Blackmailed into leaving his tranquil home on Chiark Orbital, Master Gameplayer Jernau Morat Gurgeh finds himself sent to Ea, centre of the decadent Empire of Azad.    There he is accepted as a guest contestant in the Game of Azad, so complex and closely linked to the manoverings and intrigues of public life on Ea that the victor is crowned Emperor.   Eluding assassination attempts and political machinations, Gurgeh survives initial rounds to confront the corrupt forces at the heart of the Azadian Empire.   Imaginative, compulsive and tense, this novel explores themes of relative evil, personal morality and the delicate nature of inter - culture relations.