The Player of Games

The Player of Games was a nice introduction to Banks's Culture, a symbiotic society consisting of humans and benevolent A.I who see to it that no one goes hungry, or suffers. Its an Utopia, albeit one with a taskforce called Special Circumstances, which scour the universe to help convert entire civilizations to their cause, failing to do which they opt for brute force, something that is antithetical to what Culture stands for.

The parts of the book I enjoyed most dealt with the anomalies and contradictions that plague any Utopia, or Utopian ideal. It was also great fun to read about the banter of drones, their conversations with humans, and their shrewd nature.

As far as the games are concerned, the reader is never really made privy to the actual rules, or how the protagonist, Gurgeh, plays. I think here The Player of Games could have gone on to describe the nature of the games being played a bit more. Sadly, it doesn't, so much of the book is spent describing the emotions and the intellect driving the moves in the game, but not so much the game itself.

But all things considered, Banks could clearly write. And I'm sure Le Guin was a huge inspiration for this novel.