The Player Of Games
Author: Iain M. Banks
Genre: Sci-fi
Released: 01 August 1988
Rating:
Gurgeh is the Culture's greatest game player, undefeated and growing bored. He is recruited by the Culture's intelligence arm to travel to the Empire of Azad — a brutal civilisation where a single, impossibly complex game determines who rules. Losing is not an option. A compact, tightly plotted second Culture novel that uses the central game metaphor to explore ideology, power, and what a truly post-scarcity civilisation might value.
I enjoyed this book; I think that's evident by the fact that I managed to get through it in a couple of days. Having said that, I came away with a feeling that the ending was predictable. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as the rest of the story was great, and there was a slight twist at the end, but as I say...predictable.
Banks' ability to paint worlds is spectacularly good. He's particularly adept, I think, at articulating the mind-boggling scales at which space travel would work, and relatedly, the futility of the various stories he covers. I don't know if that's a theme that will follow on in the other books, I suppose I'll have to wait and see.
When I started this book, I expected it to follow on from the first book, Consider Phlebas, but it turns out that each book is a separate story, which means I can scatter these between other books I'm reading.
Anyway, while the ending was somewhat predictable, the rest of the story was great, so well worth a read. Looking forward to the next Culture book.
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