Listen free for 30 days
-
Use of Weapons
- Culture Series, Book 3
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Series: Culture, Book 3
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Categories: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Science Fiction
People who bought this also bought...
-
Consider Phlebas
- Culture Series, Book 1
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 16 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The war raged across the galaxy. Billions had died, billions more were doomed. Moons, planets, the very stars themselves, faced destruction - cold-blooded, brutal, and worse, random. The Idirans fought for their Faith; the Culture for its moral right to exist. Principles were at stake. There could be no surrender. Within the cosmic conflict, an individual crusade....
-
-
A Truly Great Sci-Fi Novel
- By scotty on 09-04-12
-
Against a Dark Background
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 18 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sharrow was once the leader of a personality-attuned combat team in one of the sporadic little commercial wars in the civilisation based around the planet Golter. Now she is hunted by the Huhsz, a religious cult which believes that she is the last obstacle before the faith's apotheosis, and her only hope of escape is to find the last of the apocalyptically powerful Lazy Guns before the Huhsz find her.
-
-
It's probably just me but...
- By Paul on 25-10-12
-
Feersum Endjinn
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Count Sessine is about to die for the very last time.... Chief Scientist Gadfium is about to receive the mysterious message she has been waiting for from the Plain of Sliding Stones.... And Bascule the Teller, in search of an ant, is about to enter the chaos of the crypt.... And everything is about to change.... For this is the time of the encroachment and, although the dimming sun still shines on the vast, towering walls of Serehfa Fastness, the end is close at hand.
-
-
Brought the novel to life for me
- By Mark Brandon on 22-01-13
-
The Algebraist
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Geoff Annis
- Length: 24 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For short-lived races like humans, space is dominated by the complicated, grandiose Mercatoria. To the Dwellers who may live billions of years, the galaxy consists of their gas-giant planets - the rest is debris. Fassin Taak is a Slow Seer privileged to work with the Dwellers of the gas-giant Nasqueron. His work consists of rummaging for data in their vast, disorganised memories and libraries. Unfortunately, without knowing it, he's come close to an ancient secret of unimaginable importance.
-
-
Spoiled by awful narration
- By Martin on 05-12-17
-
Revelation Space
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 22 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nine hundred thousand years ago, something annihilated the Amarantin civilization just as it was on the verge of discovering space flight. Now one scientist, Dan Sylveste, will stop at nothing to solve the Amarantin riddle before ancient history repeats itself. With no other resources at his disposal, Sylveste forges a dangerous alliance with the cyborg crew of the starship Nostalgia for Infinity. But as he closes in on the secret, a killer closes in on him because the Amarantin were destroyed for a reason.
-
-
Good story - Fell out with the narrator.
- By Peter on 06-07-10
-
Transition
- By: Iain Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A world that hangs suspended between triumph and catastrophe, between the dismantling of the Wall and the fall of the Twin Towers, frozen in the shadow of suicide terrorism and global financial collapse, such a world requires a firm hand and a guiding light. But does it need the Concern: an all-powerful organisation with a malevolent presiding genius, pervasive influence and numberless invisible operatives in possession of extraordinary powers?
-
-
Audio book of the year
- By MikeyC on 10-11-09
-
Consider Phlebas
- Culture Series, Book 1
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 16 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The war raged across the galaxy. Billions had died, billions more were doomed. Moons, planets, the very stars themselves, faced destruction - cold-blooded, brutal, and worse, random. The Idirans fought for their Faith; the Culture for its moral right to exist. Principles were at stake. There could be no surrender. Within the cosmic conflict, an individual crusade....
-
-
A Truly Great Sci-Fi Novel
- By scotty on 09-04-12
-
Against a Dark Background
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 18 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sharrow was once the leader of a personality-attuned combat team in one of the sporadic little commercial wars in the civilisation based around the planet Golter. Now she is hunted by the Huhsz, a religious cult which believes that she is the last obstacle before the faith's apotheosis, and her only hope of escape is to find the last of the apocalyptically powerful Lazy Guns before the Huhsz find her.
-
-
It's probably just me but...
- By Paul on 25-10-12
-
Feersum Endjinn
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Count Sessine is about to die for the very last time.... Chief Scientist Gadfium is about to receive the mysterious message she has been waiting for from the Plain of Sliding Stones.... And Bascule the Teller, in search of an ant, is about to enter the chaos of the crypt.... And everything is about to change.... For this is the time of the encroachment and, although the dimming sun still shines on the vast, towering walls of Serehfa Fastness, the end is close at hand.
-
-
Brought the novel to life for me
- By Mark Brandon on 22-01-13
-
The Algebraist
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Geoff Annis
- Length: 24 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For short-lived races like humans, space is dominated by the complicated, grandiose Mercatoria. To the Dwellers who may live billions of years, the galaxy consists of their gas-giant planets - the rest is debris. Fassin Taak is a Slow Seer privileged to work with the Dwellers of the gas-giant Nasqueron. His work consists of rummaging for data in their vast, disorganised memories and libraries. Unfortunately, without knowing it, he's come close to an ancient secret of unimaginable importance.
-
-
Spoiled by awful narration
- By Martin on 05-12-17
-
Revelation Space
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 22 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nine hundred thousand years ago, something annihilated the Amarantin civilization just as it was on the verge of discovering space flight. Now one scientist, Dan Sylveste, will stop at nothing to solve the Amarantin riddle before ancient history repeats itself. With no other resources at his disposal, Sylveste forges a dangerous alliance with the cyborg crew of the starship Nostalgia for Infinity. But as he closes in on the secret, a killer closes in on him because the Amarantin were destroyed for a reason.
-
-
Good story - Fell out with the narrator.
- By Peter on 06-07-10
-
Transition
- By: Iain Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A world that hangs suspended between triumph and catastrophe, between the dismantling of the Wall and the fall of the Twin Towers, frozen in the shadow of suicide terrorism and global financial collapse, such a world requires a firm hand and a guiding light. But does it need the Concern: an all-powerful organisation with a malevolent presiding genius, pervasive influence and numberless invisible operatives in possession of extraordinary powers?
-
-
Audio book of the year
- By MikeyC on 10-11-09
-
The Reality Dysfunction
- By: Peter F. Hamilton
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 41 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton is the first in Night's Dawn, a sweeping galactic trilogy from the master of space opera. In AD 2600 the human race is finally realizing its full potential. Hundreds of colonized planets across the galaxy host a multitude of wildly diverse cultures. Genetic engineering has pushed evolution far beyond nature's boundaries, defeating disease and producing extraordinary space-born creatures.
-
-
Great story spoiled by poor audio editing..
- By P Hardwick on 18-11-16
-
Skyward Inn
- By: Aliya Whiteley
- Narrated by: Kristin Atherton
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Skyward Inn, within the high walls of the Western Protectorate, is a place of safety, where people come together to tell stories of the time before the war with Qita. But safety from what? Qita surrendered without complaint when Earth invaded; Innkeepers Jem and Isley, veterans from either side, have regrets but few scars. Their peace is disturbed when a visitor known to Isley comes to the Inn asking for help, bringing reminders of an unnerving past and triggering an uncertain future.
-
-
Dreary and full of bad stereotypes
- By Amazon Customer on 30-03-21
-
The Prefect
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 19 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tom Dreyfus is a Prefect, a law enforcement officer with the Panoply. His beat is the multifaceted utopian society of the Glitter Band, that vast swirl of space habitats orbiting the planet Yellowstone, the teeming hub of a human interstellar empire spanning many worlds. His current case: investigating a murderous attack against one of the habitats that left 900 people dead, a crime that appalls even a hardened cop like Dreyfus.
-
-
Prefect near perfect
- By Patrick on 19-09-11
-
Salvation
- By: Peter F. Hamilton
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 19 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
AD 2204. An alien shipwreck is discovered on a planet at the very limits of human expansion - so Security Director Feriton Kayne selects a team to investigate. The ship’s sinister cargo not only raises bewildering questions but could also foreshadow humanity’s extinction. It will be up to the team to bring back answers, and the consequences of this voyage will change everything. Back on Earth, we can now make deserts bloom and extend lifespans indefinitely, so humanity seems invulnerable. We therefore welcomed the Olyix to Earth when they contacted us. But were the Olyix a blessing or a curse?
-
-
Great book let down by the narration
- By Peter Kuehne on 28-06-19
-
The Bridge
- By: Iain Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A man lies in a coma after a near-fatal accident. His body broken, his memory vanished, he finds himself in the surreal world of the bridge - a world free of the usual constraints of time and space, a world where dream and fantasy, past and future, fuse. Who is this man? Where is he? Is he more dead than alive? Or has he never been so alive before?
-
-
Interesting but thin on plot
- By Stuart on 04-09-15
-
The Saints of Salvation
- The Salvation Sequence
- By: Peter F. Hamilton
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 17 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Humanity welcomed the Olyix and their utopian technology. But mankind was tricked. Now these visitors are extracting a terrible price. For two years, the Olyix have laid siege to Earth, harvesting its people for their god. One by one, cities are falling to their devastating weaponry. And while millions have fled to seek refuge in space, others continue to fight an apparently unwinnable war.
-
-
Same Old, But Less Engaging...
- By Mark H on 02-11-20
-
Mindstar Rising
- The Greg Mandel Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Peter F. Hamilton
- Narrated by: Toby Longworth
- Length: 14 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's the 21st century, and global warming is here to stay, so forget the way your country used to look. And get used to the free market, too – the companies possess all the best hardware, and they're calling the shots now. In a world like this, a man open to any offers can make out just fine. A man like Greg Mandel for instance, who's psi-boosted, wired into the latest sensory equipment, carrying state-of-the-art weaponry – and late of the English Army's Mindstar Battalion.
-
-
Great!
- By Catherine on 13-12-11
-
Foundation
- By: Isaac Asimov
- Narrated by: William Hope
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Galactic Empire has prospered for 12,000 years. Nobody suspects that the heart of the thriving Empire is rotten, until psychohistorian Hari Seldon uses his new science to foresee its terrible fate. Exiled to the desolate planet Terminus, Seldon establishes a colony of the greatest minds in the Empire, a Foundation which holds the key to changing the fate of the galaxy.
-
-
foundation. classic golden age sci fi
- By john COZ WE CAN on 27-10-19
-
Complicity
- By: Iain Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A few spliffs, a spot of mild S&M, phone through the copy of tomorrow's front page, catch up with the latest from your mystery source - could be big, could be very big - in fact, just a regular day at the office for free-wheeling, substance-abusing Cameron Colley, a fully paid-up Gonzo hack on an Edinburgh newspaper. The source is pretty thin, but Cameron senses a scoop and checks out a series of bizarre deaths from a few years ago - only to find that the police are checking out a series of bizarre deaths that are happening right now. And Cameron just might know more about it than he'd care to admit.…
-
-
Why do I like this so much? ....
- By Alison on 07-06-13
-
House of Suns
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 18 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Six million years ago, at the very dawn of the starfaring era, Abigail Gentian fractured herself into a thousand male and female clones: the shatterlings. Sent out into the galaxy, these shatterlings have stood aloof as they document the rise and fall of countless human empires. They meet every 200,000 years to exchange news and memories of their travels with their siblings.
-
-
Confusing at first, but keep with it
- By Cenydd on 08-07-13
-
Cryptonomicon
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: William Dufris
- Length: 42 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1942, Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse - mathematical genius and young Captain in the US Navy - is assigned to detachment 2702. It is an outfit so secret that only a handful of people know it exists, and some of those people have names like Churchill and Roosevelt. The mission of Watrehouse and Detachment 2702 - commanded by Marine Raider Bobby Shaftoe - is to keep the Nazis ignorant of the fact that Allied Intelligence has cracked the enemy's fabled Enigma code. In the present, Waterhouse's crypto-hacker grandson, Randy, is attempting to create a "data haven" in Southeast Asia....
-
-
Ended abruptly
- By Tom G on 04-03-16
-
Ball Lightning
- By: Cixin Liu
- Narrated by: Bruno Roubicek
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Chen's parents are incinerated before his eyes by a blast of ball lightning, he devotes his life to cracking the secret of this mysterious natural phenomenon. The more he learns, the more he comes to realise that ball lightning is just the tip of an entirely new frontier in particle physics. Although Chen's quest provides a purpose for his lonely life, his reasons for chasing this elusive quarry come into conflict with soldiers and scientists who have motives of their own.
-
-
Author's afterword contains spoilers
- By Jed1314 on 28-04-20
Summary
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 or military action. The woman known as Diziet Sma had plucked him from obscurity and pushed him towards 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 burnt-out case. But not even its machine intelligence could see the horrors in his past.
More from the same
What listeners say about Use of Weapons
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
- Thomas
- 16-04-12
Another great book from Iain M Banks.
I'd already read this as a physical book, but I'd forgotten the title - I decided that I should just listen again anyway and I was really glad I did. Once you've read it once, then the second time you listen to it in a completely different way - I highly recommend leaving it a few years after the first listen and then listening to it again.
Anyway, it's pretty much impossible to say anything without spoiling it for others with this book so all I'll say is that it's up there with the best of the Iain M Banks books for me.
Great narration too - this is one of my favourite narrators. I made a list of them after a while so I'd be able to search based on narrator and not just author - I reckon it's that important - plus great narrators don't tend to do terrible books. I also really like Scott Brick who read Dune (amazing), Toby Longworth who read Iain M Banks - Matter, Samuel West who read The Day of the Triffids (amazing), Sean Barrett who read The Left Hand of God (really really good), and my favourite of the lot is Anton Lesser who read the Algebraist, which I didn't really enjoy - although I think I need to just try again with it and do it all over a few days and not try and do anything else at the same time.
24 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Mr. A. Garlick
- 22-05-12
Iain M Banks & Peter Kenny... brilliant!
One of my favourite authors and a top class voice actor, you cant get much better in my opinion!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Paul
- 08-06-15
Complex and fantastic
This is my third Culture novel and the best so far. Each one I listen to, I think, this one won't be as good as the last, but they just keep getting better. Great format to use the two strands of the same story being told together, with one being told backwards. You have to stay sharp or you'll get lost, but it's well worth it.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- G. Thompson
- 07-05-15
A little more complex
The narrator delivers in a way I find very pleasant to listen to.
The story is a little less action packed but I enjoyed the chapter by chapter jump from past to current. Well worth a read, so to speak.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- David
- 24-01-14
Genius at the top of his game; RIP Iain (M.) Banks
Would you listen to Use of Weapons again? Why?
Without giving too much away, you're more or less compelled to read it [listen to it] again (a loose analogy from the film world might be "The Sixth Sense"). Indeed, I've listened to this audio-book again after having read the physical book several times.
Who was your favorite character and why?
All characters are brilliantly portrayed and "act" impeccably (true to their described personas with excellent dialogue); Zakalwe is the stand-out character as hero/anti-hero of the story.
What about Peter Kenny’s performance did you like?
Superb reading with helpful accents (consistent and not overdone) for character identification. I don't think a better job could have been done without a cast (and if this ever gets made into a film - it would make a great film - Peter Kenny should be given a guest appearance at least).
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The ending is startling, appalling, mind-blowing (!), a revelation but at the same time transparent (no cheap trickery here) and immensely satisfying - and that just about sums-up the whole book.
Any additional comments?
A quick word on the (it is said) "confusing" but vital plot structure - when reading a book, how many times do we really take notice of the chapter numbering & titling? Pay attention!
A sad loss - he is missed.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- hfffoman
- 21-01-15
Unconvincing apart from a few good moments
Any additional comments?
Without spoilers: This is two separate stories, alternating a chapter of each, about a mercenary working for The Culture. One is his latest, and perhaps final, mission. The other goes backwards in time through disconnected episodes in his life, gradually revealing the secret of his past and the reason for his (believe it or not) fear of chairs.
For me, the high point of the book was "numeral 4", which contains a wonderful speech on the merits of simple work, and some excellent philosophy on the nature of machine intelligence (I confess this is my professional field but I recommend this short section to anyone).
Unfortunately, despite that little highlight, overall I found the book uninspiring and lacking the excitement and imagination of the previous books in the series. At the end I felt unsatisfied. The final revelation was so unconvincing as to be a complete let-down, though I guess it did explain the chairophobia. It's supposed to be a surprise so I won't give anything away.
The book contains several weak episodes with irrelevant loose ends. There were also a lot of passages describing altered consciousness caused by pain or drugs. Some readers may like these. I found them rather annoying and pretentious and nowhere near as good as the fantastical descriptions of a man in a coma which comprise 90% of his prize-winning novel, The Bridge.
Overall I am not sure what to think about The Culture series. I greatly enjoyed The Player of Games. Then I read Consider Phlebas and this one, both of which I found a let-down, so I probably won't read any more from the series. If anyone understands my point of view and liked other books in the series, I would be delighted to hear your comments and recommendations.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- scotty
- 27-05-12
Another Great Ian M Banks Book
The ending is a sucker-punch! No spoilers but I didn't see it coming until the last chapter. WOW!
Seriously, another great book with stunning vision from the author and a great read from the narrator!
I found the novel's construction to be quite difficult to follow. Other IMB audio-books I've gobbled in 2-3 days but this one took best part of a month. Worth the effort though and will be high on my revisit list.
The later IMB books are stunners and this is a fair taste of the madness to come.
I wish Excession was on Audible...
Enjoy Use of Weapons folks.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Likmjk
- 11-04-20
confusing timeline not good as audio book
difficult to stop and start and some details get easily missed:
the chapters alternate between timelines and it's probably fine as a book especially as the chapters are apparently visibly differentiated in the numbering between Roman numerals and plain digits, but without this information and with many bizarre names to follow it's one that probably needs to be read in print.
the principal focus of the book seemed to be the time frames and it seemed disjointed regardless.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Abelardo Kim Gamban
- 15-12-16
Fantastic.
This is probably the only review I will ever write. I felt violated after finishing the book but surprised to find I enjoyed the feeling. I am not compelled to listen to it again but I will say the story must be experienced by everyone at least once.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Allan Hugman
- 06-09-16
What's a weapon?
The performance is superb and grounds the plot as you literally shot around the Universe. But always drawn back to the centre. There you may find the ultimate weapon of the Culture but will it be used?
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Jacobus
- 20-04-12
Persevere and find gold!
Iaian M. Banks writes (what I would call) philosophical science fiction. He uses his stories to raise important ethical questions and to comment on the political establishment of the day. ???Use of Weapons??? is no exception. When listening to the story it might help asking yourself ???What is the weapon(s) used in the story and by whom????
When Special Circumstances a division of Contact, the (machine-humanoid symbiotic) Culture???s ???Intelligence Agency??? uses the man, Cheradenine Zakalwe, as an agent to do its dirty work, it eventually has to come to terms with his past. Banks hereby raises the question of superpowers using unknown front figureheads and groups to do their dirty bidding in ensuring that the world is shaped according to their will. What happens if this fa??ade cracks?
The story is complexly structured. There are two numbering systems in the book, a story going from chapter to chapter in chronological order and a numeral system which consists of back flashes seemingly arranged in a reverse chronological order. The numeral chapters give the listener hints an a little bit of insight into the person and being of Cheradenine Zakalwe. When the current time and the past collides the puzzle suddenly fits and the ???aha??? moment arrives. This makes the book in my opinion outstanding.
I found that while the story that moved from chapter to chapter was straightforward, the numeral chapters kept you guessing. I enjoyed the way the numeral chapters were written; each one could be a short story on its own.
Banks makes the listener a sleuth, encouraging you to puzzle out the story before he tells you the secret at the most crucial point in the story. He definitely caught me unaware. I think this is where the brilliance of this novel lies in, the surprise.
Peter Kenny, by now synonymous with the reading of Iaian M. Banks??? audio books does an excellent job.
Be warned, it is not an easy book to listen too at first, but is you persevere you will find the gold at the end of the rainbow. It took me a few times of rewinding and listening again to some chapters, but I am really glad I did it.
???Use of Weapons??? is the third Culture novel after ???Consider Phlebas??? and ???The Player of Games.??? I propose that you listen at least to ???Consider Phlebas??? first, just to get the feel for Bank???s science fiction universe. However it is not a must, you might probably enjoy this story just as much without listening/ reading his other books.
It comes highly recommended!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Per
- 28-09-19
Drags on too long
A good and entertaining, sometimes thought-provoking story that felt marred by an ending that dragged on for far too long.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Oscar
- 05-09-19
Slow but fascinating !
Starts slow but is worth sticking to it. The plot structure is a bit confusing, especially on audio book, but the individual chapters are immersive and interesting.
Not my favorite Culture book , but it was actually quite good and probably will re listen to it eventually.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Thomas Ohrbom
- 28-11-18
A bit of a mess really
I know the structure of it is rather unusual, but to me it was just confusing and not a plus. Great fun at times but overall a disappointment. By far the weakest of the Culture Series; I've currently finished the first six books of the series.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- James Arnold
- 14-11-18
Nope! Does not work as an audible book.
The structure of this book does not work at all with the two intersecting story lines. But I could not keep clear in what story line I was on. And within the storylines it jumps a lot. It kind of pays off in the end but not really. Maybe read this one.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- JCRW
- 01-02-18
Most disappointing book in the series
should have known by the title. It was a wandering mess going from one war to another. lacking absolutely all of the high minded big ideas that make this series worth reading
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Nick
- 19-08-16
Another excellent culture novel
another great listen. The first three culture booms have been all excellent, and their narration makes then shine