Use Of Weapons

Use of Weapons is the Third book in The Culture, and so far my favorite of the series. I think it's very rare for a series to increase in quality in the way that the Culture has thus far, each novel has built on the one before it and each story has seen a marked improvement in its writing and overall story. As if Banks was peeking at my review of Player of Games decades in the past, this novel is a deep dive into the psyche of its main character, it's a web of memory that keeps unraveling and thankfully answers questions about Zakalwe's past and his motivations.

This is two stories that run in opposite courses. The main chapters (one, two, three, etc.) tell the story of Zakalwe and Sma, a Culture agent and his handler as they attempt to stop an impending war in a far off Starcluster. The sub chapters (I, II, III, VI, etc.) are a reverse-chronological telling of Zakalwe's story and are by far the most interesting part of the book to me. I also enjoyed the mysterious character of Sma and I hope she is further featured in the series.

Use of Weapons is a case study in how setting can best be used to enhance a story, it's also a case of setting being essential for the underlying plot. The scope of an entire universe is harnessed to tell a centuries long, galaxy spanning epic. I cannot imagine how convoluted and dense this book would have been if the author had needed to explain every detail of life in the culture, their scientific prowess, or the pseudo-immortality afforded to its characters.

Thanks to the structure of this book I felt free to ponder on The Culture itself; this book raises questions about the morality of intervention and war. I enjoyed the discourse the book offered up: a rock as the center of the universe, turtles all the way down, do the ends justify the means? What does that all mean for the culture? I think that the ultimate pleasure of this series will be what each reader ultimately believes the Culture is, whether it is a force for good in the universe or if it is a fresh face on old concepts of conquest and imperialism. Is it possible to be simultaneously expansionist and morally sound?

TL;DR: Extremely well written, better than Consider Phlebas and Player of Games. Less action, more character and world building. This is, at its heart, a soldier's story. Near perfect. Not sure if this one can be read standalone, this story is very rooted in the context of the Culture.