Use Of Weapons by Iain M. Banks

The third Culture novel from the awesome imagination of Iain M. Banks, a modern master of science fiction. The man known as Cheradenine Zakalwe was one of Special Circumstances' foremost agents, changing the destiny of planets to suit the Culture through intrigue, dirty tricks or military action. The woman known as Diziet Sma had plucked him from obscurity and pushed him towards his present eminence, but despite all their dealings she did not know him as well as she thought. The drone known as Skaffen-Amtiskaw knew both of these people. It had once saved the woman's life by massacring her attackers in a particularly bloody manner. It believed the man to be a burnt-out case. But not even its machine intelligence could see the horrors in his past. Praise for the Culture series: 'Epic in scope, ambitious in its ideas and absorbing in its execution' Independent on Sunday 'Banks has created one of the most enduring and endearing visions of the future' Guardian 'Jam-packed with extraordinary invention' Scotsman 'Compulsive reading' Sunday Telegraph The Culture series: Consider Phlebas The Player of Games Use of Weapons The State of the Art Excession Inversions Look to Windward Matter Surface Detail The Hydrogen Sonata Other books by Iain M. Banks: Against a Dark Background Feersum Endjinn The Algebraist

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 this year, it is the more accessible novel for newcomers to the series and a better introduction to the Culture since it has more examination of the society and an easy-to-follow yet intelligent storyline. (It is also my favorite of the two although I enjoyed them both.) Use of Weapons is more difficult to read with its utilization of a fractured timeline and is a more of a character study than a social study. However, Use of Weapons is a brilliant and rewarding novel and I am very glad it was recently released once again in the United States.

The rest of this review:
http://fantasycafe.blogspot.com/2008/08/review-of-use-of-weapons.html

Liked this book as a whole and the way the author explored the “Culture” goals of utopia and the hubris of imperial ideology when making contact with other civilizations. The author really knows how to do dialogue well, yet you don't feel like you're reading the author's views in a heavy-handed way. I felt I was experiencing truly different opinions from various characters on the themes. I'm anticipating reading the whole series because I really enjoyed the first two, but actually, this one didn't quite live up to my expectations.

The structure of the novel, with alternating chapters dipping into different timelines of the main character's life, one line progressing forward, and the other line working backward from the start of the protagonist's life, just didn't work for me. It kept taking me out of the story as I needed to figure out where the plot was going. Even with the chapter titles written as numbers going forward, and as Roman numerals for the backward line, I still felt confused too often. I tend to prefer one plotline over the other when a book splits like this. I was more comfortable reading the forward-moving plot, but I was more engaged with the character in the regressing plotline.

Didn't really care for the ending, but that didn't spoil the rest of the book for me. If you enjoy military sci-fi, but with a less emphasis on glorifying war, this book works well. The author explains battle tactics and strategy with the right amount of detail that I could visualize easily.

Even though this is only my third book to read in the series, I feel I would recommend this one only after reading at least the first two, and maybe even skipping this one until you have read more.

I have a love hate relationship with the culture novels. The universe is so interesting but the books are really hit or really miss for me. Consider Plebias was alright, it throws you into the deep end pretty quick and it takes a whole book to wrap your head around the universe. Player of Games was really really good. Use of Weapons was pretty bad. It is not immediately obvious but the “odd” chapters are from a certain point of time to the end and the “even” chapters are in the past but going backwards each chapter. So in essence the last “even” chapter should have been the first chapter of the book and the first “odd” chapter should have been the middle of the book. Not only that but in some chapters there are flash backs in the flash backs. It makes it extremely hard to keep track of what is going on, who is who, why is what and where is who.
It was all over the place. I will keep going with the series but instead of hitting the fourth book right away I'm going to give it a couple of months to wash the taste of this one out of my mouth.

The ending! I listened to the audiobook, but I would recommend ebook/print; at times, the two different timelines were a little hard to follow in audio.