I'm just curious, why you wouldn't upvote me? (I don't mind, I'm just genuinely curious). It is possible you did upvote me and someone else downvoted..so apologies ahead of time if my assumptions are wrong.

Culture was meh...By the 2nd or 3rd book you realize that the Culture is so powerful that nothing presents a risk. It's like Superman without Kryptonite (or his lack of pragmatism). Aside from the first book, Consider Phlebas, Excession was probably the best - largely because it focused on ships rather than people. Just my $0.02 of course.