Use of Weapons, by Iain M. Banks
I'm stunned by Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks . Looking around, this is not an uncommon reaction for readers, to a shock of an ending. I'll say straight off, if there's any chance you'll read the book - if you read SF, if you've heard of it - minimise any time you spend reading reviews. Too bad, that I've already mentioned a shock ending, but... I gather Banks's first try with this story, written I think before his first success with more mainstream fiction, employed a very complicated narrative structure. This later take only appeared as the 3rd in his ' Culture ' series. It still does make demands on the reader, with two interleaved strands, one going forwards recounting the story of mercenary Cheradenine Zakalwe's latest mission for the Culture, the other going backwards to the darkest events of his past. And before even starting you'll notice in the contents the oddity of a book which tails off with an epilogue, some verse, and then a