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.
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.