The Player of Games (Culture)
by Iain M. Banks
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Book Reviews of The Player of Games (Culture)
Book Review: Who is really playing games?
Summary: 4 Stars
This is the second book in the Culture series, but I think it should be read before Consider Phlebas, for it is in here that the Culture is truly introduced. In the first part of the book, Banks does a wonderful job in portraying the Culture's societal framework, daily life, and its unique and interesting inhabitants. I find the machine citizens of the Culture much more entertaining than human ones, and in a way they provide the comic relief of what could be seen as a brooding story at times. Right from the start, we find out that the Culture is a highly advanced, ultra-post-modern society, where all the needs of its human inhabitants are met without any undue anxiety, suffering or injustice. This is mainly due to the fact that most of everything in the Culture is managed by super-intelligent machines, called the Minds. Though it is never stated as such, the Culture is a utopia, but unlike most other utopias that I have read about, this one actually appears to be all that is advertised. Just consider how Gurgeh and his friends spend their lives: in complete leisure, throwing extravagant parties and pursuing careers in whatever they seem to enjoy doing. For example, Gurgeh is a game-player. To put it in an analogy: he is to Culture's games what Kasparov is to chess. He is very skilled and is widely respected, but he seems to suffer from what I consider to be the only obvious drawback to living in the Culture: boredom.
Boredom is one of the reasons (but certainly not the main reason) that gets Gurgeh to embark on a journey to the Empire of Azad, a civilization in which social and hierarchical status is determined on how well individuals perform in a highly complicated and very involving boardgame, which is never really explained, but I liken it to a futuristic version of Risk. The bulk of the story is what happens to Gurgeh while in Azad playing the game. This is by far the most enjoyable perspective of the story, because it 'seems' the perfect case of a "sheep amongst the wolves." There is also another finely intertwined viewpoint that Banks presents in the form of a social commentary on the barbaric horrors of the Empire, which in many ways reflect a compendium of the flaws of human governments throughout our own history. Everything from prejudice, sexual exploitation, and aimless acts of violence to government sanctioned torture and sadism. Banks forces Gurgeh's to face all the "inhumanity" that the Empire is so nonchalantly carrying out, while its nobility plays its game of power, a game that Gurgeh truly appreciates. I find that the conflicting emotions of Gurgeh are supposed to be a driving force of the book, but to me it seems that as far as Gurgeh is concerned there is never much of a conflict, after all, he is from the Culture and his Culture shows through even when he does not realize it.
[Spoilers] As usual, Banks has several well-crafted and somewhat subliminal messages throughout his main story. One in particular I found very intriguing: While the game of Azad has been tilted to favor the ruling class, at least everyone has a chance at it, a chance to improve and change their life, but in the Culture, or at least in the Contact section of the Culture, everyone is a pawn regardless of their prior position in life. While I found this book very enjoyable and thoroughly entertaining from start to finish, for some reason I found it a bit more predictable and somewhat formulaic when compared to its predecessor, Consider Phlebas. After all, being from the Culture, Gurgeh does embark upon his journey with the safety-net of superior technology, poor Horza had no such thing, and to me his struggle was a bit more...human.
Book Review: Fascinating sci fi novel...
Summary: 4 Stars
This is really a 4 1/2 star effort as far as I'm concerned. It lacks that little something to push it to a 5 star classic for me, but it's close.
This is also Banks' first "Culture" novel that I've read. I'm going to attempt to not provide too many specific spoilers here. The story itself is pretty straightforward with a couple of twists and puzzles for the reader to work out. Unlike other authors (Gene Wolfe for instance), the twists and puzzles are perfectly clear once the reader has finished the novel.
At its heart, the story is about a man from The Culture who plays games professionally. He writes articles about game theory, develops his own games, etc. But he's bored, or at least looking for something bigger. He gets informed about a game that's an order of magnitude more complex than anything he's played before in an Empire that he's never heard of, and goes to participate in it. The story is partially about how he changes because of the new environment he finds himself in.
There are some interesting themes here. The juxtaposition of "The Culture" with "The Empire". Most of Banks' readers will see The Empire as a commentary on many real world societies, but I'm not sure that we aren't supposed to see that both The Culture and The Empire have both good and bad qualities to them.
Some people have complained that "The Culture" isn't very well explained, and it's true that many elements are quite vague. I can't say that I understand what the government is like for instance (Republic, Democracy, Dictatorship). A lot of your understanding of The Culture will come through the juxtaposition with The Empire (which is described in far more detail), and for me that's fine. I picked up all that I needed about The Culture to understand the story. In the same way, while The Game that the main character goes to play isn't described in complete detail, the reader is given enough information to understand the scenes involving it.
Where Banks shines I think, is in description. Few authors make me truly envision scenes, especially action scenes. While most of the book is somewhat deliberately paced, the action scenes seem to almost explode with intensity and clarity. Make no mistake, this isn't an 'action' story, but those scenes will stand out all the more because of it. He also does a very good job of describing emotional responses in ways that don't hit the reader over the head. In fact, I found myself, through the description of events, almost feeling as if I knew what the character would feel himself before it was described that he did.
My only quibble was with the ending, and here I refer to the climax of the story, not the 'epilogue' (final chapter). It was well done, and dramatic, but lacked just a bit of the subtlety I was expecting.
That said, I highly recommend this novel.
Book Review: Fiendish and intelligent
Summary: 4 Stars
Jernau Morat Gurgeh is a master games-player. From his home Orbital, he has mastered many different games played by many different species and been beaten rarely. Slightly bored with his life, the Culture offers him the chance to travel to the cruel Empire of Azad and there take part in the most complex game the Culture knows of, a game so important that those who win it can become generals, statesmen and even emperors.
As an alien, Gurgeh is of course barred from winning public office from the game, but is determined to win anyway, even when doing so may strain relations between the Azadians and the Culture. However, nothing is as it seems.
The Player of Games, the second Culture novel originally published in 1988, is less epic than Consider Phlebas and much more personal. It is nevertheless every bit as compelling. The first third or so of the novel follows Gurgeh's life on his home Orbital and his growing dissatisfaction with life there which provokes him into making a rash move which soon has him considering the offer to journey to Ea, the Azadian homeworld. As the story develops, we explore both the Culture and the alien society through the games that Gurgeh plays, but the book itself is also a game. The characters are the pieces, being moved around for stakes far greater than those in the fictional game itself, and the finale offers a highly satisfying resolution and explanation of what has gone before.
Gurgeh isn't the most likable of protagonists, as he's an obsessive who is naive about the world outside his games, but at the same time his conflicts make for interesting reading. The secondary cast of drones, Azadians and fellow Culture agents are all well-drawn, and their reactions to Gurgeh tell us a lot more about his character than he reveals himself (with a couple of very brief exceptions we are in Gurgeh's head in a limited third-person POV for most of the book). Banks' black sense of humour is also present and correct.
The Player of Games (****½) is an unusual but highly satisfying SF novel that couldn't be more different from its predecessor but works just as well. An ingenious and compelling story of games, intrigue and character, and well worth a look. The Player of Games is available now from Orbit in both the UK and USA.
Book Review: Culture starts here
Summary: 5 Stars
Player of Games is by far the best Culture story. It is the Culture book that will make one read all 7 Culture books and wait eagerly for 7 more and then 7 more. Of course, Banks' readers and Culture lovers are not waiting for my Amazon review to point out the obvious, the obvious being that the imagination of Banks equals to the imagination of around 100.000 Amazon reviewers (including all the top 1000). However, for BF beginners, BF standing for Banks Fiction as opposed to what other writers produce and label Science Fiction, this is the novel to start.
Player of Games has 3 very distinctive qualities, that should have given it the 1998 Hugo, Nebula, and all the rest SF awards, that have never been awarded to Banks, thanks to Banks' peers envy. I really hope one day the guy gets a Nobel for his non SF literature and make all his peers sign for cryonics way before their biological termination.
Quality no 1: Human pride. When was the last time you felt in control, superior, even snobbish, regarding Mankind's status in space operas? Bear is bleak, McLeod is meek, Vinge is weak, but Banks' Culture? It fills you with singular pride for being a human and collective pride for what humans may someday become.
Quality no 2: A hero you can associate with. Unlike other Culture novels, where the main characters are too bad, too strong, too artificial, too beautiful, too medieval, too exotic or too intelligent, Gurgeh is almost one of us. Why, in the beginning of the novel, manipulated by a drone, he even falls for the most ancient trick of all times. Gurgeh's got passions, moments of doubt and moments of brilliance. He may not be the archetypic Culture specimen, but he's a hell lot of fun.
Quality no 3: The ending. Banks is a master of endings, as all Culture novels have that special last twinkle in the eye, but Player of Games is the most satisfying of all. Very soon after you 've finished the book, you 'll find yourself reread ready.
From the approximately 200 billion stars in the Galaxy, take out 5 and give them deservedly to Player of Games.
Book Review: The Last Starfighter Grows up!
Summary: 4 Stars
One of my favorite movies as a kid was "The Last Starfighter", a movie about a pre-teen video game junkie who defeats a space shoot-em up video game only to discover that the game was actually a test to find the Last Starfighter, the hero who could save an intergalactic civilization from being destroyed. "The Player of Games" is the adult, philosophical, critical, "I got some critiques about our civilization I got to air and this is the way I am going to air them" equivalent.
The main character is an avid gamesmen- the best in the universe, hands down- who is offered the opportunity to play a different sort of game in another civilization in which the outcome of the game could determine whether or not that civiization, and others, continue to exist. Playing the game requires complete immersion into this world, the risks are high, the probability of success is not high, and the intrigue- a new kind game with elevated stakes- is too much to resist. The offer is accepted and the Player of Games finds himself playing for his life with rules he doesn't know and a purpose he really isn't sure about.
On the surface, this is a great thriller of a book and well worth the read. Being true science fiction, however, the undercurrents are critical, highlighting aspects of our own world that our problematic, and troublesome, and could possibly lead to devastating results. Fortunately, Banks allows the reader to either read for pleasure- ignoring the social and political commentary and just enjoying a good action filled drama- or to concentrate on those more philospophical points and engage in some deep thinking introspection. It is not an easy line to walk and many a good science fiction idea has been ruined by a heavy handed approach. Such is not the approach Banks takes, and the result is a quality science fiction novel that works on many levels.