Review: Player of Games, by Iain M. Banks

The Player of Games (1988) [US][UK], by Iain M. Banks, is the second novel in the Culture series. It is set among an aggressive caste driven civilization whose whole society is strictly regimented and ranked according to a highly complex game played called Azad. To the Culture, the Empire of Azad is an anomaly. It has failed to evolve many of the more docile cultural traits typically associated with its technological level. Violence, slavery, and cruelty run free, something the culture cannot allow to continue.

Enters Jernau Morat Gurgeh, the most recognized and skilled Culture game player. In the Culture, game playing has been elevated to a philosophical and academic art. And so, our gaming superstar is wooed by Special Circumstances as a cultural envoy to the Azad. Sent there to learn the game of Azad and show the locals how skilled the Culture is, little does Gurgeh know that the fate of a civilization may rest on his talents.

The Player of Games is a fascinating novel on many levels. It can be read as an adventure, wherein an outsider must play a game against the best and brightest of an entire civilization. It is also a deep and sustained look at a culture that has eliminated physical force in favor of a game. Contests are decided in the ring, where wits are superior to force. Where one might assume that the shift from the physical to the intellectual would liberate and enlighten, this is far from the case. Therein, I like to think, lies the author's main point. That just because we don't whack each other with sticks anymore, doesn't mean we are civilized.

The Empire of Azad is cruel. Both to its own and those it conquers. The cast/slavery system maintained through the game of Azad empowers the powerful and crushes the weak. Depravity reigns at the highest levels of society. Not a place one would choose to go on vacation if you catch my meaning...

To not spoil the entire story for you, but much game playing ensues... hence the title of the book. The most fascinating aspect of the whole novel, to me at least, is that the rules of the game are never explained! At first I thought this would cause the challenges to bore me for lack of understanding, but far from it. The challenge of the games and the contest of wills which takes place between the participants is so artfully done that readers will not care that they don't have a clue what is going on. The meaning and intent is crystal clear, even if the rules are not.

In my review of Consider Phlebas I mentioned how the Culture novels and somewhat more mature than your standard space opera. There is action and intrigue and aventure, yes, but there is also much more. I think educated readers will very much enjoy the Player of Games, but also the series as a whole. There is something to appeal to virtually every academic discipline that comes to mind, which will have your brain churning in the background as your eyes devour each sentence.

All that aside, I personally enjoy it when stuff blows up... not very mature of me I know. And while there are a few bangs here and there, the lack of action makes it so that this is probably one of my least favorite culture novels, even though I appreciate it immensely on a more rational level.

That sums up my relatively spoiler free review of The Player of Games. Stay tuned next week for the Use of Weapons, the 3rd installment in my review of the Culture series. I should mention that the Use of Weapons is probably my 2nd favorite novel in the series...

Review: Consider Phlebas, by Iain [M] Banks

Consider Phlebas [US][UK] is the first installment in Iain M. Banks’ Culture series. The book is set in a far distant future amid a conflict between two advanced races, namely the Culture and the Idrians. The former is a post-scarcity galaxy spanning civilization in which humans and sentient AIs, or Minds, coexist. This is Space Opera at its finest ladies and gentlemen, so buckle down and enjoy.

The Culture is a meddling civilization. It interferes in the development of others to steer them on the ‘right’ path. Far from being a moral imperative, the Culture’s interference is based principally on statistical analyses of other civilizations development. If you do X, there is a 97% probability that your society will destroy yourself within the next thousand years. That kind of thing.

The humanoids and Minds that belong to that branch of the Culture responsible for contact with developmentally challenged civilizations are creatively named Contact. Within Contact there is a highly secretive group called Special Circumstances. Feared and revered, they are the sharp edge of the sword when it comes to civilization ‘meddling’.

With all that background now behind us, let us delve into Consider Phlebas in all of its glorious detail. Our protagonist is a Changer, a species able to completely change itself to mimic others. Hired by the Idrians to impersonate a high ranking government official on a target world, the novel opens with Bora Horza Gobuchol, our protagonist, dying a slow and humiliating death.

The manner of his death requires a little explanation as it most assuredly ranks in the top 10 sci-fi deaths in terms of creativity. Horza is tied, standing up, in a small room in the basement of the royal palace. A room slowly filling with water that, wait for it, comes from flushed toilets throughout the building. Yep, death by royal sewage. Good times.

Horza is rescued at the last minute by his Idrian handler for a very special mission. A Culture Mind has crashed on a planet guarded by a post-physical being that allows none but a select few onto the planet. Since the Changers, of which Horza is one, are allowed an outpost on the planet, it is thought the he might be able to capture the mind and bring it back to the Idrians.

Much adventure ensues, which I will not spoil for you. But, before I leave you to run to the bookstore, a few more general thoughts on the novel and the Culture series as a whole.

First, Mr. Banks goes to great lengths to get the details right. From descriptions of new cultures to hyper advanced technology, the reader is allowed to suspend disbelief with such mastery that even Space Opera virgins will be sucked into the narrative, never to return. But there is bleakness and sadness in the Culture universe, which serves to temper the limitlessness of possibility in a hyper-advanced post-scarcity universe.

To delve a little deeper, what I mean, and what I think Mr. Banks was trying to convey, is that our flawed humanity will forever be a part of us. And while technology can serve to temper and moderate, it simultaneously accentuates and encourages our darker temperaments.

All in all a stunning debut to a truly memorable series.

This review is brought to you by me, as part of my ongoing (re)read of the Culture novels. 

The Culture Novels, by Iain M. Banks

I picked up my first Culture novel quite a few years ago. It was a random purchase on a rainy day. The book was called The Use of Weapons and I had never heard of the author or the series. It turned out to be a great read, which turned into many more—the series is now up to 8 books. But don’t be intimidated.

I was disappointed at first, given that I had read the 3rd book first, as any fan of genre fiction rightly should be. These things have an order. It is important to follow the order. But the Culture novels stand strongly on their own, and the spoilers were very minor. I was pleased.

Over the next two months, I will share with you my thoughts on the Culture novels. As a whole and own their own, they make for a great read. I have been tempted to try a video review. This seems to fit nicely with the Culture. Trying something different, something new. We shall see. My reviews, at least, will be in order of publication, starting with:

Consider Phlebas (1987)
The Player of Games (1988)
Use of Weapons (1990)
Excession (1996)
Inversions (1998)
Look to Windward (2000)
Matter (2008)
Surface Detail (2010)

Various and sundry covers below. Stay tuned for the reviews, starting next Monday.