The man known as Cheradenine Zakalwe was one of Special Circumstances' foremost agents, changing the destiny of planets to suit the Culture through...
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May 19, 2011
Joel
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Prologue
Stars were barely visible through the tiny oval. The reader looked up from his novel, blinked. Checked his watch -- still hours to go. His wife sat slumped next to him, still asleep. Some people could sleep on planes. Some people couldn't.
"What are you reading?" asked the man on the reader's left.
The reader checked himself before the sigh escaped him. He hated it when people talked to him on planes. Especially when he was trying to read. Especially More...
Stars were barely visible through the tiny oval. The reader looked up from his novel, blinked. Checked his watch -- still hours to go. His wife sat slumped next to him, still asleep. Some people could sleep on planes. Some people couldn't.
"What are you reading?" asked the man on the reader's left.
The reader checked himself before the sigh escaped him. He hated it when people talked to him on planes. Especially when he was trying to read. Especially More...
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Apr 20, 2008
Tim
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Probably Bank's best science fiction novel and one of his best works generally. Cheradinine Zakalwe, Diziet Sma and Skaffen Amiskaw are, together, his most interesting group of characters.
The structure of this novel makes it worthy of note on its own. Written in interwoven chapters, it is made up of two alternating narrative streams - one indicated by Arabic numerals and the other by Roman ones. One moves forward chronologically, while the other moves in the opposite direction; yet More...
The structure of this novel makes it worthy of note on its own. Written in interwoven chapters, it is made up of two alternating narrative streams - one indicated by Arabic numerals and the other by Roman ones. One moves forward chronologically, while the other moves in the opposite direction; yet More...
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Aug 28, 2008
Anne
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Use of Weapons was the August 2008 pick for my sci-fi book club, and I enjoyed it immensely. It's a dense and challenging book to get through. The scattered timeline and the dreamlike quality of many passages put off some readers. Frustratingly, Banks leaves out what would have been the most revealing and emotionally fraught scenes. He provides us only with beginnings and middles, always cutting to black right after the climax, never giving us a resolution. But all of those apparent flaws a
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Sep 12, 2007
Mark
rated it:
The thing I continue to love about Iain Banks is that he never underestimates the intelligence of his readers. Maybe this is more common in British authors, but his novels are crisp, witty, and require the reader's attention. He expect us to be an active part of the process. Not easy, but always engaging.
As with many science-fiction authors, Banks has created a "universe" that he returns to in several of his novels. This is a "Culture" novel. The Culture is a very More...
As with many science-fiction authors, Banks has created a "universe" that he returns to in several of his novels. This is a "Culture" novel. The Culture is a very More...
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Dec 27, 2011
i BUT 7 So, in the end – not ‘the end’ but about 150 pages in, since that is my designated end, and why not in a book that starts where it does? – what is it about this writing ‘technique’? I still think it is true that having more than one story gadding about in different directions is a way of getting away with not having a story that is sufficient to fill up a novel. But at the same time, I’m starting to wonder if it is a way of letting pseudo-intellectuals who profess horror – or at least bo
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Jan 13, 2012
Apatt
rated it: 
My second Culture book. Iain M. Banks is probably the most popular author of space opera still working today, and I love Consider Phlebas, I found it gripping from beginning to end. Use of Weapons is often named—in forums and such—as the best book in this series (nine volumes published so far). With so many odds stacked in its favor what could go wrong? A portentous rhetorical question if ever there was one!
This is an interesting story about the life of the central character - Cheraden More...
This is an interesting story about the life of the central character - Cheraden More...
Aug 22, 2008
Adam
rated it:
Bank’s Culture always reminds me of Moorcock’s decadent but strangely innocent future in Dancers at the End of Time and the sections in this book featuring it confirm this thought, but a lot of this book reminds me of another Moorcock creation. The Jerry Cornelius stories where the main character dies and is reanimated in a new world where the only constant is war. But where those books are more experimental, this book for all its difficult structure holds together as a novel. People expecting a
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Aug 24, 2008
Kristen
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The Culture novels by Scottish science fiction writer Iain M. Banks are stand alone stories taking place within the titular universe, an egalitarian interplanetary utopia in which capitalism, disease, and (to an extent) even death no longer pose a problem to humanity. Although each book has a different storyline with a separate set of characters, it is often recommended that The Player of Games or Consider Phlebas be read before the more complex Use of Weapons. Having read the former earlier thi
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Feb 19, 2010
Psychophant
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I reread this book lately after reading Matter, by the same author, partly to compare that book, that I had not enjoyed, with this one, with a somewhat similar story, that I had loved in the past.
The narrative itself is gimmicky, but it is a working gimmick. There are alternating chapters, ones that tell a straightforward space opera story, and the second set (using Roman numerals to differentiate themselves from the first) in antichronological order, showing episodes in the past of More...
The narrative itself is gimmicky, but it is a working gimmick. There are alternating chapters, ones that tell a straightforward space opera story, and the second set (using Roman numerals to differentiate themselves from the first) in antichronological order, showing episodes in the past of More...
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Jul 09, 2007
Zachary
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Most of the earlier Banks novels are out-of-print in the US. I wanted to read them at some point, but I wasn't sure how to make that happen without paying steep overseas shipping rates. Fox told me about inter-library loans, so while I was deep in Look to Windward, I put in requests for two of the OOP Culture books, thinking that it would take a few weeks to get them. Nope, they showed up in no time. So, I've had to plow through both to get them back before they're due. (No renewels on loan
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Aug 24, 2008
Felonious
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This was easily one of the most entertaining books I have ever read. The story was so bizarre yet some how very familiar(guess the more things change the more they stay the same). Banks is a brilliant writer who can weave a story together better than anyone i have read before. However I would not recommend this book to just anyone. It took me awhile to get a grasp on the story. It's told going from chapter one-fourteen while being interwoven with a story line going from XIII-I, so it becomes
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Jan 15, 2012
John
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In yet another grand masterpiece of space opera science fiction that is set in his "Culture" universe, Iain M. Banks has created a truly spellbinding literary ménage a trios in "Use of Weapons", portraying the twists and turns amongst the relationships between the man Cheradenine Zakalwe, the woman Diziet Sma, and the robotic drone Skaffen-Amiskaw. Banks takes us all on an electrifying journey through the lives of all three characters, told with the ample grace of his sterlin
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Jan 07, 2012
Nick
rated it: 
This book was hard to get through. The author uses pronouns -- he, she, it and not names in order to obscure the identity of characters throughout the book. I found this device confusing and not particularly rewarding. The reason for the mystery is finally revealed in a twist ending that saved the book for me. In between the confusion and twist ending are some meandering chapters that follow the protagonist from world to world where he does the bidding of the mysterious Culture. I only found a c
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Sep 09, 2011
Benjamin
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The psychic war Zakalwe fights against himself in the flashbacks was far more interesting than the mission that takes up half of the book. Also, I would have liked to read more of the Culture justifying not only it's a grey-area morality but also the hierarchy the machines live under. Lastly, although the author acknowledged and excused it, the different societies the Culture meddles with are all fairly similar. The galaxy is filled with places just like Earth in various points along a fairly st
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Aug 31, 2011
Alan
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A man called Cheradenine Zakalwe kills a king, and subsequently the beautiful and aristocratic agent Diziet Sma and her trusty sidekick the drone Skaffen-Amtiskaw must go to find him—and without further ado, we're thrust into the action. Or something like that. And the action doesn't really stop, either. Banks is not really known primarily as a writer of adventure fiction, but that's what Use of Weapons is... full of action, adventure, exotic scenery and dramatic confrontations, heroic deeds set
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Jul 11, 2011
Lobdozer
rated it:
Use of Weapons is the story of Zakalwe, a mercenary in service to the highly advanced and (mostly) benevolent Culture. His job is to dethrone tyrants and to prevent wars. Or to influence their outcome if said wars can't be prevented.
Zakalwe claims to have chosen this life in order to "fight the good fight". As the novel progresses we slowly find out more and more about why this is so important to him.
I found Use of Weapons an entertaining enough read, if not necessaril More...
Zakalwe claims to have chosen this life in order to "fight the good fight". As the novel progresses we slowly find out more and more about why this is so important to him.
I found Use of Weapons an entertaining enough read, if not necessaril More...
May 27, 2011
Forrest
rated it:
I’ve been a fan of Ian M. Banks since I read The Algebraist almost 5 years ago. Mr. Banks has a witty take on the vast expanses of space and almost all of his books strike an excellent balance between smart humor and the serious issues he experiments with. At the core of his Bibliography are The Culture Novels, a collection of lightly related stories set in the super advanced galactic civilization known as the Culture. The Culture is a hyper egalitarian, post-sustenance society that is run by
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Feb 28, 2011
Christian
rated it:
It's Frosted Mini-Wheats.
Years ago, in the time before kids, we found ourselves in a hotel bar on the very edge of Scotland. After a few games of pool with the barmaid, whose unintelligibly thick accent had made me wonder at the quantity of Scotch I was drinking, I moved to the bar to settle the matter. There's not much I remember about the rest of that evening. The notable exceptions were an argument with the hotel manager about Iraq (I remember his avid insistence that it was all obv More...
Years ago, in the time before kids, we found ourselves in a hotel bar on the very edge of Scotland. After a few games of pool with the barmaid, whose unintelligibly thick accent had made me wonder at the quantity of Scotch I was drinking, I moved to the bar to settle the matter. There's not much I remember about the rest of that evening. The notable exceptions were an argument with the hotel manager about Iraq (I remember his avid insistence that it was all obv More...
Jun 28, 2009
Jim
rated it:
Once the reprints of Iain Bank's Culture novels started coming out I decided to give "Consider Phlebas" a try. I don't think I've run across an author that can write action sequences that way Banks can where it is just so vivid in your mind that it's like you're watching a movie. It is just a bang-up adventure novel. I planned to move on to the second culture novel, "Player of Games" but my local book store was out of that title at the time so I picked up "Use of Weapons
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May 10, 2009
Brad
rated it:
In a fair world, Iain M. Banks would be getting all the credit: The wildly popular Halo series (and Marathon, before them) seems to be heavily influenced by The Culture Universe. Free-spirited transhuman AI's bop around the cosmos, vast conspiracies unwind with unimaginable patience. Suns blow up sometimes. Ringworlds ('Orbitals') play a crucial role.
It sounds like an adolescent fantasy about unlimited power- until the rather sophisticated discussions about cultural interchange More...
It sounds like an adolescent fantasy about unlimited power- until the rather sophisticated discussions about cultural interchange More...
Jul 04, 2011
Jennifer
rated it:
A good example of non-linear storytelling that works, in my opinion. "Use of Weapons" traces the life of its protagonist forward and backward in time simultaneously, cycling endlessly around a scene that is hinted at but not revealed until very late in the book, a scene that the protagonist himself refuses to contemplate as much as possible.
The mercenary called Zakalwe is a fascinating character, perhaps the more so because he remains fundamentally opaque through the book. More...
The mercenary called Zakalwe is a fascinating character, perhaps the more so because he remains fundamentally opaque through the book. More...
Jan 06, 2012
jesse l
rated it:
iain m. banks joins the ranks of an exalted pantheon of authors in my little black book, sitting beside such luminaries as m. moorcock, a. moore, g. morrison. if only his last name started with an m, they could have their own little club of anarchist authors.
this is the most powerful of the culture novels that i have read. largely because we actually see the work that s.c. does and the way in which they play societies off against one another. on the outside it appears that they strive towa More...
this is the most powerful of the culture novels that i have read. largely because we actually see the work that s.c. does and the way in which they play societies off against one another. on the outside it appears that they strive towa More...
Jul 27, 2011
Dave
rated it:
Wow this book was both complex and terrific. Here we see the Culture at its manipulative, darkest best. The characters in this book are sad, tormented people trapped in their own little hells. The book, while in a sci-fi setting, does not so much explore the great themes of sci-fi, it's a more personal tale of human foibles, melancholy and revenge. The is of course not to say that sci-fi fans, and especially fans of military sci-fi, won't love it.
What is starting to fascinate me about Banks' More...
What is starting to fascinate me about Banks' More...
Jan 16, 2012
Zak
rated it: 
With great descriptions and a brilliant imagination, Banks created a fascinating technological vision of the future, but after making my way through about a third of the book I still hadn't encountered a character who seemed in any way emotionally interesting (other than a robot-sidekick), so I gave up. The characters had developed technology to the point that they were mostly freed from consequences of human action, even death or the fear of death, which made the book frankly boring. I'm not su
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Feb 04, 2010
Fred
rated it:
Better than Consider Phlebas but not quite up to the standard set by The Player of Games'. A humanly powerful book in a field known for its poor characterisation.
Contrarily to his previous book (The Player of game), this novel isn't about men in the middle of forces they can't control and civilisations facing their future, Use of Weapons is about the past and how it makes and breaks us.
In this novel, Banks focuses on the experiences and life of a man and his family through a na More...
Contrarily to his previous book (The Player of game), this novel isn't about men in the middle of forces they can't control and civilisations facing their future, Use of Weapons is about the past and how it makes and breaks us.
In this novel, Banks focuses on the experiences and life of a man and his family through a na More...
Aug 17, 2011
Evilynn
rated it:
I've read a couple of Banks novels before (The Wasp Factory, The Algebraist) and had been underwhelmed by both. Not that they were bad, exactly, just not as great as everyone seemed to think they were/seemed to think I should find them. Maybe because I had my expectations lowered a little, or maybe because it seems to be the one book most people like, I actually found Use of Weapons to be a solid 4. I found teh structure interesting, although I found Zakalwe's backstory more engaging than the cu
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May 17, 2008
Fiachna
rated it:
First off this is a great story but not for the faint hearted. Sci-fi at its best with a constantly unfolding story line that will leave you hanging on each chapter. But like most of banks books you won't finish it feeling good.
In short it about the horrors of war. How people try to come to terms with their actions and memories long after the battles are finished.
A thoroughly good book.
In short it about the horrors of war. How people try to come to terms with their actions and memories long after the battles are finished.
A thoroughly good book.
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Aug 06, 2011
Jim
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The narrative structure is interesting. Alternating chapters tell the story of Cheradenine Zakalwe, a Culture mercenary, in opposing order. One chapter tells the story of his current mission, then the next tells of important things that happened leading up to that mission with each succeeding chapter being further in the past. Banks using different numbering schemes for these alternating chapters; the "present" chapters are in arabic numerals counting forward, the "past" cha
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Sep 21, 2011
Lbrt
rated it:
Allora: qui abbiamo Banks ai suoi massimi livelli, la storia è interessante e i personaggi vivi con non mai. La tragedia rimane sullo sfondo, per emergere pian piano con lo svolgersi della vicenda. Però, e qui ci va un però grande come una casa, per gustare appieno il libro ho dovuto leggerlo in parallelo con l'edizione in lingua originale: dopo le prime 100 pagine circa ho abbandonato la versione in italiano, visto che il traduttore evidentemente non ha compreso bene la vicenda narrata da Banks e
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Jan 08, 2011
Kevin
rated it:
Write about a dystopia, and your subject matter provides you with a dramatic impetus. Perhaps your protagonist will have the scales lifted from his eyes and will see the everyday atrocities of his world afresh, and then he'll fight back, man, he'll fight for his freedom and all that shit. Perhaps More...
