The Player of Games (Culture)
by Iain M. Banks
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Book Reviews of The Player of Games (Culture)
Book Review: One of my favorites
Summary: 5 Stars
I first read "The Player of Games" many years ago, and since then have read it at least three times. It is brilliant science fiction in a class I think can best be characterized as "utopian science fiction." Utopian in that the book takes place in a future where all ones' worldly needs are taken care of. In this case, civilization (the "Culture") spans some large volume of stars, star ships are sentient, indeed small robots are sentient, and much of the technology is so advanced it is effectively magic (although clearly scientifically and technically based). Which means it is up to the individual to fill time. The main character of this book (Gurgeh) is an individual who is particularly good at games, and who derives his self value from that skill.
The story emerges from encounters of the Culture with other species and star-faring civilization. Some members of the Culture have to deal with the sometimes unpleasant business of interacting with those civilizations. Furthermore, the Culture includes machine intelligences that are far smarter than humans, and while presumably favorably disposed to us, they do not always deal in a straightforward fashion. This book is the story of an individual who becomes enmeshed with one of those encounters (against his will).
I think part of why I enjoy Banks so much is that he writes about a type of individual who are needed, and who often make great sacrifices. Yet at the same time these individuals live on the boundaries of their society, are flawed, often manipulated, and in many cases are misfits. The latter not really the case for the main character in Player of Games, by the way, but is very must true for some of my more favorite side characters in the book.
A great read - I've recommended this book to many friends, and they have all ended up becoming Banks fans.
Book Review: Political games in disguise
Summary: 5 Stars
The master Game player, Jernau Morat Gurgeh, is living is his cozy planet where he has achieved all there is. He spends his time socializing, studying new games, writing articles and attending to game sessions. He is bored. But then, the Culture's special division asks if he would be interested in a game that was found from an empire discovered far away. The Culture has concealed itself from the new violent empire, but it needs a pawn for its chess play with that empire. It's not just any game, it's overwhelming: it's political, it is played throughly in all society levels, it will mandate who the next king is to be. Would Gurgeh be interested?
The Gurgeh and his reservations against the Culture's intentions and his obsession for games is the string that follows through the story. The two worlds, empire and the Culture, are contrasted in every page turn: one is uncivilized barbaric in their customs and the other is cultivated amoeba that swallows all civilizations to make them of of its tentacles. The robot that is accompanying Gurgeh is saucy little primadonna who's lighting and colors express moods from relentless blue pink to humorous solid gray. The robot is supposed to be a librarian to assist him with the customs of the foreign culture, but it also has its own instructions.
Five (5) stars. If you haven't read Banks and the culture novels before, start here. The story is engaging, keeps you in the Game, and has nice twist at the end. The quality of Bank's culture novels vary quite a bit, so don't expect all to be this good. The 1-star reviewer who said that you need prior background from culture series, is not true. The novel is straight forward and the Culture is presented in the surroundings which is easily absorbed.
Book Review: Mirrors
Summary: 5 Stars
In short order I have just finished 'Consider Phlebas', 'Use Of Weapons' and 'Player of Games'. They are all rewarding multi-layered works; rich medieval tapestries where every image is a metaphor. Banks even allows a look behind the wall they're hung on.
The idea that 'power corrupts' and 'absolute power corrupts absolutely' is taken a level further; by placing ultimate power with machine intelligence[The Minds] it removes? the inevitable abuses that this leads to.
He reveals a hedonistic society supposedly free from the deeper, alpha male urges to lead, win and conquer. In 'POG' he reveals that these desires,in some at least, still exist. The literary device in which his main protagonists are all somehow 'damaged' is neatly reversed by showing them to be essentialy normal in our eyes but abnormal from the'Cultural' background in which the story is set. Our protagonist's guilty thrill of cheating and risking more than he can afford reveals him to be be the ideal candidate for the Culture's purpose.
The point is made that even in a 'perfect' society created and maintained by machine intelligence, these 'damaged' individuals are still required.
Banks doesn't lead you by the nose but encourages you to engage in the debate. He is vivid in his description of the benefits and horrors of Culture and non-culture existence and for want of a better analogy; would you prefer to live in down-town Singapore or down-town New York?
He examines what happens when man has finally 'arrived' and leaves you guessing as to which is preferable.
A thoughtful rewarding experience.
Oz
Book Review: Motivation in a World Without Scarcity
Summary: 5 Stars
The far-future world of the Culture that Banks has created must be a difficult world to write in, because characters can have almost anything they want in the material world. The first Culture novel, Consider Phelbas, avoids the problem by having the characters operate at the edge of the Culture or beyond. It's a good, and serviceable, but not excellent, book. The Player of Games is an order of magnitude better, because The Player of Games confronts the problem of lack of scarcity head on.
Finding motivation in such a world would be difficult, when there's nothing you have to do, and all you must constantly choose what you will do and become. All the initial characters grapple with ennui and lack of wants, with the main character slowly becoming bored with what had been his primary pursuit, expertise in all known games.
Banks finds a way to turn this preoccupation with games and a lack of direction into a grand story full of games within games within games, where the main character realizes himself as a result of being forced into the most challenging game known. Banks' description of the games themselves is masterful, full of great turns of phrase and beauty, while at the same time further drawing out and explaining the main character, both to the reader and to the character himself. Ultimately, it is a stirring description of a person's obsession and singular abilities becoming a world-changing event merely through the exercise of those gifts.
Book Review: Today's crew of game obsessed YA is going to relate to this book!
Summary: 5 Stars
I've always liked books from a series that "stand alone." The Player of Games, by Iain M. Banks, is the second book written in the "Culture" series. You'd never know it, and you don't need book one. However, this one is intriguing enough to make you want to read more of them.
Culture is the future culmination of humanity and artificial intelligences (and probably a number of other sentient species; not the real focus of this volume). Jernau Gurgeh, a Culture-wide game player of significant renown, finds himself "volunteering" to serve the Culture as a member of Contact, an element of Culture that interacts with new beings, cultures, and empires. He's invited to a game tournament in the Empire of Azad, a game played every six years that determines one's place in Azad society, even the Emperor (as long as you are not a male or a female).
Gurgeh finds himself surrounded by a race that considers games of greater importance than even he does.
Culture finds Azad society troublesome.
Gurgeh cannot win. He should not win. Yet he must win.
It is, after all, THE Game.
Banks writes well. The characters are interesting, the various cultures are imaginative, and the story is engaging.
What more can you want from a sci-fi novel about life in a distant human universe? Except for the other books in this series, of course!