The Culture — a human/machine symbiotic society — has thrown up many great Game Players, and one of the greatest is GurgehJernau Morat Gurgeh. The Player of Games. Master of every board, computer and strategy.

Bored with success, Gurgeh travels to the Empire of Azad, cruel and incredibly wealthy, to try their fabulous game. . . a game so complex, so like life itself, that the winner becomes emperor. Mocked, blackmailed, almost murdered, Gurgeh accepts the game, and with it the challenge of his life — and very possibly his death.

The Culture Series

Consider Phlebas

The Player of Games

Use of Weapons

The State of the Art

Excession

Inversions

Look to Windward

Matter

Surface Detail

The Hydrogen Sonata