Like it: The Player of Games by Iain Banks.

This was the first of Banks' Culture novels I read and it remains one of my favorites. More focused and intimate than than his other Culture works it acts as good instruction to this intriguing future history. Banks loves dealing in big ideas and bizarre alien settings and this novel allows his to showcase both.

The Culture is a space faring Utopian socialist society. Gurgegh it the titular player of games. He is a master of all the games the played in the Culture..It's his life, but his passion is starting to fade.

Contact is the part of the culture that deals will interacting with newly encountered species and societies. It  has been monitoring the Empire of Azad, a totalitarian regime where everyone position in society is based on their success in a game also called Azad..

Gurgegh is recruited by Contact to represent the Culture in the game of Azad. The novel chronicles his interaction with a new and very different society. There are games within games. Both sides are manipulating Gurgegh for their own ends. He must call on all of his skill and stratagems if he is to survive let alone succeed.