Use of Weapons
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Use of Weapons is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1990.
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Summary
It is the third Culture novel. The story is a biography of a man called Cheradenine Zakalwe who was born outside of the Culture and was recruited by the Culture's euphemistically named Special Circumstances agent Diziet Sma to work as an agent intervening in more primitive civilizations. His murderous opponent is Elethiomel, the Chairmaker.
Description
The book is made up of two narrative streams, interwoven with 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 each chapter is successively earlier in Zakalwe's life. Further complicating this structure is a prologue and epilogue set at another time entirely, and many flashbacks within the chapters.
The forward-moving stream of the novel deals with Diziet Sma's attempts to re-enlist Zakalwe for another "job", the task itself and the payment that Zakalwe wishes for it. 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.
History
Banks wrote a much longer version of the book with an even more complicated structure (Banks: "It was impossible to comprehend without thinking in six dimensions") in 1974, long before any of his books (science fiction or otherwise) were published. 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). MacLeod makes use of similar structures in his own novels, most notably in The Stone Canal.
Analysis
It is widely considered to be the best of the Culture novels, but also one of the least accessible due to its relatively complex structure. The Culture wrestles with its usual dilemma of whether or not to intervene in the affairs of other species.
As in Look to Windward and A Song of Stone, the main theme is the horror of war.
The book also includes, for the first time in a Banks novel, the possible beginning of another story. After the dénouement of Zakalwe's story, Diziet Sma visits a hospital in what appears to be a less advanced civilisation. There she finds a heroic but crippled soldier and offers him a job, presumably as a Culture mercenary. This section is entitled "States of War" and is labelled a prologue. While some have interpreted this as the beginning of a possible future novel (though there are apparently no plans by Banks to write this story), others suggest instead that it adds a cyclical element to the story of Use of Weapons. As the central two strands of the novel cycle around to finish at essentially the same point, many readers find this circular interpretation appealing.
Bibliography
Use of Weapons, Iain M. Banks, London : Orbit, 1990, ISBN 0356191605, ISBN 0708883583, ISBN 0708883508, ISBN 185723135X (UK) ISBN 0553292242 (US)