[Barry the Sprout]

Iain Banks spoilers...

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A dead heat between Ken's death in The Crow Road and Cenuij's death in Against a Dark Background. Both of them come completely out of the blue, and they're such vivid characters that you can't help but feel slightly cheated when they're gone. Also they both have very complicated relationships with the respective protaganists of the stories (Prentice and Sharrow). Overall I'd probably go with Ken dying, because on a certain level its quite obvious from the start of Against a Dark Background that Cenuij is going to die so its marginally less of a shock when he does. But trust me... read both these books and judge for yourself. Its like being hit with a sledgehammer when it comes...