Review: Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks

The good

• Excellent writing.
• The main character is genuinely interesting and unpredictable.
• A few of the chapters feel like extremely high quality, self-contained Sci Fi short stories. (Note: this has drawbacks too.)
• The focus on the plot is the super advanced Culture interfering with less advanced societies, but in a way that’s sneaky and not too visible. It feels like a twist on the “First Directive” of Star Trek: you can interfere with others, but just so long as they don’t know it’s happening. (Note: this has drawbacks too.)
• An interesting plot structure, with one set of chapters moving forwards in time and one set moving backwards in time. A bit like the book version of Memento. (Note: this structure has drawbacks too.)

The not so good

• Some of the chapters, even the very well written ones, feel totally disconnected from the rest of the book. Many plot lines feel unresolved or abandoned.
• The plot—or rather, what the Culture is trying to do with the “lesser” societies—feels a bit jumbled. I think Banks was going for a story of political intrigue, influence, subterfuge, and strategy, but he reveals very little of the actual political and social details of the societies Culture is messing with, so the important details don’t really come across. It reminds me of Banks’ previous novel, Player of Games, where you are told about all sorts of amazing strategy happening in the games, but you’re never taught the rules or details, and can’t actually appreciate any of it. It’s the opposite of “show, don’t tell,” and in my opinion, weakens the plot significantly.
• The convoluted structure makes the book genuinely hard to follow. You almost need to take notes and draw up a timeline to understand all the nuance. This may be one of those books you have to read twice to really get it.
• The twist ending felt a bit convoluted too. I suspect it requires revisiting the entire book to fully grok the implications.

Rating: 4 stars