Reviews

The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks

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scrooge3's review against another edition

5.0

This stand-alone novel tells the story of Gurgeh, the greatest game player in the galaxy. But what he doesn't realize (but seemed fairly obvious to the reader) is that he is part of a political game with incredibly huge stakes. Banks paints a marvelous portrait of Gurgeh as he experiences an alien game and the emotional journey that it gives him.

cillefish's review against another edition

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3.0

Annoying main character who failed to grow beyond his flat and absent beginning, but the game itself was enjoyable.

maddandroid's review against another edition

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4.0

A terrific book I enjoyed it even more then the first Culture novel.

Spoiler

Gurgeh was sad at the end and had been manipulated by Culture from the very beginning but was he so good at the empire's game because he himself was a throwback. He was portrayed throughout the story as different from the other citizens of Culture, never had sex with a man, never undergone sex change. He was bored with his life and seemed to be driven by ambition, going so far as to cheat, but when he learned Azad he seemed to be truly into that game, it isn't until he sees the terrible things the empire(our modern society?)does, that he turns ruthless in the game.

irenekaoru's review against another edition

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3.0

Quick and entertaining, though a bit predictable and not at all deep. Not everything has to be deep.

myrhial's review against another edition

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5.0

Loved it from start to finish. After having read Consider Phlebas first, it was nice to now see things from the perspective of someone within the Culture. And what a character he is. As a gamer I could relate to Gurgeh, he plays to win and he'll do what it takes to get there. But as part of the Culture he is also used to a very different society than the one of Azad, which puts him in some interesting situations. What really stood out to me in this book also is that we're shown more of a glimpse of what the Culture as a whole stands for and how it operates. Can't say more without spoiling but the end of the book gets real interesting.