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april_does_feral_sometimes's review against another edition
4.0
"Use of Weapons" by Iain Banks is a loopy trip. It also is a literary read, disguised as a science fiction story. The novel is even possibly a masterpiece! Of course, that means a lot of readers will hate it. A smaller group won't be able to figure out how the hell the book can even be understood at all because it goes forward on a timeline every other chapter, while going backwards in time in the other chapters. Also, it is kind of a biography of a soldier of Fortune, someone who is morally compromised by his job with the Culture. ('Use of Weapons' is book three in a series about the Culture Universe - although each book can be read as a standalone, I would start here: [b:Consider Phlebas|8935689|Consider Phlebas (Culture #1)|Iain M. Banks|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327951890l/8935689._SY75_.jpg|14366])
I get it. I do. I am a self-teaching, third-rate literature-major wannabe myself. Librarians and the library have been my tutors. I had to go back and re-skim what I had read after finishing the book. It definitely makes sense, except it is hard to grok because of the book's structure. Especially if one reads straight through only once. Plus, it is a layered literary near-masterpiece, in my humble opinion.
I loved it. Bite me. Brain candy makes me hot.
Ok ok. I'm in my late sixties, so maybe very warm is a better word choice because of the amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. Think Rupert Giles, only low-rent. And a dry-stick ex-secretary. With a hidden goth soul.
Since the cover blurb is actually accurate for once, instead of blathering on in my usual TLDR fashion, I am copying the publisher's text:
"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 and 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 could see the horrors in his past. Ferociously intelligent, both witty and horrific, USE OF WEAPONS is a masterpiece of science fiction.
I get it. I do. I am a self-teaching, third-rate literature-major wannabe myself. Librarians and the library have been my tutors. I had to go back and re-skim what I had read after finishing the book. It definitely makes sense, except it is hard to grok because of the book's structure. Especially if one reads straight through only once. Plus, it is a layered literary near-masterpiece, in my humble opinion.
I loved it. Bite me. Brain candy makes me hot.
Ok ok. I'm in my late sixties, so maybe very warm is a better word choice because of the amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. Think Rupert Giles, only low-rent. And a dry-stick ex-secretary. With a hidden goth soul.
Since the cover blurb is actually accurate for once, instead of blathering on in my usual TLDR fashion, I am copying the publisher's text:
"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 and 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 could see the horrors in his past. Ferociously intelligent, both witty and horrific, USE OF WEAPONS is a masterpiece of science fiction.
100kg_paarynoita's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
sonofachipwich's review against another edition
This one was wild. I really enjoy the way Banks portrays the Culture as a real actual utopia where people can live unequivocally free and wonderful lives, and which opposes injustice in the broader world in a pretty reasonable way, except that there is a dark core of manipulation and ruthlessness under it all. Twist endings don't really do much for me but I had fun anyway.
beaconatnight's review against another edition
3.0
Cheradenine Zakalwe was born outside the Culture's sphere of influence, but who was later hired as an agent in its Special Circumstances department whose function it is to secretly intervene in less advanced civilization and provide guidance without them knowing that they had been manipulated in this way. He had successfully completed a number of difficult jobs and his military effectiveness is beyond a doubt, but his latest mission has been a complete failure.
Still, they need him again. War is imminent in the Voerenhutz cluster. Its peace-preserving and beloved president, Tsoldrin Beychae, abdicated some years ago and ongoing disputes are becoming increasingly more heated. There are the so-called Humanists who fiercely oppose the introduction of artificial intelligence in their society. To them only human (or at least biological) experience has intrinsic value. They want to rely on terraforming to further their course. Since the Culture is controlled by (artificial) Minds, it's easy to see why they take offense at these developments. They need Zakalawe because of his special connection to the ex-president.
Use of Weapons, the third novel in the Culture series, is very episodic in nature. It has a main line of action told continuously over chapters counting forward, yet there are also chapters that progress back in time and that provide more and more detail to our anti-hero protagonist's troubled past. There is no straight-forward narrative to the more character-oriented sections, but I highly enjoyed the sense of mystery gradually resolved by the slowly emerging wider picture.
Zakalawe desperately wants to see his sister Livueta again – in fact, this is what the Culture offers him as payment – but we soon learn that they had a severe falling out, though it remains unclear what happened. There is the puzzling obsession with chairs and casual remarks about some Chairmaker that don't seem to make much sense (what importance could a chair have?). There is the usual lost love, and there is the question of the purpose to his later life's ventures. In the present there is even the question of where he is and how he could escape.
Iain M. Banks's vivid writing does a great job to make you excited for his little projects that have no clear connection to Zakalawe's overall arc. There is the great moment of retribution at the first (or last) assignment, the narrative told from the arrogant aristocrat's viewpoint at the second (to last), the nighmarish state of consciousness where he tries to deceiver the meaning of metaphors. There is chapter told in the haze of a drug-induced ritual. Later Zakalawe suddenly even finds himself the religious leader in an escalating war.
Of course Zakalawe is by far the most completed character, but there are many highly enjoyable personalities in the wider cast. The most important for the overall plot is Diziet Sma who is of interest mainly because of her more personal relationship to our otherwise rather distant protagonist. I loved the humorous dynamics with her drone, Skaffen-Amtiskaw, who don't always see eye to eye and that give us a sense that the Culture might not be as disinterested and objective as it claims or even thinks it is.
In one of the later chapters, a minor character expresses a truism that well renders the state of affairs with novels of a less conventional plot structure: "What one person may call a proper story may not please somebody else." I thought that the book itself was a great example. For me personally it was a bit too fragmented for my liking, though I cannot but praise the exciting and repeatedly surprising ride. This is especially true for the big plot twist at the very end that throws a completely different light and on the character we thought we had learned to understand.
Though genuinely funny at times, there is the underlying sense of tragedy throughout the tale of Zakalawe's life. Maybe it's too much to say that I enjoyed the melancholy, but it was still highly satisfying when in the end you understand where it was coming from.
Rating: 3.5/5
Still, they need him again. War is imminent in the Voerenhutz cluster. Its peace-preserving and beloved president, Tsoldrin Beychae, abdicated some years ago and ongoing disputes are becoming increasingly more heated. There are the so-called Humanists who fiercely oppose the introduction of artificial intelligence in their society. To them only human (or at least biological) experience has intrinsic value. They want to rely on terraforming to further their course. Since the Culture is controlled by (artificial) Minds, it's easy to see why they take offense at these developments. They need Zakalawe because of his special connection to the ex-president.
Use of Weapons, the third novel in the Culture series, is very episodic in nature. It has a main line of action told continuously over chapters counting forward, yet there are also chapters that progress back in time and that provide more and more detail to our anti-hero protagonist's troubled past. There is no straight-forward narrative to the more character-oriented sections, but I highly enjoyed the sense of mystery gradually resolved by the slowly emerging wider picture.
Zakalawe desperately wants to see his sister Livueta again – in fact, this is what the Culture offers him as payment – but we soon learn that they had a severe falling out, though it remains unclear what happened. There is the puzzling obsession with chairs and casual remarks about some Chairmaker that don't seem to make much sense (what importance could a chair have?). There is the usual lost love, and there is the question of the purpose to his later life's ventures. In the present there is even the question of where he is and how he could escape.
Iain M. Banks's vivid writing does a great job to make you excited for his little projects that have no clear connection to Zakalawe's overall arc. There is the great moment of retribution at the first (or last) assignment, the narrative told from the arrogant aristocrat's viewpoint at the second (to last), the nighmarish state of consciousness where he tries to deceiver the meaning of metaphors. There is chapter told in the haze of a drug-induced ritual. Later Zakalawe suddenly even finds himself the religious leader in an escalating war.
Of course Zakalawe is by far the most completed character, but there are many highly enjoyable personalities in the wider cast. The most important for the overall plot is Diziet Sma who is of interest mainly because of her more personal relationship to our otherwise rather distant protagonist. I loved the humorous dynamics with her drone, Skaffen-Amtiskaw, who don't always see eye to eye and that give us a sense that the Culture might not be as disinterested and objective as it claims or even thinks it is.
In one of the later chapters, a minor character expresses a truism that well renders the state of affairs with novels of a less conventional plot structure: "What one person may call a proper story may not please somebody else." I thought that the book itself was a great example. For me personally it was a bit too fragmented for my liking, though I cannot but praise the exciting and repeatedly surprising ride. This is especially true for the big plot twist at the very end that throws a completely different light and on the character we thought we had learned to understand.
Though genuinely funny at times, there is the underlying sense of tragedy throughout the tale of Zakalawe's life. Maybe it's too much to say that I enjoyed the melancholy, but it was still highly satisfying when in the end you understand where it was coming from.
Rating: 3.5/5
shr1ke's review against another edition
Lost interest. No connection to previous novels.
domino911's review against another edition
5.0
I have never experienced before the feeling, halfway through a book, that, providing it didn't throw it all away, it was going to become one of my favourites. Use of Weapons has become a favourite. I want to read it again. I knew there was a twist; I guessed what the twist was, at least the bare bones of it, quite early on; it was still shocking. But the twist is not the book. The characters, Zakalwe, Sma, the Culture itself, are complicated and flawed, make you question their motives and, even if you don't get the answers you expect, or any at all, you want to delve deeper and question all the more. Loved it.
_luckycats_'s review against another edition
3.0
"You have the power, Tsoldrin, whether you like it or not; just doing nothing is a statement, don't you understand that? What is all your studying worth, all your learning, all your knowledge, if it doesn't lead to wisdom? And what's wisdom but knowing what is right, and with is the right thing to do?"
"The sky was aquamarine, stroked with clouds. She could smell the grass, and taste the scent of small, crushed flowers."
"Most people are not prepared to have their minds changed...And I think they know in their hearts that other people are just the same, and one of the reasons people become angry when they argue is that they realize just that, as they trot out their excuses...I strongly suspect the things people believe in are usually just what they instinctively feel is right; the excuses, the justifications, the things you're supposed to argue about, come later. They're the least important part of the belief. That's why you can destroy them, win an argument, prove the other person wrong, and still they believe what they did in the first place."
"The sky was aquamarine, stroked with clouds. She could smell the grass, and taste the scent of small, crushed flowers."
"Most people are not prepared to have their minds changed...And I think they know in their hearts that other people are just the same, and one of the reasons people become angry when they argue is that they realize just that, as they trot out their excuses...I strongly suspect the things people believe in are usually just what they instinctively feel is right; the excuses, the justifications, the things you're supposed to argue about, come later. They're the least important part of the belief. That's why you can destroy them, win an argument, prove the other person wrong, and still they believe what they did in the first place."