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.