
Use of Weapons
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Narrated by:
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Peter Kenny
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By:
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Iain M. Banks
About this listen
The man known as Cheradenine Zakalwe was one of Special Circumstances' foremost agents, changing the destiny of planets to suit the Culture through intrigue, dirty tricks, and military action.
The woman known as Diziet Sma had plucked him from obscurity and pushed him toward his present eminence, but despite all their dealings she did not know him as well as she thought.
The drone known as Skaffen-Amtiskaw knew both of these people. It had once saved the woman's life by massacring her attackers in a particularly bloody manner. It believed the man to be a lost cause. But not even its machine could see the horrors in his past.
Ferociously intelligent, both witty and horrific, Use of Weapons is a masterpiece of science fiction.
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Echopraxia
- By: Peter Watts
- Narrated by: Adam J Rough
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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It's the eve of the 22nd century: a world where the dearly departed send postcards back from Heaven and evangelicals make scientific breakthroughs by speaking in tongues; where genetically engineered vampires solve problems intractable to baseline humans. And it's all under surveillance by an alien presence. Daniel Bruks is a field biologist in a world where biology has turned computational.
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A Must Read
- By Taylor Lewis on 12-21-15
By: Peter Watts
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A Fire Upon the Deep
- By: Vernor Vinge
- Narrated by: Peter Larkin
- Length: 21 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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A Fire Upon the Deep is the big, breakout book that fulfills the promise of Vinge's career to date: a gripping tale of galactic war told on a cosmic scale. Thousands of years hence, many races inhabit a universe where a mind's potential is determined by its location in space, from superintelligent entities in the Transcend, to the limited minds of the Unthinking Depths, where only simple creatures and technology can function.
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What a wild, wacky, awesome book!
- By Noah Smith on 06-20-10
By: Vernor Vinge
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Starfish
- Rifters Trilogy Series, Book 1
- By: Peter Watts
- Narrated by: Gabriel Vaughan
- Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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A huge international corporation has developed a facility along the Juan de Fuca Ridge at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean to exploit geothermal power. They send a bio-engineered crew - people who have been altered to withstand the pressure and breathe the seawater - down to live and work in this weird, fertile undersea darkness.
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An excellent story, but only half of it
- By Casey on 02-12-20
By: Peter Watts
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Beyond Reason
- Using Emotions as You Negotiate
- By: Roger Fisher, Daniel Shapiro
- Narrated by: Roger Fisher, Daniel Shapiro
- Length: 6 hrs
- Unabridged
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Emotions matter. Whether negotiating with an angry boss or an outraged teenager, emotions can derail you. Properly treated, however, they can help you achieve the results you want. This book shows you how.
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Terrific
- By George on 04-16-06
By: Roger Fisher, and others
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Fallen Dragon
- By: Peter F. Hamilton
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 26 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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In the distant future, corporations have become sustainable communities with their own militaries, and corporate goals have essentially replaced political ideology. On a youthful, rebellious impulse, Lawrence joined the military of a corporation that he now recognizes to be ruthless and exploitative. His only hope for escape is to earn enough money to buy his place in a better corporation.
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Possibly my new favorite Hamilton novel
- By Samuel on 04-08-17
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Strivers Row
- By: Kevin Baker
- Narrated by: Thomas Anthony Penny
- Length: 20 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Summer 1943. Harlem is a never-ending carnival in the second year of the war. Yet underneath the glitter, its black residents remain second-class citizens, and the neighborhood is a tinderbox, waiting for a match.
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A Magnificent Narration
- By Bernard on 04-16-15
By: Kevin Baker
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Murder at Raven's Edge
- An English Village Mystery, Book 1
- By: Louise Marley
- Narrated by: Christopher Bonwell
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Handsome, grumpy local policeman Ben Taylor doesn't believe in coincidences, and he doesn’t think mysterious newcomer Milla Graham is as innocent as she seems. Why is she really here in Raven’s Edge, and how come she keeps turning up at his crime scenes, causing trouble? Can he solve this murder case without losing himself–or his heart–to the rather distracting Miss Graham?
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Didn’t want it to end!
- By J. L. Fishler on 05-12-24
By: Louise Marley
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Glory and the Lightning
- A Novel of Ancient Greece
- By: Taylor Caldwell
- Narrated by: Jamie Renell
- Length: 24 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Born in the Greek city of Miletus, Aspasia was destined for a life of tragedy. Her wealthy father vowed to abandon any female child, so Aspasia was secreted away, educated independently of her family, and raised as a courtesan. She discovered at an early age how to use her powers of intellect as ingeniously as those of the flesh. Ensconced in the Persian harems of Al Taliph, she meets the man who will change her fate: Pericles, the formidable political leader, statesman, ruler of Athens, and Aspasia’s most cherished lover.
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If you know anything about Ancient Greece this is
- By Cela S on 05-08-20
By: Taylor Caldwell
What listeners say about Use of Weapons
Highly rated for:
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- Darden H.
- 04-04-23
LISTEN TO THIS BOOK TWICE!
The way this story unfolds offers a totally unique and brilliant experience that really blew me away. There are many moments where the story feels disjointed, or that you missed an important piece of information early on that's being referenced as background knowledge. towards the final quarter of the story though, things really start to click into place as more information is revealed. The end brings everything together, and will rock you.
If you immediately start the book over again, scenes that worked in a metaphorical sense initially will take on new and more in depth meanings. I fully believe the author intended the readers to read the book again after finishing it the first time- It offers an entirely new, beautifully deep experience once you start with the whole picture already revealed.
The fact that the author was even able to come up with such a complex narrative concept, and to employ it with such skill and emotional depth absolutely boggles my mind. What an incredible experience, and please, PLEASE finish it twice!
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2 people found this helpful
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- Michael Lyons
- 09-23-17
Best Culture novel I’ve read yet.
This is the fourth Culture novel I’ve listened to and is now my favorite. The order I read the books so far have been ‘A Player of Games’, ‘Consider phlebas’, ‘Surface Detail’ and now ‘Use of weapons’. This book is truly unique compared to the others I have read in the way that the characters are developed and in Peter Kenney’s excellent performance. I highly recommend this book but only for folks that have read atleast one Culture novel previously so that you are familiar with GSVs, SC, etc.
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- Andrew D Bauer
- 05-18-21
Interesting
Fascinating storyline. Uniquely told. Amazing culmination with a very unexpected plot twist. Makes you think
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- Alan Meigs
- 04-28-21
Wow, rough start, then eventually wow.
I look forward to reading it again to reassess my opinion but right now it is amongst the best I've read.
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- Anonymous User
- 06-27-17
Awesome but might be better read than listened to
Due to the complexity of this book and the style of jumping around it may be better to read than listen. In saying that it was wonderful and the Peter Kenny's reading was excellent.
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- Mitchel
- 11-21-19
One of the greats
I have listened to this three times now. It is a beautiful, devastating story. Peter Kenny is by far my favorite narrator for Iain m banks. Highly recommended, although probably not the best book to introduce you to the culture novels.
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- Joshua Bremer
- 09-26-23
Requires full concentration throughout
Good story, but not a fan of the dueling timelines every other chapter. Because it tells two different stories in different time periods, it requires complete focus to fully understand everything when it ends. Least favorite book in the series and I will now be taking a break from it. Unlike the previous books, you can’t listen to this one while doing other things if you expect to grasp the story.
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- SciFi Kindle
- 05-16-13
Amazing Character Portrait
After over twenty years, this still holds up as a Sci-Fi masterpiece character study into the dark soul of its protagonist, a mercenary named Cheradenine Zakalwe. At first, the unusual story structure of two asynchronous story lines, alternating between the present and an episodic sequence of thirteen key moments in Zakalwe's past (revealed in reverse chronological order), can be confusing. However, it quickly clarifies, and is an absolutely ingenious way of examining the roots of the character's motives, phobias, and mannerisms in such a way that maximum surprise is extracted at each 'reveal'. Of course, as you've guessed from the profession of Mr. Zakalwe, there is no shortage of action throughout, and a good deal of James Bond 007 (I'm picturing Daniel Craig, not the other blokes). The biggest lost opportunity here was to explore, in the book's many settings and locales, some truly alien cultures, philosophies, and biologies, but sadly we see only a large collection of human civilizations in various stages of technological development. At least Gene Roddenberry slapped some prosthetic facial adornments on his humanoid aliens! Nevertheless, the story succeeds in elevating character over deus ex machina; no easy feat considering the persistent omnipotence of the Culture standing behind the mercenary, but here kept at a welcome arm's length, maintaining a high-stakes identification between the reader and the protagonist.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Dan B
- 08-03-20
Not quite as good as Banks' other Culture novels
This was an entertaining story and I just love Bank's presentation of the Culture. So, needless to say, this is a great story in that tradition. However, I haven't read a huge number of the Culture novels (I think just "Player of Games" and "Consider Phlebas"), and "Use of Weapons" didn't seem quite up to those.
It felt like it only really colored in the characterization of the main character, Zakalwe. In fact, you could say the entire book was essentially devoted to fleshing out his character. Diziet's character is really only there as a foil or straight-person for Zakalwe, and Skaffen-Amtiskaw gets even less book time. Several other characters are portrayed as seen through his eyes, but he is the only full character.
Unfortunately, I didn't really enjoy his character a lot, and I felt like the great reveal at the end was heavily and obviously foreshadowed, if not in the specific details, certainly in outlines of what happened. Add into that the narrative structure choice of interleaving two storylines, one proceeding forward in time and one proceeding backward in time, and I struggled to enjoy the plotline.
The narration by Peter Kenny was excellent, he brings the perfect tone to the Culture series!
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- ZenDada
- 09-04-16
Never for a second guessed this was coming!
The story of a man - an assassin, really - but a man who wanted to do the right thing. Died a lot. Had a lot of amnesia. Struggled to remember.
Had a phobia of chairs. Small white chairs.
I never saw the ending coming. I'm in tears. I'll read this again in print. And cry again.
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