The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks, because it was my introduction to the Culture Novels as a whole. I have yet to find another world with such personality an

The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks, because it was my introduction to the Culture Novels as a whole. I have yet to find another world with such personality and richness, a close second would be Surface Detail of the same series, mainly because it hosts one of my favorite fictional characters of all time. Not everyone likes Banks' writing style, I personally love it, and his humor too, which is why I also purchased his collection of poems published with Ken McLeod's.