The Player of Games

Culture Series, Book 2

By: Iain M. Banks

Narrated by: Peter Kenny

The novels of Iain M. Banks have forever changed the face of modern science fiction. His Culture books combine breathtaking imagination with exceptional storytelling, and have secured his reputation as one of the most extraordinary and influential writers in the genre.

'Banks is a phenomenon' William Gibson

The Culture - a utopian human-machine symbiotic society - has thrown up many expert Game Players, and one of the greatest is Jernau Morat Gurgeh. He is Master of every board, computer and strategy - he is The Player of Games.

Bored with success, Gurgeh travels to the cruel and incredibly wealthy Empire of Azad to try their infamous game . . . a game so complex, so like life itself, that the winner becomes emperor. Mocked, blackmailed, almost murdered, Gurgeh plays the game, and faces 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

'Banks's sci-fi, at its best, is staggeringly inventive, beautifully written, dramatic and often very funny. His stories are packed with ideas, warships with minds very much of their own, alien races, charismatic drones and intergalactic politics' New Scientist

'Jam-packed with extraordinary invention' Scotsman

'Compulsive reading' Sunday Telegraph

The Culture series:
Consider Phlebas
The Player of Games
Use of Weapons
Excession
Inversions
Look to Windward
Matter
Surface Detail
The Hydrogen Sonata
The State of the Art

Other books by Iain M. Banks:
Against a Dark Background
Feersum Endjinn
The Algebraist

Also now available:
The Culture: The Drawings - an extraordinary collection of original illustrations faithfully reproduced from sketchbooks Banks kept in the 1970s and 80s, depicting the ships, habitats, geography, weapons and language of Banks' Culture series of novels in incredible detail.

©1988 Iain M. Banks (P)2010 Hachette Digital

Critic reviews

'Banks is a phenomenon' William Gibson

outstanding sci-fi

just brilliant like all his books. Peter Kenney IS the voice of culture books.

interesting story with a gripping climax

the story does a great job of engaging the reader throughout, and the narrator really makes it come to life.

Great book, great voice acting!

Great, but some high pitched voice acting was slightly annoying. The book tells the tale of player who gets involved in a game that suprises by its many layers. An timeless classic!

great performance

this is probably the third time I've 'read' POG. the protagonist is not very likeable or remarkable. the drones and the minds are way more personable and sympathetic, which is probably the point. the older I get, the harder this book hits.

Very strong, though fails to inspire

Great exploration of a character and their arc. Cool way of weaving a story with fairly elegant transitions (eg how the main character comes to embark on the journey). At times beautifully written in terms of descriptions and setting the mood.

Quite heavy-handed in descriptions of violence and debauchery (banks really wants you to loathe the empire and it’s not subtle), so the antagonist (the empire) lacks depth and becomes quite one-sided. The story lacks a deeper essence and fails to inspire us readers about how we can learn, grow, and become better human beings (something that’s overt in Ursula leguin’s earthsea saga and more subtly expressed in tolkiens LOTR).

All in all a solid read with a very entertaining story!