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onetruelorn 's review for:
The Player of Games
by Iain M. Banks
The first book in the culture series, Consider Phlebas, was pretty enjoyable and a fun introduction to the series' universe. This book takes that foundation and improves on it in almost every way I can think of.
The main character, Gurgeh, is a genius game player living in a utopian society that solved the problems of sexism, racism, and nearly all other forms of exploitation literal millennia ago. Even so, he's grown bored and disaffected, and is given a chance to play an exciting new game in a far-away empire that has not made the same progress.
Like the first book, Player of Games is definitely going for action and excitement, and is hardly subtle about its themes. That said, it manages to raise all sorts of interesting questions that I think it handles with a lot of grace. It's honestly kind of amazing to me that it was published in the 80s. The way it discusses concepts of race, gender, and social dynamics, it feels like it could have been written in the last few years.
The main character, Gurgeh, is a genius game player living in a utopian society that solved the problems of sexism, racism, and nearly all other forms of exploitation literal millennia ago. Even so, he's grown bored and disaffected, and is given a chance to play an exciting new game in a far-away empire that has not made the same progress.
Like the first book, Player of Games is definitely going for action and excitement, and is hardly subtle about its themes. That said, it manages to raise all sorts of interesting questions that I think it handles with a lot of grace. It's honestly kind of amazing to me that it was published in the 80s. The way it discusses concepts of race, gender, and social dynamics, it feels like it could have been written in the last few years.