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4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Definitely a step up from Consider Phlebas for me. Really enjoyed the descriptions and strategies of the games.
I often found the story interesting enough but not necessarily always exciting. It often felt like the story didn't have stakes. Wish the ending was foreshadowed more to make the events of the story feel more consequential.
Was interesting enough to continue with more Culture books though.
I often found the story interesting enough but not necessarily always exciting. It often felt like the story didn't have stakes. Wish the ending was foreshadowed more to make the events of the story feel more consequential.
Was interesting enough to continue with more Culture books though.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Player of Games is well written but not without flaws. The beginning is very strong with a unique setting. Once the games start, I slowly got bored. The main character Gurgeh didn't convince me, I often felt lost and didn't understand his motivations. Events that should have had an impact were simply washed aside. The game itself also had not big appeal to me so the overall impression is rather poor. There is much pontential but unfortunately not used. Or maybe it's just me.
adventurous
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is the second 'Culture' novel, a vast and intriguing space opera anthology about a post-singularity mega civilization where humans and machines live in symbiotic harmony.
In this entry, they encounter a 'barbaric' alien empire, a small backwater civilization that only spans a measly few solar systems. The Culture sends an envoy to learn about them by taking part in a game. It's a multidimensional board game embedded in their society, a game so complex, so like life itself, that the winner becomes emperor.
The Culture's envoy Jernau Morat Gurgeh is the perfect man for this mission. He is the most gifted player in the Culture, a master of every board and strategy. He lives and breathes the thrill and dynamics of such games, the higher the stakes the better. He is the Player of Games.
It's a very unique story that focuses on cultural discrepancies between two civilizations that are alien to each other, and whose philosophy towards life and its values are entirely different. It's not a flashy scifi book, there are no space battles, not much action at all, no cosmic mind bending concepts to swoon over. The story is focused on the idea of a man being thrown into a strange society that is often cruel, barbaric to his point of view, and he is trying to maneuver in it, to survive and understand what drives them.
'The Player of Games' is a well written and pleasantly original book with an intriguing main character that I enjoyed to follow and root for. Banks further builds up the myth and awe of the 'Culture', this hyper advanced civilization and its utopian way of life, while staying within the smaller lane of the story he aims to tell. He inserted clever social commentary in the world building, the 'barbaric' alien empire that we travel to shares some unsettling similarities with our own society.
It's a step up in quality from the first book. Better story, better characters, a more mature approach to its storytelling. Since they are all standalones, you can start with this one just as well.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes