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63 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's just a game, November 9, 2000
I believe this was the second Culture novel (Banks' future history series, for those unfortunates who haven't read this series yet) and about as far from Consider Pheblas as can be. While that book was a grand space opera, taking place right in the middle of a war, featuring a lead character fighting against the culture, this novel is a lot more scaled down. But it's probably better than Consider Pheblas, if only because the mood isn't so downbeat, Banks can be morbidly witty most times but sometimes he goes too far and becomes downright depressing. So, here we have Guergh, probably the greatest game player in the Culture . . . he finds that games really don't hold any excitement for him anymore, and everything in the Culture easy to get (even sex changes!), there's no challenge elsewhere either. Until Contact invites him to go on a mission to a civilization based completely about games. He goes for it and winds up on a place so different from the Culture it might as well be barbaric. From there plots and counterplots start spinning, though this book is delightfully straightforward for the most part, but things are spinning around so fast that you can barely keep your breath. He gets the details right on everything and manages to generate excitement from the series of games that Guergh has to play without going into lengthy details of the rules. The climax is about as surprising as they come, as Guergh gets farther in the games and the stakes get higher as the civilization tries to stop this "outworlder" from making them look like a bunch of idiots. Probably the first SF book you should pick from Banks, both for its relative simplicity (compared to the others) and general lightheartedness. It's not all fun and games but the mood is generally witty and swift. One of those few books you really can't go wrong with if you want a good read.
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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
More Than One Player, July 19, 2006
This review is from: The Player of Games (Paperback)
The Culture is a galaxy-wide civilization, so far advanced that it has solved most problems that afflict humanity. The great concerns of our time are all resolved. No longer planet-bound, no longer concerned with meeting needs; the Culture is a utopian, decadent paradise. A mix of wildly evolved humans and super-intelligent machines, including intelligent spaceships, it is very nearly all-powerful and omniscient.
But there are still parts of the galaxy, or at least parts of the Magellanic Clouds, where the Culture has not yet gained influence. Those parts of the Galaxy are the business of Contact, the part of the very loose government of the Culture that deals with alien civilizations. And in the difficult cases, Special Circumstances steps in to solve the problem. "Special Circumstances," like most names in Banks' books, is a euphemism: "Special Circumstances" isn't bound by the legal, moral or cultural constraints that bind the rest of the Culture.
Gurgeh, the protagonist, is recruited, perhaps blackmailed, by Special Circumstances to help Contact with an awkwardly difficult alien culture. The Azadians present a space-faring civilization, less advanced than the Culture but still powerful, whose entire ethos is based on The Game. Social position, military rank, governmental power, wealth; all of Azad is based on one's performance in The Game. Gurgeh is one of the Culture's best games players. Special Circumstances sends Gurgeh to Azad to compete in The Game.
At one level, Banks is writing about the effect of an advanced culture on a less advanced one. At another, he is having fun with a traditional space opera culture that is in contact with his more subtle and sophisticated one. At another, he is poking fun at traditional SF authors. Because as the story progresses, the underbelly of Azad is revealed to be disgusting and horrific; in some ways, the Culture's efforts to undermine Azad are morally justified.
But most of what Contact tells Gurgeh is a lie. He himself is an unknowing pawn in another game. When is it right to cheat? What is cheating? As ever, Banks asks the questions but doesn't really answer them, making you ask yourself instead, "Am I asking the right question?"
Banks' Culture is ironic and self-mocking. The intelligent ship that takes Gurgeh to Azad is the size of an asteroid but calls itself "Little Rascal." The equally vast ship that takes him back is named "So Much for Subtlety." But the Culture is deadly, too, as evidenced in _Consider Phlebas_, set a few hundred years earlier than _Player of Games_. The Culture is peaceful and principled; that doesn't mean non-violent or honest.
This is a very good book by a very good author. Banks never tells the same story twice, and in _Player of Games_ he sets a new benchmark for intelligent science fiction. Highly recommended.
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Checkmate. Mr Banks wins., March 16, 2001
This review is from: The Player of Games (Paperback)
I've read this book more times than I can remember(always a good sign). There are two main reasons why I like it so much, I believe. First of all, I am an avid player of board and strategy games like the ones in the book myself (though sadly not as proficient as Gurgeh!). Secondly, I identify with the hero a lot as he has several of my own personality traits - naivete, curiosity, a solitary nature. The story is first-class (better than the other Culture novels I've read, Consider Phlebas and Excession). Gurgeh is an excellent, very human character and his behaviour (letting himself slip and getting blackmailed, his fascination with the Empire of Azad when he reaches it) is both realistic and easy to sympathise with. I suspect the Empire is a sort of exaggerated satire of our own society, though I'm not 100% certain (Banks must take a fairly gloomy view of life today if it's meant only as a caricature rather than a warning of what happens when greed becomes the only driving force in a culture). And, of course, Banks creates his universe wonderfully. The contrasts between the Culture and the Empire are not too blatantly portrayed, and all the settings are well described. The various games are my favourite aspect of the setting, including one played in a 3-D web, ones that require the use of four or more dimensions, and of course Azad, the game that the Empire sees as the perfect model of life itself and uses as its foundation (the grand tournament held every seven years determines who holds positions of power and what ideas are predominant in the Empire until the next one, the overall champion becoming Emperor). If there is one criticism I make of this book, it's that there's not enough detail of how the game works! This is a fairly personal thing though - what matters is that the game is insanely complex and intricate. I won't give away the plot as it will make things less tense for the reader, but suffice to say that it becomes grimmer and darker as it progresses towards the exciting and shocking climax. Oh, and one last thing - don't stop paying attention when it looks like everything's more or less over. There is one last very surprising twist at the end which I didn't see coming at all.
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