User Profile

I found this book a little difficult for the first few chapters as the author recounts his family history and early life through schooling. However it became more interesting as he begins travelling and ultimately moves to his small isolated hut in south Westland.

I finished the book inspired to visit and explore this wild part of New Zealand.

The first book in the Culture universe, 'Consider Phlebas' is written from the perspective of an outsider looking into the Culture. 'Player of Games' is written from the perspective of the Jernau Gurgeh who has lived their life entirely within the civilisation and we find out more about how the society works, it's politics, and the day to day lives of it's citizens.

The thing I enjoy about these books is that the fate of the galaxy comes down to the actions of a few people with often little 'power'. Though this sometimes feels contradictory to the books premise that Phsycohistory can predict the future of vast populations but not individuals.

This is my favourite of the trilogy with plenty of intrigue surrounding the Seldon plan, who is guiding galactic events and will it succeed? The book definitely had me questioning at points whether the Seldon plan is actually a desirable outcome for the galaxy.

I enjoyed this book more than the original Foundation. The majority of the book focuses on a small group of characters which made it easier to follow events. The story does a great job of balancing the activities of the core characters with the scale of the crisis spanning a large part of the galaxy. I initially found the abrupt end of the first crisis a bit grating but that was easy to forgive as the seconded crisis was more interesting for me.

It’s nice to read stories of a hopeful future. I enjoyed the short story format where I could read one while I was between other books or when wanting something quick.

Over all a good mix of stories.

This book had been on my list for a while and I was excited to read it.

The ‘universe’ building was great and it definitely inspires me to read more of the series. The plot of this book wasn’t quite what I expected and at times seemed to drift from the main thread to fill in the timeline. That said it comes together in the end.