by Iain M. Banks (aka Iain Banks)

isbn: 0553292242
subject: SF, Fiction and Literature
finished: 4/26/2002

Cheradinine Zakalwe is a mercenary employed by the Culture -- he does the military dirty work, and for the most part assumes that the reasons behind it are good. The book skips around in time, gradually exposing Zakalwe's troubled past. Since I'd first read this maybe 8 or 10 years ago, I knew the punchline, and I think Banks did a great job foreshadowing it without giving it away too easily. Like all good surprise endings, it enhances the story and makes us rethink it, unlike the Hollywood-style surprise where one walks away feeling puzzled and cheated.

I've read a number of Banks' books, and I now have a mental checklist that I go through as I read them: psychological drama (yes), black humor (yes), slightly-too-long sections of exposition (no), entertainingly excessive violence (yes), a good surprise at the end (yes), and image-driven narrative (yes). So, as far as I'm concerned, with Use of Weapons Banks managed to stick with his strong points and avoid his weaknesses -- this is a fun book, easily the strongest of Banks' Culture novels.