SPOILER ALERT!
Second Game
Second Game by Charles V de Vet & Katherine MacLeanI read this book when I was on the hospital. It's a small Daw book as City Machine. This book is also good but didn't excel in any point. The story passes on a alien planet called Velda that have been discover by humans. After a warning with no contact the Veldians destroy the fleet that Earth sent. The narrator a chess champion learns that Veldians base their society around proficiency on a game called... Game. Basicly is chess but more complicated. This narrator goes to that planet and learns to play the Game and challenge all corners. He then says to anyone challenging him that he Beats him in the Second Game (thus the title) and so as a chess player he loses on the first as he learns he opponents weakness and in the second win. In the end he draws the attention of a high official and a proficient Game player. After the most difficult Game the narrator prevails but the official perceives that he is human and arrests him. Trobt (the High official) places him under house arrest and tells him of the Last Third Game. Trobt and the Narrator becomes friends and the Narrator also learns about the society and even a love interest. The end was not that predictable but was plausible. I read somwehere that this Second Game by Daw is a revision from another novel/story called Cosmic Checkmate. There are some differences but I am not to buy it because I didn't enjoy the novel that much. I also learn that a second novelette with the Narrator's descended called Third Game. 7/10
