Use of Weapons

, #3

Paperback, 368 pages

English language

Published Nov. 1, 1992 by Orbit.

ISBN:
978-1-85723-135-9
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Goodreads:
12007

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4 stars (13 reviews)

Use of Weapons is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1990. It is the third novel in the Culture series.

12 editions

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

Use of Weapons (Goodreads)

4 stars

Content warning General spoilers

not sure it fully lands for me

4 stars

Content warning incl discussion of ending

Carbon Fascists

4 stars

Content warning Spoilers for the plot of Use of Weapons, including the ending

Review of 'Use of Weapons' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Use of Weapons marks a departure for Banks from the more linear storylines of Consider Phlebas and Player of Games to what is effectively a character study of Cheradenine Zakalwe: a non-Culture human who has been recruited by Special Circumstances to... do what SC do.

There were a lot of elements I liked about the book, providing as it does a better look at the imperatives and motives of Special Circumstances and - by extension - the broader Culture, and there were some funny and often gut-wrenching set pieces along the way, but the overall effect (including the disorienting time jumps to different epochs in Zakalwe's long and dangerous life and the barely explained 'shock' ending) was not as satisfying as a more conventional approach to storytelling could have been. As a result, the book felt more like it was trying to make a point at the expense of entertaining …

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Subjects

  • Science Fiction

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