The Player of Games

Jernau Morat Gurgeh, a preeminent game player in the utopian Culture, is blackmailed into traveling to the Empire of Azad to compete in its defining tournament. The game of Azad is a complex system used to determine the social and political hierarchy of the empire. As Gurgeh progresses through the high-stakes matches, he discovers the darker realities of the empire and his own society's manipulations.