The Culture - a human/machine symbiotic society - has thrown up many great Game Players, and one of the greatest is Gurgeh. Jernau Morat Gurgeh. The Player of Games. Master of every board, computer and strategy. Bored with success, Gurgeh travels to the Empire of Azad, cruel and incredibly wealthy, to try their fabulous game...a game so complex, so like life itself, that the winner becomes emperor. Mocked, blackmailed, almost murdered, Gurgeh accepts the game, and with it the challenge of his life - and very possibly his death.
Through an enjoyable adventure across the intergalactic gulf separating the Culture, a post-scarcity/post-crime/post-law utopia with its genetically modified humans, smart-ass robots, sentient ships, and idyllic ringworlds, and the thoroughly alien yet bizarrely more familiar Empire of Azad, Banks entertains while subtlely challenging his readers to question the real world. Is life just a game? Must there always be winners and losers? Might there be a better way? Expertly written, in particular the gaming scenes, which convey the mindbending complexity of the games without resorting to details, and including well-defined human, alien, and robot characters. Also includes cameos by the SpaceX drone ships Of Course I Still Love You and Just Read the Instructions.
I skipped the first book because of recommendations, maybe I'll go back at another time but this was my first Culture snapshot and I wasn't disappointed. I came into the title not knowing a lick of anything, hadn't ready the synopsis so deep dive into a people who have conquered the human condition it seems. A few millennia will do that for you I suppose.
A minor delve into myself; I love games. Mainly digital but I have no problem pulling out a board game or joining in the fray of an epic battle spanning someone's basement as well. When I was in a heavy MTG (Magic-the-Gathering) phase I played so much that my choices out of game started looking like choices in-game. If I tap work, tap sleep, tap resource--win! Weird times so when I read this book about a penultimate gamer of the times diving โฆ
Check and mate?
I skipped the first book because of recommendations, maybe I'll go back at another time but this was my first Culture snapshot and I wasn't disappointed. I came into the title not knowing a lick of anything, hadn't ready the synopsis so deep dive into a people who have conquered the human condition it seems. A few millennia will do that for you I suppose.
A minor delve into myself; I love games. Mainly digital but I have no problem pulling out a board game or joining in the fray of an epic battle spanning someone's basement as well. When I was in a heavy MTG (Magic-the-Gathering) phase I played so much that my choices out of game started looking like choices in-game. If I tap work, tap sleep, tap resource--win! Weird times so when I read this book about a penultimate gamer of the times diving so deep into the focus of a game that the world looks game board like. I related.
This was an interesting science fiction read since it didn't for all intents and purposes wrap your head wild with future tech. It was really about man, moral dilemmas, politics, and choices. Wrapped in a Summer Roll like paper of science fiction. Now I know this is a long series and it might have a runway that takes you into further mind blowing arenas but here and now, I'd say it is pretty approachable.
Are we the player or are we the pawn? To which meta-level do we play for? How does our psychology change as we delve into the semantics of our problems?
Many things to ponder and this book provides some provocations set against the backdrop of an ancient future humanity driven civilization and an Empire with a culture at odds with our own.
While I appreciated Iain M. Bank's first Culture novel as a fine bit of writing, I found it rather distant in some ways. The Player of Games, spending almost all of its time in a single person's head, is for me a much more personal story.
It also gives us a much better understanding of what the Culture is and how it works, despite spending most of its time in the Empire of Azad and therefore outside of the Culture. That's because Azad is an instantly familiar environment. Yes it's relatively extreme, but we can easily associate it with plenty of Earth civilizations.
So the regular contrasting and questioning by Gurgeh about Azad's society really tells us more about the Culture than it does about Azad. And while we are consistently told (and the citizens clearly believe) that the Culture is a utopia, there are clear signs that it's not โฆ
While I appreciated Iain M. Bank's first Culture novel as a fine bit of writing, I found it rather distant in some ways. The Player of Games, spending almost all of its time in a single person's head, is for me a much more personal story.
It also gives us a much better understanding of what the Culture is and how it works, despite spending most of its time in the Empire of Azad and therefore outside of the Culture. That's because Azad is an instantly familiar environment. Yes it's relatively extreme, but we can easily associate it with plenty of Earth civilizations.
So the regular contrasting and questioning by Gurgeh about Azad's society really tells us more about the Culture than it does about Azad. And while we are consistently told (and the citizens clearly believe) that the Culture is a utopia, there are clear signs that it's not actually quite that perfect.
Though clearly it is a much nicer place than Azad, an empire that is built on military might, social stratification and a healthy dose of fear. Oh, and a game. The most complicated game that has ever existed and a game that is used to define people's role in the Empire. Though as we gradually discover that may not be entirely down to actual skill. Because, much like the society that spawned, Azad is a game where people can manipulate and conspire.
One of the tricks that Banks pulls off in this book is describing the gameplay and getting across the significance of the action, without ever really explaining how the game works. Which is just as well, because it could never live up to its billing as the most complex game ever.
But the real draw of the book is Gurgeh's evolution as the story progresses. From beginning to end he's a rather selfish and self-involved individual, but his perception of the world changes as he is exposed to the behavior of the Empire. That's not the only thing that affects him though. Banks makes an interesting point about how language itself might impart social values and thus affect behavior.
All in all I found the book captivating and it came very close to getting a five star rating, but I found the ending a little unsatisfactory. The story does end, we're not left hanging or anything. And yet it doesn't really conclude things.
After re-reading this for the 3rd time it is still one of my favorite books. I love the writing style, I love the idea of the Culture which is as much told by contrast with the Empire as by actual description. Most of all I like the game Azad. Of course it is never really described ... but the hints and ideas.
A little heavy-handed but damn it's fun to reread early [a:Banks|5807106|Iain M. Banks|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg]! And even though his digs at (present) human institutions are less than subtle and his Game gimmick too obviously handwaveish, this is astonishing and brain-churning and delightful work. And the eye-roll moments had an unexpected but appreciated side effect: they got me to think of the author. Who is this man, who at 34 was shaping this Culture and thinking such thoughts and writing so gracefully? The more I read with that in mind, the more I felt humbled. And thankful.
I don't know what I'll get out of it if I reread at age 60, or even if I will. But I am ridiculously excited to have reread this at 46. I see it as an affirmation that there are indeed some big-deal things wrong with the world; that there are people out there who see โฆ
A little heavy-handed but damn it's fun to reread early [a:Banks|5807106|Iain M. Banks|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg]! And even though his digs at (present) human institutions are less than subtle and his Game gimmick too obviously handwaveish, this is astonishing and brain-churning and delightful work. And the eye-roll moments had an unexpected but appreciated side effect: they got me to think of the author. Who is this man, who at 34 was shaping this Culture and thinking such thoughts and writing so gracefully? The more I read with that in mind, the more I felt humbled. And thankful.
I don't know what I'll get out of it if I reread at age 60, or even if I will. But I am ridiculously excited to have reread this at 46. I see it as an affirmation that there are indeed some big-deal things wrong with the world; that there are people out there who see them; that there are epic visions of hope. And that we can have fun while doing our bit to make things better.
This is one of the books I am reading to get in the mood for my Eclipse Phase Game.
This is a very interesting Sci-Fi book. I could not really get into the First Culture book "consider phlebas" but after finishing this one I think I am going to have to give it another try.
The interesting aspect of the book is that it describes futuristic games in a way that I don't quite get a real sense of what is going on, however I get enough of the feeling for the games played that I understand it in general terms. Very interesting for a gamer of any caliber.
I have a dim memory of my first reading if this book and it was swiftly replaced by this second go. The Player of Games is a layered, intricate story that hooked me from the start and kept me engrossed until the end. It is a remarkable story that reaffirms why Banks is possibly my favourite author.
