The Man of Gold (Tekumel, #1) in Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy"

Dec 02, 2011 Joseph rated it it was amazing

Firstly: This is another one where I'm not even going to pretend to be objective. This has been one of my all-time favorite books for the last 30 years; I can't count how many times I've read it, and back when used copies were a little thicker on the ground, I bought many to pass out to my friends. So when I learned that the books was finally being reprinted, published as an eBook (with maybe a print-on-demand physical version yet to come?), I leapt at the chance to revisit what may be my favori Firstly: This is another one where I'm not even going to pretend to be objective. This has been one of my all-time favorite books for the last 30 years; I can't count how many times I've read it, and back when used copies were a little thicker on the ground, I bought many to pass out to my friends. So when I learned that the books was finally being reprinted, published as an eBook (with maybe a print-on-demand physical version yet to come?), I leapt at the chance to revisit what may be my favorite fictional world of all time, Tekumel.

So ... What is Tekumel? Well, it's funny you should ask ... Tekumel is a world that was settled by humans tens of thousands of years in our future, together with any number of alien races, some friendly, some decidedly less so. Then something catastrophic happened -- Tekumel's whole solar system was popped into a pocket dimension with devastating consequences. Yet more millennia passed. In the immortal words of Thundarr the Barbarian, a strange new world arose from the ashes of the old: a world of savagery, super-science and sorcery. And vast, hidebound bureaucratic empires, heavily influenced by a combination of Aztec and Mughal cultures with a healthy admixture of early 20th century pulp fiction and Barsoom. No elves or Hobbits here! (Well, there may be a stuffed Hobbit on display in one of the palaces in Avanthar or Bey Sü.) Tekumel was originally created by Professor Barker as a setting for fiction, but swiftly turned into an RPG setting in the early 1970s -- the first edition of Empire of the Petal Throne was published by TSR, and there have been several subsequent editions published over the intervening years. Myself, I've never actually gamed in Tekumel, but I buy the sourcebooks &c. because I love poring through them and experiencing as much as possible of the intricate detail that went into the world's creation.

But this isn't a review of sourcebooks; this is a review of the first Tekumel novel Professor Barker published. And as far as I'm concerned, it's a damn' fine novel. It concerns chiefly the trials and tribulations of Harsan, a young priest of Thumis, the Grey Lord of Wisdom. Because Harsan happened to study the extinct Llyani language, he's pulled into intrigues regarding a certain ancient artifact that may (or may not!) be the key to stopping the invasion of Tsolyanu (Harsan's home nation) by the Baron Ald of Yan Kor, who craves vengeance (not without cause, it should be pointed out) and whose armies are preceded by another ancient artifact, his "Weapon Without Answer". And within Tsolyanu, there are various other imperial or sacerdotal factions who may have their own ideas about who should possess the Man of Gold ... Harsan's travels will take him across much of the empire, and include a couple of the better dungeon crawls I've ever come across in fiction.

Give it a try; I can almost guarantee you've never been anywhere quite like this before ...

(And go to www.tekumel.com if you want to get more of a taste of the actual world.) ...more

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Dec 02, 2008 Derek rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

An absolutely fantastic novel, drawn from South American and Asian cultures the same way that Tolkien drew from Northern European, and with a similar focus: to synthesize a language, culture, and history from whole cloth.

The difference is that for inspiration Barker went to science fiction pulps instead of bardic lays.

Chock full of fascinating ideas, though intimidating for those with trouble remembering invented concepts and words.

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Jan 01, 2015 Christopher rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction

When it comes to writing, characterization, pace, etc this is a 2 star book. But when it comes to world-building and a few stand out scenes, this is 4-5 star book. Second only to Vance in building a great setting, its a shame the rest of it couldn't live up to that.

Still, though most of the characters were wooden and flat, I did really like the death-cult prince. ...more

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Oct 30, 2015 Tor.com Publishing added it

M.A.R. Barker is not read nearly widely enough. He's a conlang professor with credentials similar to Tolkien, but with a penchant for South Asian & Mesoamerican linguistics. He's also one of the early luminaries of Dungeons & Dragons. So much goodness. --MK ...more

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