A review by maddandroid
The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks

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.