The third of Ian Banks' Culture novels concerns an agent Zakalwe recruited for chiefly military work by the Culture's Special Circumstances operative Sma. Zakalwe is not himself a Culture man, nor is he especially sympathetic at his best, and in some ways this book felt like a return to the form of the first book Consider Phlebas, with the viewpoint agent working for the Culture this time rather than against it. The chapter IV that described Zakalwe's first integration into the Culture was the most straightforward of such passages in the books so far.

The chronological structure of Use of Weapons is curious and effective. It alternates two series of numbered chapters, one running forward in time and counting up (One, Two, Three ...), the other running backward and counting down (XIII, XII, XI ...). The earliest episode of the novel takes place at its midpoint in chapter VII during a set of flashbacks, but these are not given their full context until the end of the book. The most recent events are set into bracketing Prologue and Epilogue passages, along with a short postfactory chapter "States of War."

This volume was for some reason longer than I had expected it to be, and although it read at a good pace, it took a lot of attention to complete. I'm looking forward to the change of tempo offered by the next in the series, State of the Art, which collects short stories in the Culture setting.

I thought this would be a military clash among the stars, but instead it's another case study of a particular operative; this time with a heavier slant on revealing who the Culture likes to use and why, and not just what the missions cost that person but what it costs to be qualified in the first place. It's a slow burner but Banks is endlessly creative at expanding and deepening his universe. His drones are always my favourite characters, and it's no exception here.

I've got a couple of problems with the ending, but I never would have made it that far without enjoying the journey to get there so no real harm done. My problems: (1) I'm supposed to believe that a psychotic murderer who is capable of those horrors suddenly gives his head a shake and grows a large enough regret streak, a propos of nothing, to punish himself for 200 years. Also, taking the name of your world's most famous and now very dead general is not likely to be a successful disguise. Although calling yourself Napoleon does fit with being psychotic. Wait, forgot, you're not psychotic anymore, somehow. Or you've become the good kind of psychotic who's learned where to draw the line? How? Why? (2) This one's far more technical. British fiction makes an allowance for point-of-view changes mid-paragraph that North American editors don't tolerate. As an NA reader I'm not fond of it so, when Banks employs it, I grimace but overlook it. Turns out the trick ending hinges on how he used this style. The very thing I was supposed to pay attention to for maximum enjoyment of that ending, I was purposely not doing so for the sake of maximum enjoyment during. On the good side, Banks makes a strong case here for how confusing and silly it is to allow an author to switch points of view so haphazardly. It practically asks to be taken unfair advantage of, which is exactly what he did. ( )

I was hesitant to re-read this novel. The first time around it was very enjoyable. The authour paints the characters into life, one page at a time from start to finish. Once you've seen the whole painting, I wasn't sure it would have the same impact. Yes there are some plot twists you won't see coming, and no, I'm not mentioning any of them here. Just read the book.

Now that I have re-read it, I see I was only half right. Knowing the plot and understanding the characters does take away from the experience, but there are lots of bits and pieces still to be picked up from a re-read to keep it interesting.

My favourite Banks novel of the ones I've read, and more than good enough to make me want to read all the rest. ( )

The Culture 3

The Culture 3