I found the idea, the story, and the characters to be utterly lovely, and enjoyed reading most of the book.

The writing, however, was to begin with highly untrustworthy: SF generally suffers from the lack of domain knowledge it can depend on in the reader (most of us can imagine chicago without trying too hard, or have used a microwave, or have a passing understanding of the Crusades. most of us don't know what life is like on a spinning space station, nor do we know how to use a infra-laser rifle, nor have we heard of the Great Mars Riots), and most authors struggle to use only as many unfamiliar features as are necessary, and find unobtrusive ways to provide the reader with context for the new information we do need. By contrast, Banks cripples this work by dropping dozens of unknown names, technologies, and historical events without giving the reader sufficient cues as to what will be important later, and what will never again be mentioned.

Characters built up to be of high importance are dropped with hardly a second thought. Last-minute throwaway characters have their futures addressed in the afterword. The title chapter gives little insight as to the significance of the title. Matter of fact, I would've been more satisfied if the title had never appeared in the work at all, than with its presence in an otherwise content-free chapter.

All of these factors make the actual execution of the book highly disappointing, except as a commentary on the eccentricities, disappointments, disorientedness, and unpredictability of real life.

That said, it's worth reading for the story, and also for some of the lower-level writing techniques he employs to convey Changer trance, genofix trance, AI consciousness, and AI crippling.