Player of Games

Title: Player of Games
Author: Iain M. Banks
Year of Publication: 1988

Part of this review originally appeared on http://morpheme.wordpress.com



Iain Banks is simply the best British science fiction writer around. No one quite beats him in his game, and he is obviously quite happy about that. Player of Games is a very old book -- almost 20 years old. Yet it reads like it was written yesterday. It is the 2nd book in the Culture series that started with Consider Phlebas.

The Culture is a massive civilisation based of soft power and what I would term a strange new brand of socialism and technological symbiosis. To me, it’s very much like an overgrown Scandinavian state (”state” is used here in a very loose sort of way), being socialist to the point that the only way to punish offenders and murderers is to use social pressures and the fear of rejection (and not being invited to parties). More of “societalism”, rather. I always think Banks is very much partial towards the hedonistic and enlightened Culture. Pretty much utopian too, though somewhat unsatisfying for our protagonist, Jernau Morat Gurgeh. (It’s still a mystery how Banks comes up with names.)

Gurgeh is a player of games. Master of every board and considered the Culture’s best player and strategist. Then comes the Empire of Azad, everything the Culture isn’t. Hard, militaristic power. Their love for uniforms contrasting Gurgeh’s reaction to uniforms — a vomiting sensation. But they have one of the most complicated games, almost as complicated as life itself. It is so important in Azadian society that the Empire takes its name from the game — Azad. Gurgeh is to, through a series of events, master the game and take on the best players in the game. Whoever wins in the end — theoretically — becomes Emperor of all Azad.

The theme of clash of cultures is prevalent in this book, for Azad is the other. Azad disgusts the Cultured mind, for it violates every principles of Culture. It is inhumane, militaristic, imperialistic, barbaric and exploitative. Culture, viewed by the Cultured, is humane, pacifist, reasonable, enlightened, democratic, socialist and intelligent. The game itself is powerful, because it represents life and the desire to survive.

Shan’t reveal what happens, but the ending was not all that surprising; I do wish Gurgeh was a bit more interesting as a character, though the plot flows and goes because of the very nature of the game. In the end though, I sense moral ambiguity on Banks’s part.

Culture society has its flaws, but in Player of Games, it is at its best. Immorality is often sexual: sex changes, homosexuality, incest — these are mentioned in passing. To me, it seems to show the best of Culture and the worst of Azad. Both of forms of sexual immorality, but Banks shows us Azad’s, not the Culture’s. It is this sort of moral ambiguity that perplexes me, since I don’t quite know which side is preferable.

Perhaps both are equally detestable in the end. But it is the soft, hedonistic culture of Culture that prevails, sending a message to all its readers. Yet, I urge all readers to enjoy the book for what it is definitely great entertainment. The moral considerations can come later.

Links:

Review by TechSoc
Another Review
Plot outline

Declare

Book: Declare
Author: Tim Powers
Year of Publication: 2001










"Declare, if thou hast understanding."

Declare is a very Catholic book. That seems a strange way to start a book review, but I think it's the best. But first, let us take a good, hard look at the man named Timothy Powers. Powers's work has been impressive; Drawing of the Dark is an amazing book, dealing in alternative history and battle of East and West. The Anubis Gates is nearly as good, though lacking the secret history element that so tantalises readers.

Declare is a spy novel; one of the characters is the infamous double agent, Kim Philby. The protagonist is Andrew Hale, spy for the secretive SIS. It has the ingredients of a good, satisfying spy novel -- a loyal spy, a traitor, a beautiful woman (in the form of Elena Teresa Ceniza-Bendiga) and plenty of Russians. What makes it exceptional is the supernatural explanation that Powers has constructed -- this framework links all the disparate events into a convincing secret history that mixes fact, fantasy and fiction into a heady brew of truth and myth.

At the heart of the Declare mystery lie the djinns (genies), supernatural creatures of uncertain and often malevolent intent. It is interesting how that eventually becomes the explanation of the purges, the dekulakisation and sheer irrationality of the violence wrecked by internal forces. Hale is a British agent; Operation Declare failed in the 1940s and twenty years later, Hale is to complete this mission. I won't spoil anything else for the potential reader, but the Ark is also involved.

Suspended disbelief? Powers's book is tightly plotted and well-scripted; he uses painstakingly descriptive prose to mix the strange bedfellows of supernatural fantasy and espionage. It is truly statecraft meets tradecraft meets witchcraft.

Links:

SF Site Review.
Interview with Tim Powers

Alea Iacta Est

The Hierophant, revealer of mysteries and spiritual leader of the few esoteric sects, has deigned to review the most arcane medium -- the book. He calls upon his daduchos (δᾳδοῦχος), the torch-bearer, to lead the way before him. In his aged, sacred hands he holds the Book of Mysteries (the different cultures have different names for this book; The Hierophant calls it the mega biblion -- the great book)

The assembly of proselytes, sycophants, hierodules and other devotees readied themselves. Priests gather; voices ring; fire burns. The Hierophant waves his hand, his face stern and his body tense with expectation. Silence falls. The fires quaver. The smell of sweet smoke fills the air of the temple.

The Hierophant speaks,

"Fellow devotees! I speak of mysteries today: mysteries of the book and mysteries of the binding. The book is a subversive tool. It is an agent of chaos, an agitator of riots and a calamity so delicately and deliberately contained. It is a potentate, with powers far exceeding the spine, the bind and the daintily numbered pages.

We harness the power of the book. In my hand is the mega biblion, the great book. All books have been inspired by this work, this masterpiece that binds the cosmos, contains the truth and brings the light. It is with this in mind that we read, gathering knowledge for the sake of understanding humanity and what it means to be human. The good book brings the mind to a higher level; it is a drug that awakens greater pathways of awareness.

The book is both subversive and divine. It conceals in subtlety, revels in mockery, and mocks at revelry. Yet it reveals with revelry, awakes the intellect, and intellectualises the awakening. It is a medium more powerful than the drunk witches of Fox, for these visions cannot be doubted or dismissed.

And thus I end with these words: Alea Iacta Est. The die has been cast. We are called to preserve the memories of these works, to safeguard the rare and protect the difficult. I entrust to you this task. We are the Anti-Qin Shi Huang. We are the Anti-Fahrenheit 451. We are the bookbinders. Let us defend with our blood."