Editing Use of Weapons

{{Short description|1990 novel by Iain M. Banks}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox book | <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books -->
| name         = Use of Weapons
| orig title   =
| translator   =
| image        = IainMBanksUseofWeapons.jpg<!--prefer 1st edition-->
| caption = Early Orbit edition cover
| author       = [[Iain M. Banks]]
| audio_read_by  = [[Peter Kenny]]
| cover_artist = 
| country      = Scotland
| language     = English
| series       = [[Culture series|The Culture]]
| genre        = [[Science fiction]] 
| publisher    = [[Orbit (publisher)|Orbit]]
| release_date = September 13, 1990
| media_type   = Print ([[Hardcover]])
| pages        = 352 
| isbn         = 0-356-19160-5
| oclc= 59159282
| preceded_by  = [[The Player of Games]]
| followed_by  = [[The State of the Art]]
}}

'''''Use of Weapons''''' is a [[science fiction]] [[Novel in Scotland|novel by Scottish]] writer [[Iain M. Banks]], first published in 1990. It is the third novel in the [[Culture series]].<ref name="NYT">{{Cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE4DE1F3BF930A35756C0A964958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1|title=Science Fiction|access-date=2008-05-15|date=1992-05-03|author=Gerald Jonas|work=The New York Times}}</ref>

The narrative takes the form of a 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.<ref name="NYT" />

==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 the latter is written in [[reverse chronology]] with each chapter successively earlier in Zakalwe's life.<ref name="NewScientist">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg13217975.900-review-time-waits-for-no-author-.html|title=Review: Time waits for no author|access-date=2008-05-15|date=1991-11-30|author=John Gribbin|work=NewScientist}}</ref> 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 narrative stream deals with the attempts of Diziet Sma and a drone named Skaffen-Amtiskaw (of Special Circumstances, a division of Contact Section) to re-enlist Zakalwe for another job. He must make contact with Beychae, an old colleague, who lives in a politically unstable star cluster, to further the aims of the Culture in the region. The payment that Zakalwe demands is the location of a woman, named Livueta. The backward-moving narrative stream describes earlier jobs that Zakalwe has performed for the Culture, ultimately returning to his pre-Culture childhood with his two sisters (Livueta and Darckense) and a boy his age named Elethiomel whose father has been imprisoned for treason.

As the two streams of the narrative conclude, it emerges that Elethiomel and Zakalwe commanded two opposing armies in a bloody civil war. Elethiomel took Darckense hostage before finally having her killed and her bones and skin made into a chair, to be sent to Zakalwe, who attempted suicide upon receiving it.

After the successful extraction of Beychae, a severely wounded Zakalwe is taken back to his homeworld to see Livueta. She rejects him and reveals that the person called "Cheradenine Zakalwe" is in fact Elethiomel, who had stolen the real Zakalwe's identity after the latter killed himself during the civil war. Elethiomel suffers an aneurysm and Skaffen-Amtiskaw performs surgery in an attempt to save his life with initially unclear results. The epilogue is a continuation of the prologue; whether the story told by these "bookends" takes place prior to, or after, Zakalwe/Elethiomel suffers an aneurysm, is not immediately obvious until the epilogue, in which the clue that it takes place not long after is "Zakalwe pushing his hand through long hair that isn't there any more …"<ref>{{cite web |title=Iain M Banks Q&A |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/sep/11/iainbanks-science-fiction |website=The Guardian |date=11 Sep 2000 |access-date=2019-09-26}}</ref>

==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.<ref name="scifi.com">{{Cite web|url=http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue274/interview.html|title=Cultured futurist Iain M. Banks creates an ornate utopia|access-date=2008-05-15|publisher=Science Fiction Weekly|author=Nick Gevers|work=Interview |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080506082535/http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue274/interview.html|archive-date = 2008-05-06}}</ref> 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.<ref name="scifi.com" /> Realising that his intended structure was a "fatal flaw", not least because it demanded the story's climax appear exactly half-way through, Banks moved on to write'' [[Against a Dark Background]]'' instead.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/aug/03/use-weapons-iain-m-banks-guardian-bookclub Use of Weapons] by Iain M Banks, 4 August 2012, The Guardian</ref> 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).<ref name="scifi.com" /> MacLeod makes use of similar structures in his own novels, most notably in ''The Stone Canal''.

==Reception==
In 1990 ''Use of Weapons'' was nominated for a [[BSFA Award|British Science Fiction Association Award]]. In 1991 it was nominated for an [[Arthur C. Clarke Award]],<ref name="Arthur C.Clarke Award Shortlists">{{cite web|title=Arthur C.Clarke Award Shortlists|url=http://www.clarkeaward.com/previous-awards/shortlists/|publisher=The Arthur C Clarke Award|access-date=6 April 2013|year=2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130106124621/http://www.clarkeaward.com/previous-awards/shortlists/|archive-date=6 January 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> and in 1993 it won the [[Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis]] for Foreign Novel.<ref name="Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis">{{Cite web |title=Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis 1992 |url=http://www.kurd-lasswitz-preis.de/1992/KLP_1992_Preistraeger.htm |publisher=Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis |access-date=9 April 2013 |language=de |year=1992}}</ref> Tor.com reviewed the book favorably in 2017, describing it as "beautiful and inevitable, and the tension is unbearable... There’s so much I love about this I hardly know where to start."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Vaughn |first=Carrie |date=2017-01-17 |title=Iain M. Banks' Use of Weapons and an Extreme Sense of Wonder |url=https://www.tor.com/2017/01/17/iain-m-banks-use-of-weapons-and-an-extreme-sense-of-wonder/ |access-date=2022-10-25 |website=Tor.com |language=en-US}}</ref> The Pequod rated the book a 9.5 (out of 10.0), saying, "This is first-rate science fiction, with unexpected depth as it explores the nature of morality, the effectiveness (and unintended consequences) of political intervention, and even the process of decision-making in the face of uncertainty."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Use of Weapons {{!}} The Pequod |url=https://the-pequod.com/books/use-weapons |access-date=2022-10-25 |website=the-pequod.com}}</ref> In 2012 it was selected for [[Damien Broderick]]'s book ''Science Fiction: The 101 Best Novels 1985-2010''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nonstop-press.com/?p=2439 |title=Science Fiction: The 101 Best Novels 1985-2010 — Nonstop Press |access-date=2013-05-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130426200920/http://nonstop-press.com/?p=2439 |archive-date=2013-04-26 }}</ref>

==Commentary==
''Use of Weapons'' was voted the ''Best sci-fi film never made'' by the readers of [[The Register]] in 2011.<ref>[https://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/11/sci_fi_poll/ Use of Weapons declared best sci-fi film never made], By Lester Haines, 11 May 2011, The Register</ref>

==See also==

* Banks' ''[[Surface Detail]]'', in which Zakalwe also appears under an alias.
* Banks' ''[[The State of the Art]]'', in which  Diziet Sma and the drone Skaffen-Amtiskaw are two of the main characters in the novella that lent its title to the story collection.

==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)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/aug/03/use-weapons-iain-m-banks-guardian-bookclub The Guardian|Week Three: The author describes the long gestation of his best SF novel]

{{Iain Banks}}
{{The Culture}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Use Of Weapons}}
[[Category:1990 British novels]]
[[Category:1990 science fiction novels]]
[[Category:Anarchist fiction]]
[[Category:The Culture]]
[[Category:Nonlinear narrative novels]]
[[Category:Novels by Iain M. Banks]]
[[Category:Orbit Books books]]
[[Category:Scottish novels]]
[[Category:Smart drugs in fiction]]
[[Category:Space opera novels]]