The Player of Games by Iain M Banks, Book #2 of The Culture series.
Introduction
In The Player of Games by Iain M Banks, Gurgeh is a Master of Games who gets the chance to play the ultimate game of skill. Jernau Morat Gurgeh is a citizen of the Culture. The Culture provides for all their citizens’ needs. Superior AI minds rule the citizens. Gurgeh could remain in his chosen click, but he has the need to do something risky and intriguing. Will Gurgeh be tempted to go on an adventure or will he contimue as he has been?
Summary
Gurgeh is an accomplished game player. He specializes in any kind of board game but is an expert on most other games. At the beginning of the story, he is playing an outdoor wargame with his friend Yay. Gurgeh has been down lately because he has no challenges and Yay thought the war game might cheer him up. It doesn’t.
In the Culture, the citizens have no comfort wants. Gurgeh is a part time lecturer at the university, and he writes papers about his game philosophy. Citizens change their sexes and partners often. Gurgeh had always wanted a relationship with Yay, but the time was never right.
Drones are AI units who are sentient beings and do as they please. Chamlis is an old drone who is good friends with Yay and Gurgeh. Chamlis recognizes Gurgeh’s restlessness at not having a gaming challenge. The drone suggests that Gurgeh takes a job from Contact. Contact is a civilian foreign intelligence service responsible for watching other civilizations and looking for ways to expand the influence of the Culture onto other civilizations. Gurgeh tells Chamlis to have Contact get in touch with him.
Loash, a drone from Contact, comes to see Gurgeh. It tells him of an intriguing opportunity to use his gaming skills to help Contact. Gurgeh thinks about it. The drone Mawhrin-Skel is important in his decision making.
Recommendation
The Player of Games by Iain M Banks is a great book. I think the promise of Consider Phlebas, book one of the Culture series, was realized in this novel. The story is intentionally slow because describing game play is not dynamic story telling. What impressed me the most was to feel the change in Gurgeh throughout the book. He starts the story as an unlikeable narcissist. He wanted an adventure that challenged himself, but his journey changed him deeply and I felt that. I have read the Use of Weapons, the third book in the series, and it’s even better than this one. I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the novels in the series.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page of The Player of Games by Iain M Banks.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19819475-the-player-of-games
In Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks, Horza is caught in the middle of a war. The Culture is a human-dominated group fighting the Idirans. Horza is from a human-derived group, the Changelings. The Changelings and the Idirans are allies. The Culture and the Idirans both want a fugitive advanced computer mind capable of tipping the balance of the war. Will Horza find the mind before the others and save his people?
In Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks, Cheradinine Zakalwe is an operative of the Culture’s Special Circumstances group. The Culture is a human-dominated alliance that tries to advance its position in the galaxy. Diziet Sma is Zakalwe’s handler who sends him on dangerous missions. Will Zakalwe accept a final impossible mission from her, or will he quit The Culture forever?
