The Player of GamesIain M. Banks
Orbit paperback, 309 pages, £4.99
Published August 1989
ISBN 0-7088-8309-5
Canal Dreams
Iain Banks
Macmillan hardback, 198 pages, £12.95
Published August 1989
ISBN 0-333-51768-7
Review by Gerald Houghton (1990)
Currently on the shelves can be found two of Banks’ more recent works, the first of which saw him adopting the floating ‛M’ which last appeared on Consider Phlebas. From this we can tell from the outset that The Player of Games is another of his infrequent ventures into SF.
Jernau Morst Gurgeh is not so much the player as the Master of Games. It seems that no strategy can tax his talents – and, as such, he is quickly growing bored of the whole affair. Until, that is, a series of unfortunate events lead to his being offered the chance of a lifetime – to travel to the Empire of Azad, a world not so much of games but a giant game itself; the victor becoming its eventual ruler. But the more he plays, the more Gurgeh realises that not everyone plays to the same rules.
Far outreaching the space opera of
Consider Phlebas, The Player of Games employs its SF
background to allow Banks to play around with ideas and social
commentary every bit as relevant to us today, as to the Culture or Azad.
The surface of the ultimate games is stripped away to reveal violence,
corruption and death, as Gurgeh finds himself as much a pawn as a
player. The characterisation, intelligence and dark humour we’ve come to
expect from Banks are all present, and if there must be a criticism it
is in the rather conventional climax. But then perhaps it is just a
measure of how good the preceding pages are that brings one to such a
conclusion.This is only partly true of the new novel from plain old Iain Banks, Canal Dreams. World famous cellist Hisako Onodo is caught up in a volatile war zone, the Panama Canal, because of her refusal to fly. Passing the time, giving impromptu recitals and diving with her new-found boyfriend, Philippe, her peace is shattered by the arrival of terrorists on her boat.
Unusually for Banks, this intriguing promise is sold short in what must rank as his slightest work to date. Only Hisako’s life is sketched in with any detail, thus her companions in terror evoke little response when they begin to suffer. Indeed, it is only really in the flashbacks to her early life in Japan that Canal Dreams holds any interest. Even her supposedly disturbing violent dream sequences fail to capture the reader’s imagination.
Worse still, however, in the final third of the book Banks has his central figure descend into a tired, sub-Rambo, revenge scenario that swiftly becomes tiresome to the extent where the reader really couldn’t care less how it ends.
Canal Dreams is a severe disappointment from a usually reliable author. If you want to read Banks, then tackle the brilliantly imaginative The Wasp Factory, or The Bridge, or indeed The Player of Games before venturing near this slender volume.