Flamesong (Tekumel, #2) in Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy"

Jul 04, 2012 Forrest rated it liked it

Four attempts and 26 years. That's how long it took me to finally complete MAR Barker's monumental "Flamesong". The world is incredible: intricate, alien, vast, internally consistent. But the late Barker's means of relating this intricacy, through long monologues at the most unlikely times, make it a difficult read. Several information dumps later, I wish that the book just had a separate glossary and timeline, rather than the long interruptions of what was a fairly decent plot. I must admit tho ...more

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Sep 19, 2021 Joseph rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Again, not going to even pretend to be objective about this.

While I think my personal favorite is The Man of Gold, this is easily a stronger book, and a better introduction to Tekumel, my favorite fictional world.

Trinesh hiKetkolel is a Hereksa, a commander of one hundred soldiers in one of the Tsolyani Empire's legions. As things begin, his soldiers have just captured Fortress Ninu'ur, a squalid outpost in the Desert of Sighs, as part of the Tsolyani Empire's push to invade the neighboring stat Again, not going to even pretend to be objective about this.

While I think my personal favorite is The Man of Gold, this is easily a stronger book, and a better introduction to Tekumel, my favorite fictional world.

Trinesh hiKetkolel is a Hereksa, a commander of one hundred soldiers in one of the Tsolyani Empire's legions. As things begin, his soldiers have just captured Fortress Ninu'ur, a squalid outpost in the Desert of Sighs, as part of the Tsolyani Empire's push to invade the neighboring state of Yan Kor (events in this war also formed much of the backdrop for The Man of Gold; Flamesong takes place shortly after the events of Man of Gold, but is about an entirely different set of characters in entirely different parts of the world, so can be treated as a standalone novel to all intents and purposes). Much to their surprise, they discover, in the bowels of the fortress, a tubeway car station of the Ancients (n.b. -- Tekumel is an alien planet that was settled by humanity (and several other alien races) tens or hundreds of thousands of years in our future; and then after even more tens or hundreds of thousands of years, catastrophic events caused the collapse of the then high-tech civilization, and in the present (even further in the future), it's a post-apocalyptic, low-tech world littered with the detritus of long-dead civilizations; the tubeway cars were the Ancients' version of Elon Musk's Hyperloop) and some high-ranking Yan Koryani officers and, well, somebody hits one of the destination studs on the tubeway car and ... complications ensue, of a sort that will take them to any number of distant locations on their way home.

Also in the mix: One Ridek Chna Ald, the 12 year old son of Baron Ald, ruler of Yan Kor, whose path will eventually intersect with Trinesh's.

Adventure and aliens and exotic locales -- I can't think of anything I like more.

Oh, and I'm going to link to a larger version of the cover (which, on the original DAW paperback, wrapped all the way around to the back) because it should tell you everything you need to know about exactly what kind of story you're in for.

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Jun 14, 2016 Tor.com Publishing added it

I think this might be my favorite of the Tekumel books of M.A.R. Barker. If you don't know Barker-- he's a linguist, like Tolkien, but interested in Mesoamerican & South Asian languages more than European. He's also part Gygax, as Tekumel was there when the RPG hobby was being formed. This book shows the paradigm of "Chaos" to be as human & worthy of empathy as the gods & heroes of "Order" & is a science-fantasy classic. --MK ...more

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