The Player of Games

In the Culture, a post-scarcity civilization of humans and artificial minds, Jernau Morat Gurgeh is a celebrated player of board and strategy games who has grown bored with easy victories at home. Contact and Special Circumstances recruit him to travel to the Empire of Azad, where a vast multi-board game of the same name assigns rank, office, and even life. As Gurgeh learns the game's pieces, seasons, and ethics, he is drawn into the empire's hierarchy, its rules of gender and class, and the political meaning of a win. The novel follows his matches and the Culture's hidden stake in the outcome. It is a science-fiction story of games as power, not a rulebook and not a military campaign.

Bound in maroon cloth, foil blocked in red and gold with a cover design and spine title. Gilt speckled blocked slipcase with secret printed lining.