The Player of Games (The Culture) Book + PRICE WATCH * Amazon pricing is not included in price watch

The Player of Games (The Culture) Book

In The Player of Games, Iain M. Banks presents a distant future that could almost be called the end of history. Humanity has filled the galaxy, and thanks to ultra-high technology everyone has everything they want, no one gets sick, and no one dies. It's a playground society of sports, stellar cruises, parties, and festivals. Jernau Gurgeh, a famed master game player, is looking for something more and finds it when he's invited to a game tournament at a small alien empire. Abruptly Banks veers into different territory. The Empire of Azad is exotic, sensual and vibrant. It has space battle cruisers, a glowing court-- all the stuff of good old science fiction--which appears old-fashioned in contrast to Gurgeh's home. At first it's a relief, but further exploration reveals the empire to be depraved and terrifically unjust. Its defects are gross exaggerations of our own, yet they indict us all the same. Clearly Banks is interested in the idea of a future where everyone can be mature and happy. Yet it's interesting to note that in order to give us this compelling adventure story, he has to return to a more traditional setting. Thoughtful science fiction readers will appreciate the cultural comparisons, and fans of big ideas and action will also be rewarded. -- Brooks Peck Read More

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  • Amazon

    Bored with success, Gurgeh - The Player of Games - travels to the Empire of Azad, cruel and incredibly wealthy, to try their fabulous game. This is a game so complex, so like life itself, that the winner becomes emperor.

  • Foyles

    The second Culture novel from the awesome imagination of Iain M. Banks, a modern master of science fiction.The Culture - a human/machine symbiotic society - has thrown up many great Game Players, and one of the greatest is Gurgeh. Jernau Morat Gurgeh. The Player of Games. Master of every board, computer and strategy.Bored with success, Gurgeh travels to the Empire of Azad, cruel and incredibly wealthy, to try their fabulous game ... a game so complex, so like life itself, that the winner becomes emperor. Mocked, blackmailed, almost murdered, Gurgeh accepts the game, and with it the challenge of his life - and very possibly his death.Praise for the Culture series:'Epic in scope, ambitious in its ideas and absorbing in its execution' Independent on Sunday'Banks has created one of the most enduring and endearing visions of the future' Guardian'Jam-packed with extraordinary invention' Scotsman'Compulsive reading' Sunday Telegraph The Culture series:Consider PhlebasThe Player of GamesUse of WeaponsThe State of the ArtExcessionInversionsLook to WindwardMatterSurface DetailThe Hydrogen SonataOther books by Iain M. Banks:Against a Dark BackgroundFeersum EndjinnThe Algebraist

  • TheBookPeople

    Since the publication of his first novel in 1984, The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks has gained enormous critical and popular acclaim, so much so that he was named in The Times list of 50 greatest British writers since 1945 in 2008. Writing science fiction under the name Iain M. Banks, The Player of Games tells the story of great game player, Jernau Morat Gurgeh. Bored with his constant success at board, computer and strategy games, Gurgeh travels to the Empire of Azad. While trying to play their complex game where the winner will become emperor, he encounters blackmail and attempted murder. He accepts the game, and with it the challenge of his life - and possibly death.

  • Play

    The Culture - a human/machine symbiotic society - has thrown up many great Game Players and one of the greatest is Gurgeh. Jernau Morat Gurgeh. The Player of Games. Master of every board computer and strategy. Bored with success Gurgeh travels to the Empire of Azad cruel and incredibly wealthy to try their fabulous game...a game so complex so like life itself that the winner becomes emperor. Mocked blackmailed almost murdered Gurgeh accepts the game and with it the challenge of his life - and very possibly his death.

  • ASDA

    Bored with success Gurgeh - The Player of Games - travels to the Empire of Azad cruel and incredibly wealthy to try their fabulous game. This is a game so complex so like life itself that the winner becomes emperor.

  • BookDepository

    The Player Of Games : Paperback : Little, Brown Book Group : 9781857231465 : : 10 Aug 1989 : The second Culture novel from the awesome imagination of Iain M. Banks, a modern master of science fiction

  • 1857231465
  • 9781857231465
  • Iain M. Banks
  • 10 August 1989
  • Orbit
  • Paperback (Book)
  • 320
  • New edition
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