5/24/2023 0 Comments Use of Weapons by Iain M. BanksHe can't ever atone, but has to always try. And when he tries to do anything that isn't about fighting and killing, he just can't. It's amazing that even after that scene (which I had to admit I saw coming), E/Z is still sympathetic - he grew up unable to understand certain things, and became a terrible, inhuman person, willing to use anything as a weapon. It doesn't matter what happens to him after that scene the main reason he kept on being called back, I thought, was that Sma wanted him back as the best man for the job in hand, and once she couldn't face ever dealing with him again, the Culture was happy enough to cut him loose and let him wander about trying to atone, or getting himself killed, whichever happened first. Sma, horrified and disgusted at having worked so closely with E/Z for so long, goes and finds a replacement from a war somewhere who isn't a horribly broken sociopathic mass murderer. I got the impression that after the scene with the revelation of Elethiomel/Zakalwe's identity (which only came as a surprise to Sma - I think the Minds and Skaffen-Amtiskaw knew, and had factored it into his deployment), it's suggested that he quits the Culture (as he's wanted to all along for a while now) and maybe goes and tries to do the same sort of thing on his own, or maybe he doesn't.
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