel this book could have done without the sci-fi element and still be a haunting and perplexing novel. The gadgetry and exoticism will still make fans of the genre giggle like little girls, and considering that, it makes it an even greater accomplishment. Beautiful, violent.