Continuing my Culture re-read. I am probably going to do one off and one on. Well, this one was always my favourite and it has held up extremely well. The central conceit of the 'great game' being used as a euphemism for all the horrors of nationalism and sociopathic self-interest of leaders remains as punchy as ever. Banks tendency to populate his books with little vignettes of horrors doesn't feel at all forced in this one as it sometimes can be. I also got a sense in this read through of him trying to describe his Culture ideal but realising that it is in a frame of reference alien to most, so he gives up explaining why it's victory was inevitable in the game within a game that this book describes. This remains a stunning achievement and will probably always be in my top books of all time.