A muddled let-down - Rated 
I'm going to have to go against the grain of the other reviews here. I am a huge fan of Iain Banks' Culture series, but "Use of Weapons" has been the most disappointing title I've read from this author.
The plot is all over the place, and never really seems to solidify and take any direction. Every time you start a new chapter you feel as if you're being told a new story about the main character, which (while elegantly written) never seems to have any real relevance or give any momentum to the already threadbare central plot. In theory I suppose a collection of short stories to tell the tale of a man's life sounds like a good idea, but in its execution it became a chore to read. You turn the page and it's "right, what the hell is he doing now?" - this is not a book you can really settle into. I'd recommend any Culture title to a new reader but this one.
Ending on a positive note, the book is packed with beautiful description, some really gritty and brutal chapters (however disconnected they are from the plot) and some vivid imagination. If you can get over the stumbling plot, you might just enjoy it.
Not for the hard of thinking - Rated 
Dark, complex, full of twists, featuring unlikeable characters in almost unremittingly bleak circumstances. Great.
Do you like heroes? Plots where good and evil are easily distinguished? Straightforward, linear narratives? That's not here.
The book is like Marmite - there are those that loved it and those that hated it. The reviews from those that hated it make the same complains - basically the reasons I list for it being a great book in the first sentence.
If that sounds like your cup of tea, buy the book, it is the best of its kind. If it's not your thing, don't buy it, it's the worst of its kind.
Personally I think it's Banks' best.
One of my favourite books - Rated
This is one of my favourite books. It is more than simply Science Fiction and is as much a thriller as any other genré. Banks' easy style compells us to read on as the story unfolds, twisting and spiralling with past and present, revealing to us the 'hero' Cheradenine Zakalwe.
This book, as has already been suggested, does benefit from some knowledge of the Culture and I would repeat that Consider Phlebus and The Player of Games would help expplain some of the other characters.
It does stand alone however and the story is so rich that I have been drawn to read it all over again.
Good but not the best Culture book - Rated 
While this is still a very good book, it pales in comparison to some of Banks' other sci-fi books such as Excession and Player of Games. Where they are superb, this book is merely good. It's not that the writing is any less skillful or the imagination any less incredible, it's just that you care less for the characters in this book that from the other books.
Ultimately, no one does space opera better than Banks - and if you're a fan, you'll enjoy this book greatly.
Entering the whirlpool ... - Rated
As the first strand of the narrative rushes forwards in the present, the second strand twists backwards, into the past and into the formative episodes of Zakalwe's life. When it reaches the core of his past, you see that the story you thought you'd read has another, and very different, cast to it, like a face-or-vase illusion.
A disturbing, haunting, and fascinating book that demands to be re-read from time to time. Banks has one hell of an imagination.
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