Use of Weapons

This is a re-read for me, although my last time through was almost a decade ago and most of it was lost to me in the intervening years. I'm glad I re-read it. I believe any book worth reading is worth re-reading. Use of Weapons is the third novel in the Culture series by Iain M. Banks.

from the back of the book:

Cheradenine Zakalwe is an agent of Special Circumstances, the elite weapon of the Culture's policy of moral espionage. Zazkalwe has meddled in the destinies of countries, races, entire planets - with everything from military action to plain old dirty tricks.

Finally he's been thrust into the fray on the losing side one too many times, and he chooses early retirement. Yet when Special Circumstances suddenly decides that they want him back, they never anticipate that regaining the burned-out agent will all rest on the power to manipulate his one fatal flaw.

Steven Wu calls it "a compulsively readable book, and a great deal of fun." SFF.net has a review describing it as "probably the consensus choice among Banks' readers as his best SF novel."

The Guardian has a positive review that begins, "ain M Banks's novel Use of Weapons has a narrative structure that, if it were not a work of science fiction, would qualify it as the most "literary" of literary fiction." Eyrie.org says, "It's that sort of book: the more I thought about it, the deeper it looked." Green Man Review closes with this: "Use of Weapons is told in a gripping and entertaining way. It’s a perfect illustration of the powerful writing that has made the British sf renewal of the past two decades such an important contribution to the genre."