The Player of Games

Stopped reading after 1/3 maybe. I did not enjoy the writing style. Even if I tough this was a good story, I could not bear to read this any longer.

The book starts on a convoluted scene of some sort of game being played. I could not find any interest in this. There is no attempt to create an empathy for the protagonist. He is a guy who plays games. He is the best at it. What games? All sort of games, none one we know of course.

I don't know if reading the first book would have helped, but the lack of context was very disturbant. What are drones? Why are they relevant? Do people own them? How close to human is acceptable for them to behave? Do they share the same status as living things?

The main plot, which takes a while to get at, revolves around this player deciding to cheat at a game to achieve a very hard to achieve kind of victory. Why does he do it? Because. And then he is caught on tape by an evil drone (do drones have morality?). However, tapes are easy to temper with, an no one believes in them. This drone just happened to have the one kind of tape that people do believe in.

Even if this latter becomes explained, as a rouse to get the player to go to this years away world to play this life altering game, it is way too weak of a plot. The drone also seems to be omnipotent and omniscient. The threat of releasing the tape seems really meaningless compared to that.

I fully expect the book to waste many pages on the description of playing an arbitrary game which I care none about.

Being science fiction, I began this novel under the assumption that it would have more to offer in the way of ideas than its popular genre counterparts. I blame works of magnificent creativity like [b:Star Maker 525304 Star Maker Olaf Stapledon https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328048540s/525304.jpg 1631492] for this misconception.I tried to allow myself to enjoy the predictable flow of the story, and mostly succeeded in doing so, but found that there were a few things standing in the way. For the most part the heavy-handed social commentary was to blame. It was painful to read and worked completely counter to what the simple and entertaining narrative achieved best. The small portions of direct address from the narrator had the same issue.I also couldn't help but be disappointed by the predictable conclusion, complete with painful HEA reunion of essentially discarded characters.

I have wanted to read one of the Culture novels by Iain M. Banks for quite a while and one that sounded particularly interesting to me was The Player of Games. Unfortunately, that particular title was difficult to find in the U.S. – until it was reprinted here a couple of months ago. I am very glad it was since this is definitely one of the better novels I have read this year, containing layers and depth without ever becoming too dry or a chore to read.

Complete Review:
http://fantasycafe.blogspot.com/2008/05/review-of-player-of-games.html

I was starting to think that picking up this book was a good idea.

But then the author decides to have the protagonist cheat in a game, a game he was sure to win anyway, when a character he knows is crazy supplies the opportunity.

And then he gets blackmailed for it, thus forming the reason for the story to get started. Pathetic. Lead character being an idiot and a cheater makes it impossible for me to consider continuing reading this one.

I'll be honest. Consider Plebias was kind of a slog in the back half to get through. But my God the universe Banks created was just too interesting to not keep going. As for this book the player of games this was much much smoother going down. It was a really detailed look at the actual culture and how it deals with other civilizations. I really enjoyed this book. So much I got the third in the series right away. I can only hope it's more player of games ish and less consider Plebias ish.

Le premier roman du cycle nous proposait de découvrir la Culture de loin, à travers le regard d'un de ses ennemis. Cette fois, nous découvrons cette civilisation à travers l'un de ses citoyens, d'abord dans sa vie quotidienne puis par contraste avec une autre civilisation qu'il va découvrir tout au long du roman.

Avant tout, ce roman est le récit d'une rencontre entre deux civilisations, deux cultures que tout oppose. D'un côté, la Culture et son modèle utopique très inspiré des idées anarchistes. De l'autre, l'Empire d'Azad, impérialiste, colonialiste, antisocial et belliqueux. Le protagoniste, issu de la Culture, découvre un Empire autoritaire où les rapports sociaux sont fixés par les règles strictes de ce qui est littéralement un jeu de pouvoir. Il nous offre ainsi un regard sur notre propre société contemporaine et une critique acerbe de celle-ci.

J'ai trouvé ce deuxième roman du cycle encore meilleur que le premier : son récit est captivant du début à la fin, et c'est à mon avis une meilleure porte d'entrée dans l'univers de la Culture, que nous découvrons ici de l'intérieur, par les yeux d'un de siens.

This is my first Culture book (well even my first Iain banks) and I surely enjoyed it. At the beginning before starting reading this I though the synopsis was a tiny bit silly , like a guy who plays games and is very good but wants to play a totally different game on another far place, what's that?. Well actually it was pretty neat and it wasn't just about that.

This is the follow up to Consider Phlebas, the second book in The Culture. The story revolves around a Culture master gamer; Juneau Gurgah. He is invited to play the game of Azad, an ultra complex board game by which the Empire of Azad determines its Emperor and much of its social hierarchy. This book touches on more than games, it's an exploration of the culture and mores of the “Culture”, it's a commentary on late stage capitalism, and it also takes its shots at gender equality and transhumanism.

Sometimes contrast is the best way to illustrate a point, and the Empire in this novel encapsulates the unsavory and evil nature of ownership as a concept. Throughout the novel we see the differences between the Culture and the Empire; here we see capitalism and ownership equated to barbarism. I saw an extremist version of the US in the Empire, a place where you can gamble with your life and limbs as a stake, a place where slavery is commonplace and the ruling class revels in owning another person, a place where the genders are rigid and hierarchical, a place where value is not inherent but defined by the suffering undergone to achieve ownership. There is a moment in the book where the band that is playing in the background, is revealed to be playing treasured instruments of human bone, drums bound in human skin, violins whose every string has strangled the life of someone. This novel peeks under the hood of a capitalist homogenous society, and it is stark and uncompromising in what it chooses to show the reader.

The Main Character undergoes a change as he adapts to the culture and language of the Empire, as he plays their game and understands their worldview. I will say this second entry in the series does itself a lot of favors by stripping down the cast, and mainly focusing on the culture clash and its effects on the MC. It isn't a perfect book but it explores some very interesting concepts, and that's really why many of us read Sci-Fi. Again I found myself wishing for better character development, we rarely ever get a peek into the mind of Gurgah; this is excused by the narrative device of a third party telling the story after the fact.

You do not need to read Consider Phlebas to enjoy or understand this book, as a standalone sci-fi novel this entry is about as good as it gets. By virtue of its setting it kind of spoils some of CP; but in my reading of CP knowing those spoilers will not detract from the point of that story.

Jernau Morat Gurgeh speelt spelen. Bordspelen in twee of drie of meer dimensies, kaartspelen, combinaties van allerlei. Hij is beroemd, één van de beste zoniet de allerbeste in wat hij doet in de hele Culture, en hij begint zich wat te vervelen.

En dan vraagt de Special Circumstances-afdeling van de Contact-afdeling die zich bezighoudt met contact met (en inmenging in) niet-Culture-culturen of hij geïntereseerd zou zijn in een missie. Ze vertellen hem niet meer, en ‘t is pas nadat een oude vriend van hem die uit die Special Circumstances gegooid is, hem chanteert, dat hij instemt om mee te werken.

De opdracht: reis naar het Rijk van Azad, twee jaar ver weg, en speel er het gelijknamige spel, Azad. Azad (het spel) is ongelooflijk complex, en het komt er min of meer op neer dat de hele maatschappij van het Rijk Azad in het spel terugkomt. E ook omgekeerd: het spel houdt het Rijk al milennia op de been, de winnaar van het spel wordt uiteindelijk keizer.

Gurgeh studeert twee jaar op Azad, en begint aan het grote x-jaarlijkse toernooi. Iedereen gaat ervan uit dat hij quasi kansloos is – de allerbeste Azad-spelers doen er heel hun leven over om het spel te leren – maar uiteindelijk blijkt dat hij het onverwacht goed doet.

Hij speelt in naam van en voor de Culture, maar moet zich ook helemaal inleven in een voor hem volledig vreemde wereld. Gurgeh is quasi emotieloos en lijkt koud, maar alle plotwendingen in het boek hebben te maken met zijn emoties: schaamte omdat hij nodeloos vals speelde doet hem uiteindelijk naar Special Circumstances stappen, woede over het onrecht in Azad doet hem een cruciale wedstrijd winnen, en ook het einde heeft te maken met de reis die hij in zijn hoofd aflegt.

Allemaal niveaus, allemaal dingen. Culture is space opera, wordt er dan gezegd, en dan verwachten we grote troepenbewegingen en a plot of thousands. Dit is een klein verhaal: een aantal personages vóór Gurgeh vertrekt, een kleiner aantal personages als hij vertrokken is en aan het spelen is, en geen locaties om van te spreken buiten zijn huis, een ruimteschip, de plaats waar er gespeeld wordt, en het keizerlijk paleis waar de finale gespeeld wordt.

Zeer goed, maar niet uitstekend.

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.

Un sol european ajunge la Curtea Imperială Japoneză... hm, rectific, un emisar al Culturii ajunge la Curtea Imperială a unui imperiu extraterestru militarist și nemilos, osificat feudal, care-i cucerește pe alții pentru onoare :)
Unde joacă poker+joc de strategie, pe mize... galactice. Mă rog, joacă Azad.
O carte foarte bună pentru cititorii cărora le place să urmărească evoluția psihologică și reacțiile unui om în situații de contact cultural (e un fel de ”Shogun” de Clavell, dar în spațiu); nu prea recomandată pentru sefiștii care vor o poveste propriu zisă și acțiune, sau originalitate (tinde spre 0 la toate acestea). Altfel spus, un soft (social) sf.
Un bonus de pasiune pentru jucătorii pasionați (gamblers, parțial și gamers), mai greu însă de înțeles pentru cei care nu au acest morb.

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.

The Player of Games (A Culture Novel Book 2)

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This is the second installment of Iain Banks's The Culture series. Moid Moidelhoff of Media Death Cult calls this book nearly perfect.

I don't know if this book is perfect, but it is very good. The background, characters, and plot are very engaging. The background setting of “the Culture” is a character in itself.

The Culture was introduced in Banks's “Consider Phlebas.” It is very high tech, wealthy, almost transhuman society. The society is wealthy enough to create its own planets and orbital artifacts. Its military operations are handled by “Contact” and “Special Circumstances.” The society treats humans and machine intelligences as equals. The society seems to be run by artificial intelligence “Minds,” which are super-intelligent and virtually immortal. The economic structure works as a functioning socialist economy where ownership is unknown and people change genders at a whim.

The problem is that the satisfied population is bored. Playing games is a major occupation (just as it seems to be in our culture.) Gurgeh is a preeminent game player. He is blackmailed to represent the Culture in a game tournament in the Arzad Empire, located in one of the satellite galaxies around the main galaxy (which may not be our galaxy - it's not clear.)

The Arzad Empire is structured around the game of Arzad. The winner of the tournament becomes the emperor.

The Arzad Empire is brutal. Its elites thrive on entertainment involving torture and executions. The master species consists of three sexes - male, apex, and female. The Apex are the master sex of the species. They can swing both ways with a reversible vagina and they treat their males and females as second class citizens.

But it is not clear that the Culture is all that much better. The Culture seems to be an imperialistic and colonial power in its own right. It sweeps aside lesser cultures and imposes its egalitarian, socialist ethos on others. Given the choice between Arzad and the Culture, I'd go for the Culture, but that doesn't relieve the Culture of its own form of totalitarianism.

The story is tightly plotted. It reveals enough of the Culture to give the book a grand sweep. The characters are empathetic. There is action and tension. I recommend this book as fun and entertaining.

Another very solid space opera, though this one is both more palatable and less uniquely impressive than Consider Phlebas. I liked the themes of passion and obsession, but felt they could have been played better or perhaps louder. The game of Azad itself was very interesting and the descriptions of play were cool. The twist of Gurgeh’s purpose was not very surprising, but Flere-Imsaho’s true nature was indeed. I love Banks’ politics.

“What will you do if you win the jackpot in a lottery or casino game?” This is a common enough question that I hear asked on a semi-regular basis. The answers to it are often revealing of a person's aspirations and desires. However, unless one has a few screws loose, or has actually won a sizable jackpot, the list is illusory: a wish-list rather than something real. And in a way, the fact that it's an illusory list is what makes it fun: if one could actually set out and do everything one ever wanted to do in life, and buy everything one ever wanted, then life, as a whole, would quickly lose its shine. In short, one would be facing, in the most horrific sense of the world, complete and utter boredom.

In the world of Iain M. Banks' Culture series, set in a far distant, space-faring future, humanity has actually reached that point. Managed carefully by super-intelligent computers and humans called Minds, the people of the Culture want for absolutely nothing at all. The Culture provides for every possible want or need those under its aegis could dream of, no matter how strange. All one has to do is conceive of a desire, and find out how to fulfill it - the Culture will always come through, one way or another.

But what if one has reached the very limits of one's desires? What if one has everything, and can no longer want more? What does one do when, finally, one still wants something, but cannot imagine what it could possibly be because one already has everything?

This is the dilemma facing Gurgeh, the protagonist of The Player of Games, Banks' second Culture novel. He is the “player” in the title - the best in the entire Culture. There are very few games that he has not heard of, played, and subsequently mastered - and the general consensus is that if Gurgeh cannot win at a particular game, then perhaps the game was not meant to be “won” at all.

And yet, at the beginning of the novel, Gurgeh is tired of this very fact. He moves through life and amongst his friends in a half-numbed state, mostly because he is bored out of his mind. He has run out of things to challenge him, and as a result is actually considering retirement, even though the very idea fills him with a vague sense of dread. Games - the challenge, the thrill of winning - are his life, and yet he has run out of truly challenging ones to play.

On the suggestion of one of his friends, Gurgeh calls Contact, a special division within the Culture tasked with the responsibility of contacting and dealing with other alien cultures, who may, hopefully, wish to join the Culture itself. The friend suggests that Gurgeh might find what he is seeking by going on a mission for Contact, since the agency generally works outside of the Culture itself, and thus provides a life of greater risks and challenges.

Gurgeh does indeed go on a mission for Contact, one that seems especially suited to his skills and inclinations. He is sent to a world called Ea, where he is tasked with playing a game - except it is a game so rich and complex that it is viewed as a perfect simulation of life itself. And since it is the perfect simulation of life, the inhabitants of Ea have come to use it as a means of determining who rules - and shapes - their entire society. The Game is, quite literally, everything.

One of the greatest pleasures I get when reading sci-fi is recognizing bits and pieces of my own reality - or commentary on that reality - in this supposedly distant universe. While this is obvious when it comes to characters, I tend to focus a bit more on the fictional universe itself. For instance, the culture of Ea has certain cultural elements which I despise: a strict caste system based on gender and wealth, a corrupt military government, racism, and exploitation of the poor. Seen through Gurgeh's Culture-influenced eyes, and my twenty-first century, feminist, postcolonial gaze, Ea is the embodiment of everything that is wrong and terrible about my reality.

And yet, as the story progresses, and as Gurgeh continues to play the Game, it becomes clear that maybe the Culture - and, hence, the reader's - judgments about Ea's culture might not be so cut-and -dry. It is in many ways abhorrent, for the reasons previously mentioned, and yet it gives something that the Culture cannot: purpose. At the beginning of the novel, Gurgeh is adrift in life, with nothing to fight for, nothing to work towards, because the Culture provides anything and everything anyone could possibly need or want. He finds all of this in an alien society, one which he is prejudiced against initially, but which he gradually comes to respect. Unfortunately, just when he reaches this realization it is far too late, and he fulfills, albeit unintentionally, the true role that Contact intended for him: that of destroyer, nipping this fledgling society in the bud before it becomes strong enough to challenge the Culture itself.

It is in the latter part of the novel - in the epilogue, particularly - that the reader sees the Culture's true face. The seemingly perfect society it has created is not maintained through goodwill and diplomacy; it is maintained through Machiavellian manipulation of its own citizens and the societies it encounters. If a society does not accept the Culture, it is destroyed - not with violence, but by shattering that society's very identity. That is what Gurgeh does: when he, as a representative of the Culture, wins the Game, he breaks Ea's culture at its very core.

This idea of winning a war (for the culture clash depicted in The Player of Games is certainly a war) by crushing the heart of another society's culture is both fascinating and disturbing. On one hand, it is fascinating because it is an interesting way to wage war: instead of killing as many of the opposition's supporters as possible, one simply goes to the heart of what makes the other side who they are, and either obliterate it, or, preferably, get them to embrace one's own culture, at the expense of their own. This method is not the easiest way to wage a war, or even to win one, but it is the least ethically distasteful, and hence has the benefit of support that a conventional war does not always have.

And yet this is a horrific way to win a war, not for reasons of bloodshed or mass carnage on a battlefield, but for the simple fact that it erases an entire culture: its history, its language, its beliefs and philosophies. Even worse, it is possible for the opposition to destroy itself willingly, to turn its back on everything that makes it what it is, and replace it with something else. A conventional war tends to leave both cultures intact; the kind of war espoused by the Culture leaves everything a part of the Culture.

During his visit to the Philippines, writer Junot Diaz claimed that genre fiction was an excellent - sometimes the only - way to explore issues that might be too difficult or too controversial to explore in conventional fiction. If that is the case, then The Player of Games explores some very intriguing, and uncomfortable, ideas. Is it possible to erase an entire culture, an entire civilization, without ever once firing a bullet? More importantly, is it happening to us today? So much has been said about the benefits of globalization, but does anyone really, truly understand its consequences?

All in all, The Player of Games is a significant improvement over the last novel, Consider Phlebas, improving on the aspects I thought were rather weak in the latter. The reader finally gets a glimpse at how the Culture really functions, which was not made very clear in the first novel. The plot is more coherent in The Player of Games, without any of the running around in Consider Phlebas. Finally, the portrayal of the Culture in The Player of Games is no longer as one-dimensional as it was in the first novel. The inner workings of the Culture might not be revealed in their entirety, but whatever is shown is enough for the reader to know that not all is as perfect as it seems on the surface.

The Player of Games is, I think, a definite improvement over the first novel in the series, and since the two books are only very loosely related, the reader can skip right over Consider Phlebas and go straight to this one. In fact, I would recommend it: The Player of Games makes a far better introduction to Banks' series than Consider Phlebas.