Thoughts on "The Player of Games" by Iain Banks
I just finished reading "The Player of Games" by Iain Banks and I thought it was pretty well written with a compelling story at its core (as evident by my 4* rating on goodreads). I had to take away 1* because a few aspects of the novel made it less enjoyable to me -
I thought Culture's motivation for sending Gurgeh to Azad was not properly explained. If Culture is a utopia and its citizens are supposed to be satisfied, why would they want to actively destroy another system from inside or outside. Also, it was said that they are technologically advanced so even if push comes to shove and they are in an open confrontation with Azad, they will still win. So again, why to actively plan to destroy.
The games were never explained properly, I mean not even a hint of sorts. There is only so much a reader can imagine in his or her head and it felt like the writer could very easily (in almost a hand wavy way) change the course of the game by just saying "Gurgeh asked for the cards he'd deposited with the game official to be revealed" or "he played a few more inconsequential blocking moves to give himself time to think" and so on.
Way too many paragraphs describing the surroundings, fire movements, look of the sky and the grounds. It bogged down an otherwise pacey and interesting story in some parts (especially towards the end - last 40-50 pages). Maybe this time could have been better utilized to actually explain the important games at the least.
Any takes on these?