It did not deliver, and I don't think it should have been nominated for a retro Hugo award. This book was a great disappointment because of the intriguing idea of the game and because I so thoroughly enjoyed Hesse's surreal Steppenwolf and was hoping for something similar. I felt similarly after reading Camus' The Stranger, but at least Camus seems to have intended a hollow feeling. The supposedly uplifting argument he gives falls flat and leaves one hollow. Instead the book is about finding meaning and purpose in life, but in this he also fails. Hesse provides elaborate details of the most mundane aspects of everyday life of the Costalians and of the curation of the game without ever introducing any struggle for why any of it matters.
The title refers to a game built upon a system for describing all human potential by a future society of monk-like intellectuals (Costalians). A long rambling story devoid of interesting characters, novel ideas, or gripping conflict.
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