- Use of Weapons
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Use of Weapons 
Early Orbit edition coverAuthor(s) Iain M. Banks Country UK Language English Series The Culture Genre(s) Science fiction novel Publisher Little, Brown Publication date February 1, 1990 Media type Print (Hardcover) Pages 352 pp ISBN 0-356-19160-5 OCLC Number 59159282 Preceded by The Player of Games Followed by The State of the Art Use of Weapons is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1990 as the third novel in the Culture series.[1]
Contents
Plot introduction
The narrative takes the form of a fractured biography of a man called Cheradenine Zakalwe, who was born outside of the Culture but was recruited into it by Special Circumstances agent Diziet Sma to work as an operative intervening in less advanced civilizations. The novel recounts several of these interventions and Zakalwe's attempts to come to terms with his own past.
Plot summary
The book is made up of two narrative streams, interwoven in alternating chapters. The numbers of the chapters indicate which stream they belong to: one stream is numbered forward in words (One, Two ...), while the other is numbered in reverse with Roman numerals (XIII, XII ...). The story told by the former moves forward chronologically (as the numbers suggest) and tells a self-contained story, while in the latter is written in reverse chronology with each chapter successively earlier in Zakalwe's life.[2] Further complicating this structure is a prologue and epilogue set shortly after the events of the main narrative, and many flashbacks within the chapters.
The forward-moving stream of the novel deals with the attempts of Diziet Sma and a drone named Skaffen-Amtiskaw to re-enlist Zakalwe for another "job", the task itself and the payment that Zakalwe wishes for it.[1] The backward-moving stream describes earlier "jobs" that Zakalwe has performed for the Culture, ultimately returning to his pre-Culture career as a general on his homeworld. It transpires that the payment he requires from Sma relates to an incident from his earlier life.
History
According to Banks, he wrote a much longer version of the book in 1974, long before any of his books (science fiction or otherwise) were published.[3] The book had an even more complicated structure ("It was impossible to comprehend without thinking in six dimensions") but already introduced The Culture as background for the story of Cheradenine Zakalwe.[3] The book's cryptic acknowledgement credits friend and fellow science fiction author Ken MacLeod with the suggestion "to argue the old warrior out of retirement" (to rewrite the old book) and further credits him with suggesting "the fitness programme" (the new structure).[3] MacLeod makes use of similar structures in his own novels, most notably in The Stone Canal.
Character in other Culture novels
At the conclusion of Surface Detail the character Vatueil is referred to as "Mr. Zakalwe", suggesting that millennia after the events of Use of Weapons the old warrior is still involved in the affairs of the Culture, albeit in a virtual form for most of the novel. The manner in which "Surface Detail" concludes hints of the possibility of a future Culture novel detailing further adventures of the Zakalwe / Vatueil character.
Bibliography
- Use of Weapons, Iain M. Banks, London: Orbit, 1990, ISBN 0-356-19160-5, ISBN 0-7088-8358-3, ISBN 0-7088-8350-8, ISBN 1-85723-135-X (UK), ISBN 0-553-29224-2 (US)
Notes
- ^ a b Gerald Jonas (1992-05-03). "Science Fiction". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE4DE1F3BF930A35756C0A964958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
- ^ John Gribbin (1991-11-30). "Review: Time waits for no author". NewScientist. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg13217975.900-review-time-waits-for-no-author-.html. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
- ^ a b c Nick Gevers. "Cultured futurist Iain M. Banks creates an ornate utopia". Interview. Science Fiction Weekly. Archived from the original on 2008-05-06. http://web.archive.org/web/20080506082535/http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue274/interview.html. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
External links
Iain Banks books As Iain Banks The Wasp Factory · Walking on Glass · The Bridge · Espedair Street · Canal Dreams · The Crow Road · Complicity · Whit · A Song of Stone · The Business · Dead Air · Raw Spirit · The Steep Approach to Garbadale · TransitionAs Iain M. Banks Consider Phlebas · The Player of Games · Use of Weapons · The State of the Art · Against a Dark Background · Feersum Endjinn · Excession · Inversions · Look to Windward · The Algebraist · Matter · Surface DetailThe Culture series by Iain M. Banks Novels Consider Phlebas • The Player of Games • Use of Weapons • The State of the Art • Excession • Inversions • Look to Windward • Matter • Surface DetailCharacters Ships Other elements Categories:- 1990 novels
- Novels by Iain M. Banks
- Space opera novels
- Anarchist fiction
- The Culture
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