Reading 1001 discussion

The Player of Games. The Player of Games. This is the second book (and only one on the 1001 list) of the culture series. This book is about a man who is a famous, skillful game player. I listened to the audio narrated by Peter Kenny which was well done. I liked this second book better than the first book of the trilogy except for the themes of sexual "parts" and sexual violence, yet I understand that this book is about "power" and sex and violence is one means of power. The game player, Gurgeh is asked by Culture's Special Circumstances to go on a very long journey and participate in a game. Gurgeh who is bored, becomes intrigued by this game and agrees to go. He journeys to the Empire of Azad and participates in the game that is also called Azad.

Rating: 4 stars


I'll admit, I didn't read the first book in this series since Sci-Fi isn't really my genre. I do own it on Kindle and may read it at a later date.

It is difficult to describe the plot of this book without creating spoilers, so I won't go there. It is set in the distant future and is set in a very different world than what we know now. Had I been more of a sci-fi fan, I may have rated it higher. I think it is well-written and paced and I like the whole board game theme. It is also very thought provoking.

I'm a big sci-fi fan, but I think because of that I sometimes have high standards for sci-fi stories. Fortunately I thought this one was well written with some fascinating premises, and I gave it 4 stars.

The idea that games would take the place of actual conflicts and would become an esteemed pursuit in a post-scarcity society was really smart and makes a lot of sense. The kind of implicit punishment of the 'good behaviour' droid also becomes a great and believable solution to a post-prison society.

The plot with the subterfuge and the purpose of arranging the game on Azad was interesting, though I admit, it may be the part of the story that captivated me the least. The way that this empire had gamified their political and economic system was more interesting to me, and presented with some things to contemplate when considering how we use sensationalism, gamification, and info-tainment as capitalist societies. Hell, I remember a show where a repo man went around quizzing poor people to see if they could 'win' their own possessions back. There is an element of this 'bread and circuses' dystopia within our own culture reflected by that of Azad (especially if we consider their game as a form of algorithm). This mirroring of our own world is what good sci-fi does.

The way the book describes how a society would consider gender roles and power in a 3 biological sex and even more genders society was also cool, and how it chooses to deal with those distinctions that surpass our understanding was well handled.