Across its vast orbital habitats and immense starships, the Culture supports a population of many billions. Within this multitude, only a tiny number of people make up Contact, the Culture’s diplomatic and military arm. Within that elite there is another elite. Special Circumstances is the shadowy group operating on the Culture’s ragged edge, where the civilisation’s highly-evolved morality weakens or breaks down altogether.
The Special Circumstances agent Diziet Sma and her loyal drone Skaffen-Amtiskaw have long relied on a particular operative. Born outside the Culture, this man is the consummate spy, soldier, and strategist. He is adept with every weapon, with every ruthless tactic required to pull off some of the Culture’s most Byzantine schemes. His name is Cheradenine Zakalwe. Use of Weapons is the third novel in Iain M. Banks’ beloved Culture series. While it was ultimately released in 1990, the first version of the book had been written 16 years earlier in 1974. With the encouragement of fellow science fiction writer Ken MacLeod, Banks returned to the story and radically re-worked it, notably by simplifying its dizzying structure. Today, the novel is probably the most popular and acclaimed of the ten books in the series. It is a fascinating character study of Zakalwe, an eye-opening insight into the nature of the Culture, and a thoughtful look at conflict, responsibility, and guilt.
While Banks did simplify the structure of his third Culture novel, he did not settle on a conventional one. Use of Weapons has a prologue, an epilogue, and two alternating narrative threads. One of these initially focuses on Diziet Sma and Skaffen Amtiskaw, proceeds forwards chronologically, and uses standard numerals counting up (1, 2, 3, etc.). The other thread focuses on Cheradenine Zakalwe, proceeds in reverse order, and uses Roman numerals counting down (XIII, XII, XI, etc.). This means that the novel has not one but two linked climaxes.
The first narrative deals with Diziet Sma and Skaffen Amtiskaw trying to locate Zakalwe, in the hope that they can compel him to work for the Culture once again. Their aim is to use his talents to head off an emerging conflict which could push an entire star cluster into a devastating war. The second narrative is a series of largely disconnected episodes in Zakalwe’s life, exploring how he has used his prodigious skills over many decades and how he came to encounter the Culture in the first place. This two-fold structure is a significant part of what makes Use of Weapons such a brilliant novel. The two threads do not become truly linked until quite late on, but they still reinforce each other narratively and thematically. As the Special Circumstances agents look for Zakalwe in one storyline, the other explores why and how he is so extraordinarily good at his job. Of the thirteen episodes in Zakalwe’s past, several are essentially free-standing short stories, and brilliant ones at that. As the two threads progress, it becomes increasingly clear that Zakalwe is a profoundly troubled individual. The narrative accelerates both forwards and backwards in time, with the deep past having a tremendous impact on present and future events. The ending of Use of Weapons has become deservedly famous in its own right, though it is crucial that it isn’t given away. When learned, it is not an ending that is easily forgotten.
By the time Banks revised Use of Weapons, he was clearly increasingly comfortable with the setting of the Culture and with his writing craft. While Consider Phlebas (1987) was meandering and The Player of Games (1988) could be perhaps too straightforward, this third novel is pitched just perfectly. The character of Zakalwe is an efficient vehicle to help Banks provide a tour of his fictional universe. In one notable example, the perfect soldier spends some time exploring a Culture General Systems Vehicle, or GSV. There he learns about the post-scarcity utopia enjoyed by Culture citizens, which reflects Banks’ ideas about work, leisure, and fulfilment.
Use of Weapons is also a novel concerned with the theme of intervention. Throughout his missions, Zakalwe is sent to intervene in the destinies of civilisations which are much less advanced than the Culture. These operations can take unusual forms - sometimes Zakalwe is expected not to win a conflict on behalf of Special Circumstances, but to lose. The multiple meanings of the novel’s title are clear. Zakalwe is a master of many weapons, but is himself a weapon wielded by the Culture. In turn, he weaponises people, factions, and whole civilisations to achieve his handlers’ idea of a “greater good”. Banks’ novel asks questions about what becomes of those who are used as tools or weapons by powerful regimes. It also deals with the morality of intervening, or declining to intervene, in the affairs of others. All of this plays out in the context of perilous situations at the edge of the Culture, both physically and philosophically speaking - this is a recurring aspect of the series.
Given its weighty themes, Use of Weapons had the potential to be heavy going. Instead, it flows smoothly due to Banks’ deft deployment of different tones and styles. The book has its challenging and even harrowing moments, but is also rich with the author’s trademark humour. Much of this is associated with the characters of Diziet Sma and Skaffen-Amtiskaw, Zakalwe’s handlers. Diziet Sma is unusual in that she appears in more than one Culture book - she also recurs in The State of the Art (1991).
Another key strength is the character of Zakalwe himself. The archetype of the super soldier lends itself to numerous fun but shallow depictions in science fiction; but the Culture’s favoured agent is a rich and complex individual. While he may not change greatly over the course of the story, our understanding of him shifts and builds in fascinating and unsettling ways. The flashback episodes each expose some new facet of Zakalwe’s background, skills, and personality. They are also set in a wide variety of interstellar locales, which vary greatly in their level of technological and social development. Banks’ genius in the novel is that he weaves these disparate episodes, and the book’s other narrative thread, into a genuinely satisfying whole. That he does this and also delivers a one-two punch of devastating climaxes is all the more impressive, and it is this spectacular finale which has helped secure a place for Use of Weapons in science fiction legend. For all of Zakalwe’s military exploits, it is his time spent on the peaceful GSV that provides one of the novel’s most memorable sequences. Zakalwe has spent much of his time fighting for the Culture, but only from the outside - this visit to the vast starship gives him a deeper insight into what the Culture really is. In this post-scarcity environment, he meets Culture citizens able to pursue their dreams and their every whim. He meets people who choose to work, not because they are forced to, but because it brings them fulfilment. Crucially, even this inspiring passage relates strongly to Zakalwe’s character and his path. While he is intrigued by the Culture’s peaceful and plentiful way of life, he concludes that such an existence is not for him. His decision to return to the battlefield is the strongest implication of the trauma he has suffered, and his inability to turn away from conflict. Use of Weapons is a fantastic continuation of the Culture series and more evidence of the brilliance of Iain M. Banks - a novel that richly deserves its cult reputation.
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Weekly blog exploring classic science fiction, with a focus on the 1950s to the 1990s. |