Has anyone before mentioned the similarities between Blame and Iain Banks' novel /Feersum Endjinn/ (apologies if it's been discussed already)?
Huge megastructures in both (the Castle & the Tower in FE).
Network chaos infection in both.
All-powerful representative of uncontaminated network (Killy in Blame, Asura in FE).
Netsphere in B and Cryptosphere in FE.
Network filaments built into structure in both. There was a specific line somewhere in Blame that sounded almost exactly like a sentence in FE.
'Base reality' and a seemingly super-real artificial reality in both, and the representations of the netsphere Governing Authority (ala The Crypt).
Blame is not an exact parallel, of course, it's a great story in its own right, but I see so many coincidences in some of the terms and ideas that I can't help but think that Nihei was inspired by Feersum Endjinn.
Has anyone else noticed these similarities, or am I imagining things?