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The Player of Games
The Player of Games | Iain M. Banks
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 Iain M. Banks:"Poetic, humorous, baffling, terrifying, sexy -- the books of Iain M. Banks are all these things and more" -- NME"An exquisitely riotous tour de force of the imagination which writes its own rules simply for the pleasure of breaking them." -- Time Out
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review
arlenefinnigan
The Player of Games | Iain M. Banks
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Pickpick


This is a fascinating book. I always struggle a bit with world-building with sci-fi, but the comparison here with the superabundant utopia and the hierarchy-driven totalitarian Empire was really interesting. The protagonist, while reasonably likeable, seemed to me like an allegory for toxic masculinity and competitiveness - come on, we all know a bloke who wouldn't back down in a game even if it meant risking having his dick cut off.

arlenefinnigan It's full of Iain M. Banks' dry humour. It was also fun seeing which inventions have turned out to be prophetic - drones haven't turned out as fun and sentient as he imagined (yet), but I'm writing and posting this on what is clearly a terminal. 2y
23 likes1 comment
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arlenefinnigan
The Player of Games | Iain M. Banks
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#ReadHarder challenge 12: a book recommended by a friend with different reading tastes.

21 likes1 stack add
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bekakins
The Player of Games | Iain M. Banks
Pickpick

LOVED. This. Perfect balance of hard sci-fi, allegory & some great tongue in cheek humour. Looking forward to reading the rest of the Culture series!

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nocto
The Player of Games | Iain M. Banks
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Mehso-so

It‘s been a long week and I‘m glad to start the weekend by finishing my January #doublespin book. This is definitely reading outside my comfort zone. It took me a long time to get into, but I‘m glad to have read it and rather intrigued by the universe where this is set but not sure I will visit it again soon. Rating it “so-so” seems a little unfair but no fan of science fiction needs me to tell them Iain Banks is one of the greats!

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nocto
The Player of Games | Iain M. Banks
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My #doublespin is also a book I‘ve started before and put down without finishing as I found it hard going even though it‘s interesting. I will be really impressed with myself if I finish it this time!

8 likes1 stack add
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kwmg40
The Player of Games | Iain M. Banks
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Pickpick

Finished book #3 for the #SuperSeptember #readathon. This is my first book from Iain M. Banks's Culture series -- really fascinating ideas and characters (even if many of them were unpleasant). Peter Kenny's narration of the audiobook was excellent.

@Andrew65

Andrew65 Well done 👏👏👏 4y
20 likes1 stack add1 comment
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JohnnyTV2
The Player of Games | Iain M. Banks
Pickpick

I really loved this book! I adore the concept of The Culture and how Banks spent the first two books effectively viewing his utopia form the outside. He manages to find ways to explore concepts like gender, society, and socialism in really fascinating ways. While not heavy with characterization this books settings and themes are absolutely fascinating and fun. Great read!

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David-S-Pan
The Player of Games | Iain M. Banks
Pickpick

Fascinatingly adventurous.

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TobeyTheScavengerMonk
The Player of Games | Iain M. Banks
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“Why had he done it? Why couldn't it just not have happened? Why didn't they have time-travel, why couldn't he go back and stop it happening? Ships that could circumnavigate the galaxy in a few years, and count every cell in your body from light-years off, but he wasn't able to go back one miserable day and alter one tiny, stupid, idiotic, shameful #decision...”

This cover is 1000 x cooler than my cover. #QuotsyFeb18

AlaMich That cover looks like a dream you‘d have after having too good a time on a Friday night at the bars. In other words, awesome!! 7y
55 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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Jokila
The Player of Games | Iain M. Banks
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My fav off-world sci-fi might be the early novels in Iain M. Banks‘ Culture series. I‘m also a big fan of Hitchhiker‘s, everything Ender‘s Game, Hyperion, and a billion brilliant space opera comics (Saga! Descender! Bitch Planet! Southern Cross!) but I really think Banks is underrated/overlooked given the weight of his genius. Use of Weapons & Consider Phlebas are some of the finest books I‘ve ever read, regardless of genre. #giveawayartemis

8leagueboot I recommend this book CONSTANTLY! Such a smart series. 7y
Jokila @8leagueboot seriously! I think it‘s so weird that I‘ve been reading sci-fi all my life and didn‘t heard about Banks until a couple years ago!! We gotta spread the word so far and so loud 📢 7y
34 likes1 stack add2 comments
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Balibee146
The Player of Games | Iain M. Banks
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Second in the culture novels will be my second culture novel.... Errrrr, neat! :-) #TBRsomeday

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Cristinemack
The Player of Games | Iain M. Banks
Pickpick

Interesting take on living our world as if it were a game- and the obsessions that come from that.

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arlenefinnigan
The Player of Games | Iain M. Banks
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24 likes1 stack add
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Kalgrl
The Player of Games | Iain M. Banks
Pickpick

Loved this book, loved the story
All praise to a brilliant writer

3 likes1 stack add
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Oblomov26
Player of Games | Iain M Banks

If you like sci-fi and you have not read Banks then you should give him a try, he is worth it. His Culture series of which games is the second is set in a galaxy full of aliens in which mankind has become part of (and eventually the bio leaders of a faction which has embraced and granted full ...

Oblomov26 Citizenship to AI's. As a result it is a post want society where citizens want nothing and are free to pursue whatever they wish. The series investigates how such a society would interact with other peoples but just as importantly how their own citizens live, interact and find meaning. 8y
ErickaS_Flyleafunfurled Sounds like something I'd like - glad to know about this! 8y
9 likes2 comments