Listen free for 30 days
-
Use of Weapons
- Culture Series, Book 3
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $37.83
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
You may also enjoy...
-
City of Last Chances
- Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 19 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There has always been a darkness to Ilmar, but never more so than now. The city chafes under the heavy hand of the Palleseen occupation, the choke-hold of its criminal underworld, the boot of its factory owners, the weight of its wretched poor and the burden of its ancient curse. What will be the spark that lights the conflagration? Despite the city's refugees, wanderers, murderers, madmen, fanatics and thieves, the catalyst, as always, will be the Anchorwood–that dark grove of trees, that primeval remnant, that portal, when the moon is full, to strange and distant shores.
-
-
A Twisting Tale of Great Characters
- By K. Tough on 2024-02-16
Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
-
A Fire Upon the Deep
- Written by: Vernor Vinge
- Narrated by: Peter Larkin
- Length: 21 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Good story, bad performance
- By Amazon Customer on 2023-12-02
Written by: Vernor Vinge
-
Neuromancer
- Written by: William Gibson
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twenty years ago, it was as if someone turned on a light. The future blazed into existence with each deliberate word that William Gibson laid down. The winner of Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick Awards, Neuromancer didn't just explode onto the science fiction scene - it permeated into the collective consciousness, culture, science, and technology.Today, there is only one science fiction masterpiece to thank for the term "cyberpunk," for easing the way into the information age and Internet society.
-
-
Narration was dreadful, book was excellent.
- By WarriorsDawn on 2018-12-06
Written by: William Gibson
-
Revelation Space
- Written 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.
-
-
Rough Narration
- By HoldFast on 2021-04-22
Written by: Alastair Reynolds
-
The Prefect
- Written 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.
-
-
The Prefect is superb!
- By Christian G. Cameron on 2023-01-03
Written by: Alastair Reynolds
-
Seveneves
- A Novel
- Written by: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal, Will Damron
- Length: 31 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space.
-
-
Great novel, only somewhat held back by narration
- By Ryan Love on 2019-02-27
Written by: Neal Stephenson
-
City of Last Chances
- Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 19 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There has always been a darkness to Ilmar, but never more so than now. The city chafes under the heavy hand of the Palleseen occupation, the choke-hold of its criminal underworld, the boot of its factory owners, the weight of its wretched poor and the burden of its ancient curse. What will be the spark that lights the conflagration? Despite the city's refugees, wanderers, murderers, madmen, fanatics and thieves, the catalyst, as always, will be the Anchorwood–that dark grove of trees, that primeval remnant, that portal, when the moon is full, to strange and distant shores.
-
-
A Twisting Tale of Great Characters
- By K. Tough on 2024-02-16
Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
-
A Fire Upon the Deep
- Written by: Vernor Vinge
- Narrated by: Peter Larkin
- Length: 21 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Good story, bad performance
- By Amazon Customer on 2023-12-02
Written by: Vernor Vinge
-
Neuromancer
- Written by: William Gibson
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twenty years ago, it was as if someone turned on a light. The future blazed into existence with each deliberate word that William Gibson laid down. The winner of Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick Awards, Neuromancer didn't just explode onto the science fiction scene - it permeated into the collective consciousness, culture, science, and technology.Today, there is only one science fiction masterpiece to thank for the term "cyberpunk," for easing the way into the information age and Internet society.
-
-
Narration was dreadful, book was excellent.
- By WarriorsDawn on 2018-12-06
Written by: William Gibson
-
Revelation Space
- Written 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.
-
-
Rough Narration
- By HoldFast on 2021-04-22
Written by: Alastair Reynolds
-
The Prefect
- Written 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.
-
-
The Prefect is superb!
- By Christian G. Cameron on 2023-01-03
Written by: Alastair Reynolds
-
Seveneves
- A Novel
- Written by: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal, Will Damron
- Length: 31 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space.
-
-
Great novel, only somewhat held back by narration
- By Ryan Love on 2019-02-27
Written by: Neal Stephenson
Publisher's Summary
The novels of Iain M. Banks have forever changed the face of modern science fiction. His Culture books combine breathtaking imagination with exceptional storytelling, and have secured his reputation as one of the most extraordinary and influential writers in the genre.
The man known as Zakalwe was one of Special Circumstances' foremost agents, changing the destiny of planets to suit the Culture through intrigue, dirty tricks or military action.
Though the woman known as Diziet Sma had plucked him from obscurity and aided his stratospheric rise, she did not know him as well as she thought.
The drone Skaffen-Amtiskaw thought it knew both of these people. It had once saved the woman's life by massacring her attackers, and it believed the man to be a burnt-out wreck - but not even its superlative machine-intelligence could see the horrors in his past.
The Culture series:
Consider Phlebas
The Player of Games
Use of Weapons
Excession
Inversions
Look to Windward
Matter
Surface Detail
The Hydrogen Sonata
The State of the Art
Other books by Iain M. Banks:
Against a Dark Background
Feersum Endjinn
The Algebraist
More from the same
What listeners say about Use of Weapons
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
- subprimefree
- 2020-05-30
Surprise ending!
Tough going at times, as the narrative often drags, and entire chapters are unnecessary. But the ending was unexpected, so the author deserves full credit for that.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- kevin hartwig
- 2020-03-27
Heavy and difficult. But the climb was worth it.
Id assumed that this series would be the way i often think of star trek. Lighthearted and hopeful, maybe something i can leave on in the background while running. Make no mistake; the culture is utopean, but this story is not. This is a heavy read, like the biography of a grim historical figure. Really brought out by the performance. I don't think i will re-read this one, bit im quite glad to have experienced it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Dave
- 2023-02-26
Best Culture book so far!
Really enjoyed this one and loved the twist at the end. Highly recommend this story about the Culture.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jon Winebrenner
- 2019-04-12
Great Read
Closer to suspense then sci-fi. Great twist at the end. definitely recommend it to anyone seeking something a bit more cerebral.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jared M.
- 2019-09-17
Very difficult to follow along
I love this format for book but not for audio, I found this book very difficult to follow along. I only listened to it sporadically while running errands or doing yard work, and whenever I picked it back up I would forget what direction the story was going at the place I last left it. Peter Kenney did a great job, and the story was fine but the format was wrong for this medium.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- A. Brown
- 2023-12-16
Tries Too Hard
This feels like an artist tried too hard to be sophisticated and ended up producing pretentious modern art. The story does not flow, the characters are generally unlikable, and the stakes are muddied. The writing is exceptionally good, Banks is undeniably a master of his craft, but the story is extremely weak.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Shesophist
- 2019-03-07
Not bad, not great
I had heard this was the best Culture novel so my expectations were high, and I came away a bit disappointed. I didn't like it as much as Player of Games, and the non-linear story organization was more confusing than interesting. Maybe reading it would have suited the style better, but listening to it, I had trouble following along.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 2023-11-19
Story bounces around way too much
Not a relaxing listen as I was always needing to figure out where I was in the storyline.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!