It was a good battle, and they nearly won.' It says, 'While the besieged forces round the Staberinde broke out within the hour, while the surgeons were still fighting for his life. One thing that was unclear, did Elethiomel's side win the war after the decapitation of Zakalwe? However, while I knew the chair was going to be part of the denouement, I had no clue about the secret of the chair until it was described. When he noted Elethiomel was always more skilled in the lessons, to me it tipped off who Zakalwe was because the Special Circumstances wouldn't be interested in the second best

He telegraphed Zakalwe's true identity rather early in the book. I had a few nits and questions that are definitely spoilers: , although the flashbacks within the reverse timeline got a little confusing. The parallel storylines and non-linear timeline were used effectively Some of them were intentional, and I understand why, but some of them would be severe deductions in a graded essay. I felt like a fifth of my reading time was trying to figure out who was speaking to whom.Īnother annoying tic is the severe overuse of pronouns. Has been poached by several authors since (and who knows, maybe Shakespeare said it prior) and it hits home as I was in the military when I was younger and thought the same thing when I almost went to war.īanks had an annoying writing tic where he could have pages of dialogue without ever saying who said the line. The line about 'There is no shortage of young men who are willing to die for the security and comfort of their elders.'

I like how in all three novels the actual Culture lifestyle really isn't part of the novels, most of the action is outside the Culture. It has the character depth of Consider Phlebas, with the more broad brush of Player of Games. It is still a plodding read though, while I enjoy them a lot, none of these novels are what I would call page turners. In my opinion, Use of Weapons is the best of the three I've read, by a comfortable margin. Some general thoughts in no particular order, spoiler tags where appropriate (an offhand comment would ruin the experience on this one): Banks (in order), and I just finished Use of Weapons. I'm slowly making my way through The Culture novels by Iain M.

Use of weapons by iain m banks