Banks, Ian M.
THE PLAYER OF GAMES
Iain M. Banks
Orbit 1988
Pb 309 pgs
ISBN# 1-85723-146-5
Elegant. Glorious. Devastating. This "Culture" novel is every bit as good as the previous two I've read, and my favorite so far. THE PLAYER OF GAMES is for fans of far future, way out in the galaxy, high technology science-fiction. Iain M. Banks offers all of the above and more. He is witty and humorous, and at the same time lends deep insight couched within a fast moving plot. His characterization is wonderful, if occasionally bizarre--it's a real treat.
The "Culture" is a far future space-faring civilization where humans are "genofixed" to quickly change their biology to adapt to new circumstances, such as higher gravity and environmental toxins. They can also change their gender at will. The Culture is a peaceful civilization (most of the time) where fairness for all and having fun are top priority. My favorite aspect of Banks' Culture is his "Minds", sentient ships and drones with, literally, minds of their own!
Our hero in THE PLAYER OF GAMES is Jernau Gergeh, the Culture's top game player. Name a game, he will play you and win. Gergeh is so good at playing games that he writes and publishes papers on game theory. Gergeh is so good, however, that he is growing bored. Thus he is prime bait to be tricked by a Contact Mind into accepting the highest game challenge in the galaxy.
Contact discovered the Azadian Empire about seventy years ago, but they have not allowed that empire to mix with the Culture because the Azadians are brutally barbaric. The Special Circumstances section of the Culture's Contact Division didn't quite know how they were going to handle this problem at first. The key to Azadian society is the game of azad. Their entire society revolves around these games. The only way the Culture can even begin to get a handle on these brutes is to "beat them at their own game." Jernau Gergeh does not see the whole scheme. He only thinks he's going to go far away to play a series of very challenging games. It takes this expert two years to learn the game of azad. The people he will play against have been learning it their entire lives. Azad is complex, and dangerous. Gergeh is so captivated by azad that the fun of playing it outweighs the risks for him. He just wants to keep playing, and playing--it becomes an obsession that leads him into extreme danger and enlightenment at the same time.
Banks' Azadian Empire is poignant and fascinating. I give this story a ten
for its flawless prose and magnificent delivery. A sample to tempt you: "'Have
you seen this!' Flere-Imsaho yelped one day, floating quickly up to him in the
pool's airstream cabinet, where Gurgeh was drying off. Behind the little
machine, attached to it by a thin strand of field still coloured yellow-green
(but speckled with angry white), there floated a large, rather old-fashioned and
complicated-looking drone. Gurgeh squinted at it. ' What about it?' ' I've got
to wear the damn thing!' Flere-Imsaho wailed. The field strand joining it to the
other drone flicked, and the old-looking drone's casing hinged open. The old
body-shell appeared to be completely empty, but as Gurgeh -- puzzled -- looked
closer, he saw that in the centre of the casing there was a little mesh cradle,
just the right size to hold Flere-Imsaho. ' Oh,' Gurgeh said, and turned away,
rubbing the water from his armpits, and grinning. ' They didn't tell me this
when they offered me the job!' Flere-Imsaho protested, slamming the body-shell
shut again. ' They say it's because the Empire isn't supposed to know how small
us drones are! Why couldn't they just have got a big drone then? Why saddle me
with this . . . this . . .' ' Fancy dress?' Gurgeh suggested, rubbing a hand
through his hair and stepping out of the airstream. ' Fancy?' the library drone
screamed. ' Fancy? Dowdy's what it is; rags! Worse than that, I'm supposed to
make a "humming" noise and produce lots of static electricity, just to convince
these barbarian dingbats we can't build drones properly!' The small machine's
voice rose to a screech. ' A "humming" noise! I ask you!' ' Perhaps you could
ask for a transfer,' Gurgeh said calmly, slipping into his robe. ' Oh yes,'
Flere-Imsaho said bitterly, with a trace of what might almost have been sarcasm,
'and get all the shit jobs from now on because I haven't been cooperative.' It
lashed a field out and thumped the antique casing. ' I'm stuck this this heap of
junk.' ' Drone,' Gurgeh said, ' I can't tell you how sorry I am.'"
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