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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
Digging into the "Special Circumstances" that come with spreading The Culture, we find out building a Utopia sure does involve a lot of manipulation and violence!
This is the third book of Iain M. Banks' Culture series and also the third I've read. It chronicles -non-chronologically- the experiences of Cheradenine Zakalwe, who is recruited by The Culture to be something of a special agent. He is tasked with intervening in the affairs of non-Culture entities, often involving tipping the scales in conflicts without ever letting on that the Culture is involved. To the point that it's comical, Zakalwe seems to wind up dead-ish and revived by the Culture's super medicine after each operation.
This is the third book of Iain M. Banks' Culture series and also the third I've read. It chronicles -non-chronologically- the experiences of Cheradenine Zakalwe, who is recruited by The Culture to be something of a special agent. He is tasked with intervening in the affairs of non-Culture entities, often involving tipping the scales in conflicts without ever letting on that the Culture is involved. To the point that it's comical, Zakalwe seems to wind up dead-ish and revived by the Culture's super medicine after each operation.
“But such consummate skill, such ability, such adaptability, such numbing ruthlessness, such a use of weapons when anything could become a weapon…”
Thought-provoking. Ambitious. Bleak. Humorous. Disturbing.
Thought-provoking. Ambitious. Bleak. Humorous. Disturbing.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Holy shit.
Banks was a genius. He died far too prematurely.
This is expansive science fiction that remains character-driven. A world where a Star Trek-style Federation exists, and live in utter post-scarcity bliss, but there remains real, true stakes.
Use of Weapons features a non-traditional style where every second chapter is a flashback, which are proceeding in opposite order. In other words, as the text moves forward, we move further back into Zakalwe's past, exploring the incidents that led him to the odd-numbered chapters, where he has been re-recruited by "Special Circumstances" (a subset of the Culture's "Contact" arm who deal with recruiting other civilisations) to use his mercenary abilities to hopefully prevent a Cluster (as in, galactic)-wide war.
There's an obvious sense of foreboding as we "catch up" on Zakalwe's past. But there's really no preparing yourself for the second half of this book. Simply a masterpiece of science fiction.
Banks was a genius. He died far too prematurely.
This is expansive science fiction that remains character-driven. A world where a Star Trek-style Federation exists, and live in utter post-scarcity bliss, but there remains real, true stakes.
Use of Weapons features a non-traditional style where every second chapter is a flashback, which are proceeding in opposite order. In other words, as the text moves forward, we move further back into Zakalwe's past, exploring the incidents that led him to the odd-numbered chapters, where he has been re-recruited by "Special Circumstances" (a subset of the Culture's "Contact" arm who deal with recruiting other civilisations) to use his mercenary abilities to hopefully prevent a Cluster (as in, galactic)-wide war.
There's an obvious sense of foreboding as we "catch up" on Zakalwe's past. But there's really no preparing yourself for the second half of this book. Simply a masterpiece of science fiction.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
funny
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
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 the structure interesting, although I found Zakalwe's backstory more engaging than the current plot (which I don't think would've flown on its own), and while I at first thought there was something off about his backstory I actually did not see the twist coming until the final chapter, and this is always a good thing.
The only thing I didn't really like about the style of writing was how Banks would do multiple 3rd person and jump between the heads of different characters without marking it in any way. In one early chapter I couldn't read it as anything other than one character bowing for a princess twice. I suppose it should've been both men bowing, but it just didn't read that way.
The only thing I didn't really like about the style of writing was how Banks would do multiple 3rd person and jump between the heads of different characters without marking it in any way. In one early chapter I couldn't read it as anything other than one character bowing for a princess twice. I suppose it should've been both men bowing, but it just didn't read that way.
This book is very close to my heart. It was the 1st book that introduced me to modern science fiction, back in my university 1st year.
Before that I had only read the famous or mainstream sci-fi books of Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein etc. "Use of weapons" opened the gate for me. As a 19 hear old I thought there's nothing in the world like it.
Now a man in his late 30s, I consider this as a masterpiece.
If anyone asks me to pick a single novel in the Culture series, it'll be this book. One of the best SF books in past 3 decades, period.
Before that I had only read the famous or mainstream sci-fi books of Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein etc. "Use of weapons" opened the gate for me. As a 19 hear old I thought there's nothing in the world like it.
Now a man in his late 30s, I consider this as a masterpiece.
If anyone asks me to pick a single novel in the Culture series, it'll be this book. One of the best SF books in past 3 decades, period.
A good story let down by a drawn-out middle section that lost my attention, and too much going on in the final stretch. It's also over-long, by about 100 pages.