The Player of Games (Culture, #2)

Posted on 20 August 2017 by Iain M. Banks

The Culture a humanoid machine symbiotic society has thrown up many great Game Players One of the best is Jernau Morat Gurgeh, Player of Games, master of every board, computer and strategy Bored with success, Gurgeh travels to the Empire of Azad, cruel 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. Free Read [ The Player of Games (Culture, #2) ] author [ Iain M. Banks ] For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr UPDATED REVIEW, 2nd read in 2015 eveningenious the second time around The Player of Games is taken to the Empire of Azad to play the greatest of games the game is Azad is the Empire of Azad is the U.S and the U.K and all such toxic empires in a civilized culture, all empires must fall the game is feints and surprises and moves within moves the game is the past that must be broken on the wheel of the future Banks brings all of his customary elegance, intelligence, humor, and angry f UPDATED REVIEW, 2nd read in 2015 eveningenious the second time around The Player of Games is taken to the Empire of Azad to play the greatest of games the game is Azad is the Empire of Azad is the U.S and the U.K and all such toxic empires in a civilized culture, all empires must fall the game is feints and surprises and moves within moves the game is the past that must be broken on the wheel of the future Banks brings all of his customary elegance, intelligence, humor, and angry frustration at the stupidity and short sightedness of humanity he understands the allure but still seethes at the very thought of brutality, let alone brutality as an ingrained governmental program or system or as a way of life, for any so called human much like Banks, I am on the side of the AIs.UGLY OLD REVIEW, 1st read in 2010 v...Tis OfficialIain Banks can write his flesh cushion off Okay, so for many of you that is not exactly breaking news scrolling across the ticker, but I still thought it was worth repeating I had previously read and loved The Wasp Factory, Banks classic first novel which was a fascinating glimpse into the psychology of a very disturbed young man in serious need of a hug I also really enjoyed Consider Phlebas, which is the first of the Culture novels With Banks having two big wins under his b Tis OfficialIain Banks can write his flesh cushion off Okay, so for many of you that is not exactly breaking news scrolling across the ticker, but I still thought it was worth repeating I had previously read and loved The Wasp Factory, Banks classic first novel which was a fascinating glimpse into the psychology of a very disturbed young man in serious need of a hug I also really enjoyed Consider Phlebas, which is the first of the Culture novels With Banks having two big wins under his belt, I went into this second installment of the Culture series with fairly high expectations and that always makes me nervous and twitchy It seems that whenever I go into a book hoping for mega, Ioft...In 1938, Yasunari Kawabata, a future Nobel Prize winner, was assigned by the Mainichi newspaper to cover a Go match between Honinbo Shusai, the top player, and his challenger Kitani Minoru Go has an importance in Japanese culture that is hard for a Westerner to understand, and was one of the four traditional arts that a Samurai had to excel in The match was very even until Kitani played an unexpected move just before an adjournment its only purpose was to force a response, giving him extra ti In 1938, Yasunari Kawabata, a future Nobel Prize winner, was assigned by the Mainichi newspaper to cover a Go match between Honinbo Shusai, the top player, and his challenger Kitani Minoru Go has an importance in Japanese culture that is hard for a Westerner to understand, and was one of the four traditional ar...The first Culture novel, Consider Phlebas, did a lot of world building heavy lifting from a Culture antagonistic POV Having read that previously, this one is allowed to come in and really flesh out the world from a pro Culture POV, which was really fun Reading them in order gave a sort of a pros and cons approach to their philosophy We get all of the negative things about the Culture first, and then we start to see the positives in this book.Big shocker, I really loved it The complexities of The first Culture novel, Consider Phlebas, did a lot of world building heavy lifting from a Culture antagonistic POV Having read that previously, this one is allowed to come in and really flesh out the world from a pro Culture POV, which was really fun Reading ...This was my first book in Iain M Banks sprawling Culture series I have been reading a lot of sci fi and fantasy lately, because for some reason that s all that sounds interesting to me, but I have to admit it is very annoying knowing that every book I pick up is the first in a _______ Usually that blank is trilogy, except when it isn t or it really isn t And while there may be lots and lots of Culture books, they are all standalone stories with a beginning and an end You can read one pu This was my first book in Iain M Banks sprawling Culture series I have been reading a lot of sci fi and fantasy lately, because for some reason that s all that sounds interesting to me...My third Culture book, a series of epic space opera about a post scarcity human society in the far future If you are not familiar with this series you may want to read this Wikipedia entry first and come back or not, as you prefer I love Consider Phlebas but I followed that up with fan favorite Use of Weapons and it nearly put me off the entire series I don t want to go into why I do not like that book, if you are curious you can always find my review Still, I love Con...Starting my second read today, for a group read with a great group of people and I ve finished my second read.I m muchimpressed with the novel on the reread than I was the first time, so I ve bumped my stars up from 4 to 5, and I don t think I m being generous at all It deserved it.My main problem with either reading was that I just didn t quite care with the whole overt premise of a game player I m a game player, myself, but reading about games that are completely foreign and strang Starting my second read today, for a group read with a great group of people and I ve finished my second read.I m muchimpressed with the novel on the reread than I was the first time, so I ve bumped my stars...If I had to pick a favorite of Iain Bankswell, I haven t read them all yet, and anyway I couldn t pick, because each one I read becomes a favorite for a different reason This one is a fascinating study of a complex character, set in an insanely well drawn wor...This is the second Culture book I ve read The first was Excession, which was decidedly not the book to start with I couldn t make heads nor tails of it Of course, the second one I ended up picking up wasn t the first book in the series either, but at least it was the second And muchaccessible Whew Note The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement You can read why I came to this decision here.In the meantime, you can read the entir This is the second Culture book I ve read The first was Excession, which was...This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers To view it, click here Use of Weapons was far superior, in plot and characterization Player of Games offered no surprises especially if you have read other Culture novels The plot twist is reminiscent of Ender s Game, and is alluded to in the very first sentence The cent...

English
20 August 2017

Iain M. Banks