Use of Weapons, by Iain M. Banks. From the website:#

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 Sima 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.

Ferociously intelligent, both witty and horrific, USE OF WEAPONS is a masterpiece of science fiction.

Michael Williams agrees that it is good.#

Great line on why the humans of the world still do work even though they have highly advanced machines and artificial intelligences:#

Birds fly better than we do, and fish swim better. Do we stop gliding or swiming because of this? [p. 267]