The Player of Games

Jernau Morat Gurgeh is a master “Player of Games.” In fact, he is so masterful, that he is becoming jaded and cynical. His success allows him to live an idyllic existence surrounded by friends and admirers. Like a mountain climber who has crested Everest, what’s left? Cue a series of events that will lead him to a hidden empire – The Empire of Azad. This entire culture is built around a game – a game so complex that the winner becomes the emperor.

I greatly enjoyed this novel mostly due to its fresh, unique storyline. I guess the only thing that comes close in my reading history was “Ender’s Game.” You can feel the clarity of plot that Banks had in his mind when he wrote this and that makes it an accessible and show more engrossing tale. In addition, the Culture universe is complex and sophisticated, filled with cool space megastructure, amazing ships, and interesting AI self-aware minds and drones. This is my second read in the Culture universe and it’s a fun place to explore.

As to downsides, my primary disappointment was with the Empire of Azad itself. I liked the ambiguity of ‘Consider Phlebas,’ where it was often difficult to determine who to root for. In that tale the main character saw flaws in both the Idirans and the Culture and that led to subtleties and a realistic texture. In this book, while there are still flaws in the Culture’s approach, once the underbelly of the Empire of Azad is revealed, there is no longer any doubt of who to favor and that weakens that plot in my opinion. At that moment, you know how the book must end. I also felt like Gurgeh accepted some plot points way too easily, which went against his earlier-established character and values. Unfortunately, I can’t explain this deeply without revealing spoilers. None of this ruined the novel, but ultimately, it lessened the ending greatly in my opinion.

Four puzzle-pieced stars for this wildly imaginative, energetically paced, and intellectually constructed space opera entry into the Culture universe. You’ll want to break out your Risk Shadow Forces board game (or any sci-fi related strategy game) after you’ve read the last word. show less

More interesting than its predecessor, while still having an ambiguous relationship to The Culture which keeps it interesting. This time the protagonist is part of it, but still in many ways an unwitting microcosm to the macrocosm of The Culture storyline. Banks essentially pulls the same trick on you from another direction, although this felt more accomplished. Gurgeh's quest and navigation of The Empire keeps an incomprehensible game sounding pretty interesting, and also reveals a lot about the premises of The Culture civilization in contrast to a less savoury example. It's hard not to compare it to The Federation (from Star Trek), except ruled by mysterious AIs and their servitors, with the post scarcity society seeming to breed show more complacency and apathy (in the case of our protagonist at least), outside of their special interests. Though by the end you're once again wondering if they're actually "the good guys" or just a different way of controlling an empire. show less

In the Culture, humanoids of all different planets have created a society where the needs of all are met, the rights of all are respected, and the only troubles come from beyond its borders. Biological life forms live in peace with drones and spaceships that are considered equals. Jernau Morat Gurgeh, having no need to work for anything besides his own pleasure, spends his time studying and playing games. Well respected as a competitor and well-renowned as the author of many papers, he gladly accepts the opportunity to play one of his best games against a young prodigy who's just arrived on the orbital where he lives. But as the game goes on, he falls into temptation, wanting not just to defeat her but to defeat her in a way no human show more has ever defeated another in that game before. A socially outcast drone offers its assistance, but he learns too late that it comes at a price. The drone wants to get back into Contact, the foreign intelligence organization it was kicked out of, and Contact wants Gurgeh. Soon, the game-player finds himself flying to an alien empire whose entire civilization is structured around the most complicated game he's ever known. An empire where a sex known as apex dominates both male and female, poverty is rampant, and the government has an appetite for conquest and cruelty. Contact wants to take it down, and for some reason, it seems to think that Gurgeh is the key.

This is the second book in Iain Banks' Culture series, the first of which is Consider Phlebas. I mentioned in my review of that book that I wasn't sure if reading that one was necessary in order to read this one, and indeed I found that this book has entirely different characters and a brand-new storyline. The connecting factor is the world itself, which means it isn't strictly necessary to read the first before the second. Having done so, however, I found that I had a head start understanding many of the world-building aspects, and I also started out with a healthy dose of suspicion for Contact and the machines that seem to run it. I think I would have had a different experience of reading this book without those preconceived ideas, and, while it's difficult to say whether I would have enjoyed it more or less for gaining my first impressions here and being surprised by certain things, I do think I'm glad that I read both in their proper order in the end.

This one is quite different from the first, with the main character coming from within the Culture rather than outside of it. Whereas the main character of the first book was a Changer and had awesome physical abilities because of that, this main character has physical abilities that suit him in a different way. The primary one he uses is the ability to use special glands to create brain-altering drugs that do things like boost his concentration or allow him to bypass the effects of alcohol. Notably for this story, he would also be able to change sex if he wanted to, a fact that has to be kept secret from the inhabitants of the empire whose entire social order would fall apart if males and females could become apexes at will.

I loved the contrast between the empire and the Culture, as well as the way the book is structured to invite the reader to compare both to our own society. There are obvious parallels between our world and the empire, and the existence of the apexes provides a great avenue for criticizing sexism while showing what it might hypothetically be like if both men and women were considered lesser. At the same time, however, the empire as a whole seems far nastier than our world as a whole, and I thought certain aspects of the Culture reflect some of the best parts of our world, or at least some of the things that we aspire to. Knowing that this book was written in the late 80's, it was also fascinating to consider the ways our world has changed since then, some of which are shown in the Culture. An easy example of this would be Gurgeh's acceptance of all types of sexuality. It was also interesting to see the depiction of sex changes, although these seemed to be done on a whim or for the purpose of wanting to procreate in a certain way rather than being connected to transgender characters.

I also liked the balance of this book, starting with a long opening section that gives us a chance to get to know the main character and the Culture and develop a sense of what this "native" environment is like before Gurgeh adapts to and is changed by the empire. There's also the fact that information is kept from the reader at the beginning and slowly fed throughout, in a manner that echoes Contact keeping information from Gurgeh. There's a very subtle feeling that he's being manipulated throughout, but that also is balanced by the fact that the machines doing the manipulating seem to genuinely care about his happiness and wellbeing. Or at least they're so willing to pretend they do that they will pull him out if he asks them to. This allows Gurgeh to still be the protagonist, the one driving the action, and the reader never gets the sense that accomplishing the mission is a foregone conclusion. In fact, it's unclear until the very end exactly what "accomplishing the mission" would even look like. It's a very well-structured plot that keeps you thinking and keeps you guessing without confusing or overwhelming you.

I must note, though, that there definitely are some portions that are quite disturbing. It becomes clear at a certain point that there are some things the author considers too much to be shown explicitly, therefore only hinting at them, but there certainly deserves to be a content warning for sexual violence, mutilation, torture, child abuse, and animal cruelty. There were even some parts that horrified me in a way that doesn't easily fall under any of the standard content warnings. This book sets out to really make you feel how awful the empire and its people are. For me, I think it was earned because it really makes you understand why Contact is doing this and how learning of all these horrors impacts and drives Gurgeh, as well as making you reflect on some bigger questions about what it might be justified for a civilization like the Culture to do in order to protect themselves from being conquered or at least attacked by such people, but it might be best to be prepared for that going in.

As in the last book, there is no group that's represented as perfectly angelic, and this book makes one question whether it's even possible for a civilization to be perfectly angelic and still survive. And if it falls because it failed to let go of those perfect standards, rather than making small compromises in order to preserve as much good as possible, was it even perfect? Is perfection even possible? This book seems to take the stance that there will always be some darkness, so don't go in expecting the Culture to be a utopia that never gets its hands dirty.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who can handle its content and is fascinated by the concept. As I said above, the book is well-written and well-executed. It's also an interesting study in a first-person narrator who spends most of the book telling the story in the omniscient style and occasionally pops in to break the fourth wall. It's a great representation of this type of sci fi novel, and I hope that you enjoy it, whether you want to try it on its own or in combination with Consider Phlebas. show less

The first Culture novel was an impressive introduction, but this second book (700 years later) is when the fun really begins. Gurgeh is a master of strategy games who is becoming bored with it all, until he is recruited for an unusual diplomatic mission. As a science fiction and strategy games fan I was "all in" with this premise, and Banks does not waste a single page indulging in it. This really delivers. He is masterful at squeezing the sponge for all it's worth, and I laughed often enough over dialogue or situations that I'm going to tag this as humour. Best of all it's entertainment with brains, loaded with cultural, political and social commentary.

"Far out in the uncharted backwaters of an unfashionable bit of a random Magellanic Cloud lies a small, unregarded little empire so primitive that its residents still don't have universal health care." Well, not really, but this could have been one way for "Player of Games" to open. The Culture that gives the Culture Novels its name can be a difficult thing to pin down, and Banks makes it easier, frankly, by moving the story to a place that hasn't attained its dizzying heights of cybernetic development. It's a nasty, backward place ruled by a ridiculous two-bit monarchy obsessed with symbolism and pomp, which means that it provides a pretty good opportunity for the author to talk about both the meaning of games and to comment on the show more more ridiculous trappings of earthly power. On the way, we're witness to some rather touching human-drone friendships, some rather smutty stage shows, and some pretty good gameplay, even if the game in question's too hopelessly complex to actually describe. As other reviewers have noted, Banks seemed to have a talent for making procedural paper-shuffling and long trips in space seem fascinating, so there's quite a lot of that here, too, along with a few of the requisite action set-pieces. Gurgeh, our main character, is too much of a chemically augmented gaming professional to seem relatable most of the time. It's the game that takes place on Ea -- and then on a pleasantly bizarre fire planet -- a highly symbolic, ritualized affair that serves as a cover for endless petty infighting and bare-knuckled brutality -- that, unfortunately, seems more familiar to this earthbound reader. The parallels are there to see, of course, but the author -- on purpose, I think -- doesn't really overanalyze and lets the analogy do the talking. Even so, it's a good read. show less

I haven't read Iain M Banks for a long while but I'm glad I went back to this one. The thing I like about Banks (and good sci-fi in general) is that it makes you ask questions about our society. There's loads of thought provoking stuff in here - but I guess the main theme is around cultural imperialism and the ethical questions involved in interacting with other cultures. In a sense, Banks' futuristic society - the Culture - is hegemonistic. Although they have evolved beyond rules, money etc. there is a motive to bring others around to their culture (with a small c) - either through coercion, political manipulation or in extreme cases through military/ technical superiority. Just my opinion but are they so far from our society? Although show more on the surface they recognise and encourage diversity, when encountering civilisations that they consider to be barbarous they intervene. There's also plenty in here around medical and technical ethics. The degree to which the culture rely upon machines to live their augmented lifestyle seems extreme at first but then it gets you thinking. This was written about 20 years ago (I think) - but for anyone who has a smartphone or netbook - ask yourself if we're that far from the ubiquitous terminals from Banks' culture novels. That people consider travelling without a terminal to be dangerous made me think of our growing dependence on technology. Not saying that's a bad thing but it is interesting how far we've come technologically, even in my lifetime. Do we always consider the ethics of this technology and how it changes the game?

But I digress, the basic premise of this is about a champion "player of games" who is chosen to go and play in a hugely significant game in a distant system of planets (the Azad). This is ostensibly a diplomatic mission as part of developing contact with the Azad but as the story unfolds it becomes apparent that there are ulterior motives and that the protagonist is actually just a piece in a bigger game.

Really good, thought provoking read. show less

3.5. I have never read any of Graham Greene's spy novels, but I imagine they read exactly like The Player of Games, if you swap out the colonialism and espionage for science fiction tropes. The book follows professional gamer Gurgeh as he leaves the post-Singularity utopia of the Culture for the barbaric Empire, where an immensely complex board game mediates access to political power. What ensues is an enjoyable fish-out-of-water story full of ambiguity and political subterfuge.

Banks is a talented writer, and the Player of Games is technically excellent. The worldbuilding is inventive, marked by a pervasive strangeness (I loved the ships that appear to be named by algorithm), and held together by the brilliant central concept of games show more serving as a symbolic language for power and ideology.

I admired this novel, but I never really fell in love with it. The characters and story felt slightly flat and remote, perhaps by design. The comparisons I kept drawing to British colonial literature (Joseph Conrad also comes to mind) meant that the Azadian Empire felt othered / Orientalized, much more so than, say, the Gethenians in The Left Hand of Darkness.

Definitely a must-read if you're a gamer, but didn't hit the sweet spot for me. show less