Use of Weapons

Culture, #3

by Iain M. Banks

Paperback, 480 pages

English language

Published July 28, 2008 by Orbit.

ISBN:: 978-0-316-03057-1
OCLC Number:: 236488461

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(3 reviews)

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.

5 editions

Elias reviewed Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks (Culture, #3)

Use of Weapons (Goodreads)

4 stars

Content warning General spoilers

Sorta hard to follow - the two streamed structure really had me confused about what was going on until I had some hindsight at the end. Most of the important bits of the story were not lost, but I wish I had a stronger idea of what was going on. The whole thing felt very dream-like. The Elethiomel reveal doesn't really fully justify it. I love all the drones and minds in the culture, regardless of how unhinged they are.

This book really does hit home on how immoral and sorta imperialistic special circumstances is. There is a fine line to be walked between imperialism and benevolent interference, and I feel like special circumstances always ends up on the side of spreading their ideology to everyone regardless of the means it takes to get there. I think beychae's notes on that near the middle are pertinent to that.

I likely will revisit this and read again - I feel like I took too long to read this so the beginning wasn't too fresh in my mind while I was finishing it.

Zéro Janvier reviewed Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks (Culture, #3)

Use of Weapons

5 stars

"Use of Weapons" est le troisième roman du cycle de la Culture de Iain M. Banks. Je viens de le terminer et à chaud, je ne saurais pas dire s'il est aussi réussi que "The Player of Games", son prédécesseur dans le cycle, ou juste en-deça. Dans tous les cas, c'est un excellent roman de science-fiction, qui fait preuve d'une intelligence rare.

La structure narrative, avec ses deux lignes temporelles, l'une chronologique, l'autre antichronologique, n'est pas toujours simple à suivre, et je ne suis d'ailleurs pas certain d'être capable de résumer toute l'histoire complète du début à la fin et de la fin au début, mais quoi qu'il en soit c'est passionnant du début à la fin.

J'avais lu beaucoup de bien de ce cycle romanesque de Iain M. Banks et je dois dire qu'après avoir lu les trois premiers romans, c'est aussi bon que je l'espérais. De quoi me …

J'avais lu beaucoup de bien de ce cycle romanesque de Iain M. Banks et je dois dire qu'après avoir lu les trois premiers romans, c'est aussi bon que je l'espérais. De quoi me rendre encore plus impatient de lire la suite, ce que je vais m'empresser de faire !

Fred Johansen

rated it

Feb. 2, 2023

Subjects

Science Fiction - Adventure
Science Fiction - Space Opera
Fiction / Science Fiction / Adventure
Fiction
Fiction - Science Fiction
Science Fiction