Alastair Reynolds (high-concept space opera, well written), Adrian Tchaikovsky (first contact, aliens, can't write nearly as well as Banks), Neal Asher (AI-run civilisation, inventive nastiness). Nobody's exactly like Banks though.
Indeed. He died way too early. R.I.P.
Love Reynolds, but unfortunately he is not half as a good writer as Banks. Then again, not many are.
Reynolods books are full of cool ideas though.
My big problem with Reynolds, I think, was that his characters are hard to distinguish. He seems to have a few stock personalities that he re-uses. The only one that really stood out for me as fully realized was Clavain.
It's a bit worrying that we're recommending SF that's a quarter of a century old - my SF reading has really dropped off since Gardner Dozois died. I need to read something published in the last 6 months.