I do not like Banks as a general rule; too cerebral in his violence and too distant. (I always have this picture in my head of Banks with a monocle, gravely and scientifically eyeing a bug with the wings and legs pulled off. I'm not saying he does that! But that's the image his books give me.)

However, I actually liked Feersum Enjinn quite a lot, although it took me two tries to get through the awful phonetic spelling. I feel it's his only book where there is any actual character sympathy going on. I also liked Player of Games; though it also is devoid of character sympathy, it is interesting enough that I didn't mind. Too much.