I just finished Iain M. Banks' 'Use of Weapons' yesterday. It's a science-fiction/space opera about this intergalactic operative/agent of some shadowy organization which manipulates governments in order to promote peace in the universe.

It was a bit slow in the beginning, plus the structure of showing fragments of the main character's past can be confusing. But it picks up relentlessly past the middle part and becomes just explosive in the end.

I liked the portrayal of the AIs. They usually are funny and quirky, providing the much-needed levity to all the bleakness and darkness in the novel.

This is my first sci-fi of Mr. Banks. The very first novel of his I've read is 'The Wasp Factory,' which is a whole different kind of novel. I am more of the cyberpunk sci-fi type, but I've read and liked several space operas like Dune, Hyperion, and Revelation Space.

Themes of this book: guilt, atonement, remorse, war, memories, and of course, weapons.

Just a footnote: Prior to finishing the novel, I picked up and randomly sifted through this very slim book called 'The Bluffer's Guide to Philosophy.' There's a part there talking about ethics. It says there are two main lines of thought in ethics: utilitarian and deontological ethics. The first, (and this is my understanding of it, a simplification), goes by the dictum: 'the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people' as the measure of good/morality. Deontological ethics is more complicated, but I gather it's the one that says 'do only the things you want other people to do to you and to other people ...', or something like that. Basically why I bring this up is this - if a person becomes remorseful/grows a conscience and atones for his past misdeeds by doing countless good works, does this expiate that one single act of brutality that he has done?