Word Counts on Iain M Banks Novels

[misomiso]

Hello

I was wandering if people could post some of the word counts for the Culture novels? I don't have copy's of them any more but would like to get some idea as to how long they were, and some people must have them on kindle.

I'm specifically looking for the Player of Games and Excession, but all would be useful.

Thanks

 

[Bick]

Word count is a bit too much of an e-measure for me, but old fashioned pages is another way of describing the length of a book, if I recall.
Player of Games 309 pp
Excession 451 pp
(Both Orbit paperbacks)

 

[misomiso]

I really disagree with measuring books by pages. Word Count is much more accurate and gives a definitive snapshot as to the book imo.

 

[Bick]

How accurate does it need to be? All I want to know going in is, it is a long book, a short book, or somewhere in between. I guess pages work for me as I'm used to thinking in pages. I guess word count works for folk who are used to that.

 

[Pwaa]

I guess word count is more accurate, but when deciding if a book seems long or short I definitely look at the number of pages first. I've just seen that Matter is 204,000 words long, but not sure about others.

 

[Vertigo]

These include all the text, so it includes the copyright and publishing stuff and the beginning and end of the book:

174,567 Consider Phlebas
115,264 The Player of Games
62,517 The State of the Art
134,937 Use of Weapons
152,359 Excession
119,445 Inversions
119,539 Look To Windward
183,775 Matter
201,058 Surface Detail

Fair bit of variation there so I guess it would be fair to say Banks used however many words he felt each story needed!

 

[Vince W]

Fair bit of variation there so I guess it would be fair to say Banks used however many words he felt each story needed!

That's the kind of writing I like from an author. They use precisely the number of words required to tell the story. Not one word more or less.