The Player of Games

Being science fiction, I began this novel under the assumption that it would have more to offer in the way of ideas than its popular genre counterparts. I blame works of magnificent creativity like [b:Star Maker 525304 Star Maker Olaf Stapledon https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328048540s/525304.jpg 1631492] for this misconception.I tried to allow myself to enjoy the predictable flow of the story, and mostly succeeded in doing so, but found that there were a few things standing in the way. For the most part the heavy-handed social commentary was to blame. It was painful to read and worked completely counter to what the simple and entertaining narrative achieved best. The small portions of direct address from the narrator had the same issue.I also couldn't help but be disappointed by the predictable conclusion, complete with painful HEA reunion of essentially discarded characters.