Banks, Iain M. (1988) The Player of Games, Orbit

In the second Culture novel set an unspecified number of years after Consider Phlebas , Banks builds on the little we know of the Culture from the first book and the main character, Gurgeh, is a product of this society. It seems that individuals in the society have the opportunity to follow whatever interest they like and Gurgeh specialises in learning and mastering all type of games, hence the title.

However, hovering in the background of each novel so far and I suspect will be the pattern for future stories is a threat to the Culture. In this case is the Empire of Azad who is very militaristic and held together by a game called Azad. Gurgeh goes to the Empire to play this game and the consequences of his actions there form the story. I will not expand on it here in case anyone wants to read it.

The things that I like about it is that each book is different, with different characters and issues yet Banks still manages to incorporate the previous book albeit in names and brief references in the text. Each story is fresh but you see the continuity of the whole series, a definite plus.

Campaign notes
As I said in my brief review of Consider Phlebas that I would like to base my campaign in this world, I have changed my mind. I think this background is too involved and goes too far from what I hope to achieve as to make it incompatible. I also will endeavour to let the players generate the background within the parameters I will set, as this is very effective in running games. So these novels will add to the growing weight of background reading.