The Player of Games - Iain M. Banks

A seminal novel in Banks's acclaimed series about the universe of the Culture. Gurgeh is the best, the champion of the ancient, all-embracing Culture in which there is no disease or disaster, only the endless games. Then he accepts the challenge from the Empire of Azad--and finds out what the Game is really all about. 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. The Culture Series Consider Phlebas The Player of Games Use of Weapons The State of the Art Excession Inversions Look to Windward Matter Surface Detail The Hydrogen Sonata