If I had read Consider Phlebas first I probably would not have read the rest of the Culture series, I really strongly dislike it. After reading other Culture books, it does have some interesting stuff about the Idiran war, but it's so atypical, and the main character so fundamentally unlikable, that it makes the worst possible introduction to the series.
Plenty of Culture books to recommend, what's your favorite?
Player of Games is good! I started with Consider Phlebas which I quite enjoyed but Use of Weapons stuck out to me when I was first reading them!
spoiler
I may have had to read it twice to keep the intersecting plots straight but that's my own ADHD more than anything
A lot of Culture books hit better on the second read
Consider Phlebas is skippable tbqh but it definitely exists
Excession is my favourite but it's not a good one to start with in my opinion.
Consider phlebas is a pretty straightforward one. It's got a normal timeline and does a good job of introducing the culture and their history.
Don't sleep on his non culture SciFi story the algebraist either, it's excellent.
If I had read Consider Phlebas first I probably would not have read the rest of the Culture series, I really strongly dislike it. After reading other Culture books, it does have some interesting stuff about the Idiran war, but it's so atypical, and the main character so fundamentally unlikable, that it makes the worst possible introduction to the series.