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PinkieBrown

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PinkieBrown’s classics-collection shelf

Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka

The Turn of the Screw and The Aspern Papers by Henry James

Tender is the Night / The Last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

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PinkieBrown is Currently Reading

PinkieBrown is currently reading

Sons and Lovers

by D.H. Lawrence

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(page 31 of 372)
— Dec 04, 2025 02:57AM

Dec 04, 2025 02:57AM

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La Débâcle (Les Rougon-Macquart, #19)

by Émile Zola

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(page 357 of 592)
— Aug 14, 2025 02:59AM

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Use of Weapons (Culture, #3)

by Iain M. Banks

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read in February 2014

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PinkieBrown said: " The idea of a "post-scarcity" space empire with anarchistic, Socialistic even, tendencies; which can't stop from dabbling in the affairs of less developed civilisations, fascinates Banks. Use of Weapons is like a James Bond novel magnified many times The idea of a "post-scarcity" space empire with anarchistic, Socialistic even, tendencies; which can't stop from dabbling in the affairs of less developed civilisations, fascinates Banks. Use of Weapons is like a James Bond novel magnified many times. The man Zakalwe, whose own history is woven into the main, linear tale of the book, is the same "blunt instrument" for The Culture that Bond is for the British Government. This book details some his escapades; including being bebodied (as opposed to beheaded) at one point. It does it in a backward fashion; earliest episode last.

The main story is about a mission to send Zakalwe back to a backward space empire to re-recruit a politician who can stop a civil war breaking out. This story is actually quite lackadaisical in comparison to the backward story. You get one chapter on the main story moving forward in time, and one chapter of the secret mission episodes going back in time. They meet at the point Zakalwe's own horrifically dark history is revealed. This time I just read the forward tale to see how it hung together. As I say, all the majesty is in the other half of the book. It's still a fun read, as Zakalwe uses the might of The Culture to fiddle his way through a less advanced society which keeps trying to kill him.

Use of Weapons is one of the early books. There's a huge divide between this and Excession and the later books. You can see Banks working out the mechanics of a super-advanced space empire in his head. He's trying to avoid any deus ex machina dramatic balloon bursting, because if The Culture are god-like there's a danger of Zeus stepping down from Olympus and smiting verily. There's plenty of incredible science in the book, like the description of a machine saving a man's life as he has a brain embolism- whipping the top of his head off with a cutting laser etc. Or the same machine going crazy psycho and wiping out a regiment in a minute or so. What changes with Excession is that the enemies get very large, and test The Culture to the limit.

It becomes a series of space operas of extra-universal visitors; plots to destroy ringworlds or sphereworlds; the destruction of digital hells; or entire empires popping off into the next zone of existence. Astounding ideas that properly test the supposedly inexhaustible resources of The Culture. Use of Weapons and Player of Games are primers, more for Banks' sake, it feels. The imagination is unbelievable and just kept getting bigger until Banks' early death last year. It's difficult to believe this universe isn't still expanding under its own power somewhere. ...more "

Feb 05, 2014 10:35AM · see review

PinkieBrown’s Quotes

“Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules of Writing

1. Never open a book with weather.
2. Avoid prologues.
3. Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue.
4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said”…he admonished gravely.
5. Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.
6. Never use the words "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose."
7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.
8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.
9. Don't go into great detail describing places and things.
10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.

My most important rule is one that sums up the 10.

If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.”
― Elmore Leonard

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