309 pages
Published June 29, 2001 by Orion Books.
309 pages
Published June 29, 2001 by Orion Books.
When Jernau Morat Gurgeh, a skilled board game player begins to experience ennui and asks a friend for help, he is recruited by the mysterious "Special Circumstances" organization to travel to a distant empire and play a "game that is not a game". The clash of cultures, and the political consequences of his participation, turn out to be more than he bargained for.