nicanical
Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks introduces Cheradenine Zakalwe: an agent with Special Circumstances, the Culture's notorious espionage arm appearing throughout the series.
Weapons presents Zakalwe as a ruthless, morally-flexible martial prodigy, gifted in the field and in command. The story tries to justify this reputation with two alternating narratives—one moving forwards in time, the other backwards with flashbacks.
Zakalwe lives up to his reputation only somewhat. While his actions are far from gifted (his plans are half-cocked, brute force plays lacking tactical insight), the struggle and trauma that would develop into his ruthlessness are vividly and credibly portrayed.
As a composition, Weapons suffers from a few issues.
The first narrative is poorly balanced, spending the same amount of time on setup (with Zakalwe's handler, Diziet Sma) as is spent with Zakalwe himself. This makes Zakalwe's parts feel rushed and abridged.
The second narrative's flashbacks are often disconnected, thematically, from what is happening in the first narrative. Because each chapter alternates between the narratives, the flashbacks have the unfortunate side-effect of disrupting the coherence of the first narrative. I frequently had to review chapter endings to re-situate myself.
Lastly, Banks is fond of his twists. Like other books in the series, Weapons has a twist too. This will be cryptic to avoid spoiling it: while the twist reveal is satisfying, it's also a bit irritating because it raises unanswered questions over the cause and timing.
Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks introduces Cheradenine Zakalwe: an agent with Special Circumstances, the Culture's notorious espionage arm appearing throughout the series.
Weapons presents Zakalwe as a ruthless, morally-flexible martial prodigy, gifted in the field and in command. The story tries to justify this reputation with two alternating narratives—one moving forwards in time, the other backwards with flashbacks.
Zakalwe lives up to his reputation only somewhat. While his actions are far from gifted (his plans are half-cocked, brute force plays lacking tactical insight), the struggle and trauma that would develop into his ruthlessness are vividly and credibly portrayed.
As a composition, Weapons suffers from a few issues.
The first narrative is poorly balanced, spending the same amount of time on setup (with Zakalwe's handler, Diziet Sma) as is spent with Zakalwe himself. This makes Zakalwe's parts feel rushed and abridged.
The second narrative's flashbacks are often disconnected, thematically, from what is happening in the first narrative. Because each chapter alternates between the narratives, the flashbacks have the unfortunate side-effect of disrupting the coherence of the first narrative. I frequently had to review chapter endings to re-situate myself.
Lastly, Banks is fond of his twists. Like other books in the series, Weapons has a twist too. This will be cryptic to avoid spoiling it: while the twist reveal is satisfying, it's also a bit irritating because it raises unanswered questions over the cause and timing.