The Player of Games

This book unlike some other Banks novels starts slowly and only hints that something may happen later on in the book. He takes his time developing the main character, a game player, as one who enjoys his own company & whose actions cause his to be seen as neither a good or bad man, just a man.

His talent for games of allsorts causes him to be chosen to be ‘champion’ of the culture society and to go and visit a civilisation that has its basis in a game, to the extent that every year on their home world the game I played in a tournament. Dependent on your finishing position would decide on things like promotions and even to the extent that the winner of the tournament became Ruler. The game player is entered into the tournament to help ties between the two societies however he was never expected to win a game.

Banks uses both societies, the culture a civilisation he uses time and again in his books, and the alien one to draw parallels with our own. Not only showing the good but the bad as well.

This book, although it gives the reader scope to think on the topics brought up within the story the story its self is mediocre and plods along to an abrupt twist with a delivery that the gravitas of it is increased due to the lackluster appearance of the story to that point.

I would say of this book that if you are a Banks fan it will be enjoyed however for newer readers of si-fi to give this one a miss there are better books out there.