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Tekumel #1
The Man of Gold
Tekumel is a distant world populated by humans who had built up over thousands of years a vast and intricate civilization - based upon a legion of gods and demons, upon the ways and wiles of alien races who dwelled among them upon them, upon the layered traditions of monarchs ancient, medieval, or still reigning. Tekumel is a world as real as Earth, where surprise and adventure are as natural as day and night. The Man Of Gold is the first novel based upon this marvelous legendry, more intricate than Tolkien's Middle Earth, more credible than Frank Herbert, more mystifying than Lovecraft or Stephen King. Follow now the quest of Harson, acolyte of the temple Thumis, as he goes forth to seek a forgotten empire's super-weapon known only as the Man of Gold.
367 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 1, 1984
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December 27, 2021
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.)
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.)
Read
July 25, 2013A book which does almost everything wrong which any book can - especially a fantasy book. I had thought it a mistaken purchase, to be cast aside once I'd struggled through a couple of chapters - and yet I found myself gripped to the end.
Here's the first sentence I found when I took delivery and flicked it open:
"As for the name, as you know, the Llyani fricative 'sh' became a glottalised affricate 'ch'' during the Bednalljan dynasty, and though the Mu'ugalavyani no longer pronounce the glottalised series as such, they still write certain archaic names with those symbols."
The incomprehensible made-up names! The information we really don't need! Most heinous of all, the 'As you know' denoting out-of-character exposition dumps! Consider further: the hero, like the author, is a linguist, but one who proves surprisingly heroic, and irresistible to women* (who are without exception conniving sluts, or harlots with hearts of gold - oh, and the sumptuary codes ensure that some of them wander around topless throughout). The names of places, people and gods (themselves existing in intricate relations to each other) are hard to keep straight, and no glossary or dramatis personae is supplied - not even that fantasy mainstay the map! Instead, we have a note on the languages, which serves largely as a vehicle for Barker to complain about how English is far sillier than his made-up tongues, the main one of which has 34 pronouns for 'you'. Barker was, like Tolkien, a linguist before he was a novelist, creating a world largely to house his invented languages - with a roleplaying game incarnation of the world (I believe one generally recognised as the second ever, after the heavily Tolkien-influenced Dungeons & Dragons) coming before the novels. This is, then, essentially RPG fanfic - albeit written by the game's creator**.
So if that's the prosecution, where's the defence? More than anything, the charm is how solid the world of Tekumel feels. Its long eons of history, its mighty citadels and crumbling vaults, the tangled politics and the half-understood relics of former times all hold together, and the character of the whole is unique. For instance - even that mainstay, the horse, is missing. There is no travel faster than human speed, something which brings the sheer slowness of these ancient empires to the fore. Priests such as our hero express languages in sculptural form, which suddenly makes dancing about architecture seem a very easy form of response in comparison. Above all, all the European tropes one expects in fantasy are absent. Barker's specialty was the languages of Asia, and this is a fantasy world which echoes India, China, maybe a little of pre-Colombian Mesomerica, instead of the usual dream of a vanished Mitteleuropa or Merrie England. I suspect he may have influenced the setting of Daniel Abraham's wonderful Long Price, the bare bones of the set-up owe an obvious debt to Vance's Dying Earth, and in its more decadent and horrific spells I sniff faint traces of Clark Ashton Smith, but still, this is a world such as has never quite been attempted before or since. That counts for a lot. And the plot...well, it has its issues, but as this week's disappointing Booker longlist reminds us, dungeon crawls in literature are still less well-regarded than they might be. I'm not sure if I'll track down the sequels any time soon, but I'm glad I tussled with this lopsided yet oddly magnificent beast.
*If he is an avatar of the author, I guess that makes him a doable Barker.
**That admittedly worked out fairly well in the Wild Cards series, which goes to show one can judge these things too hastily.
Here's the first sentence I found when I took delivery and flicked it open:
"As for the name, as you know, the Llyani fricative 'sh' became a glottalised affricate 'ch'' during the Bednalljan dynasty, and though the Mu'ugalavyani no longer pronounce the glottalised series as such, they still write certain archaic names with those symbols."
The incomprehensible made-up names! The information we really don't need! Most heinous of all, the 'As you know' denoting out-of-character exposition dumps! Consider further: the hero, like the author, is a linguist, but one who proves surprisingly heroic, and irresistible to women* (who are without exception conniving sluts, or harlots with hearts of gold - oh, and the sumptuary codes ensure that some of them wander around topless throughout). The names of places, people and gods (themselves existing in intricate relations to each other) are hard to keep straight, and no glossary or dramatis personae is supplied - not even that fantasy mainstay the map! Instead, we have a note on the languages, which serves largely as a vehicle for Barker to complain about how English is far sillier than his made-up tongues, the main one of which has 34 pronouns for 'you'. Barker was, like Tolkien, a linguist before he was a novelist, creating a world largely to house his invented languages - with a roleplaying game incarnation of the world (I believe one generally recognised as the second ever, after the heavily Tolkien-influenced Dungeons & Dragons) coming before the novels. This is, then, essentially RPG fanfic - albeit written by the game's creator**.
So if that's the prosecution, where's the defence? More than anything, the charm is how solid the world of Tekumel feels. Its long eons of history, its mighty citadels and crumbling vaults, the tangled politics and the half-understood relics of former times all hold together, and the character of the whole is unique. For instance - even that mainstay, the horse, is missing. There is no travel faster than human speed, something which brings the sheer slowness of these ancient empires to the fore. Priests such as our hero express languages in sculptural form, which suddenly makes dancing about architecture seem a very easy form of response in comparison. Above all, all the European tropes one expects in fantasy are absent. Barker's specialty was the languages of Asia, and this is a fantasy world which echoes India, China, maybe a little of pre-Colombian Mesomerica, instead of the usual dream of a vanished Mitteleuropa or Merrie England. I suspect he may have influenced the setting of Daniel Abraham's wonderful Long Price, the bare bones of the set-up owe an obvious debt to Vance's Dying Earth, and in its more decadent and horrific spells I sniff faint traces of Clark Ashton Smith, but still, this is a world such as has never quite been attempted before or since. That counts for a lot. And the plot...well, it has its issues, but as this week's disappointing Booker longlist reminds us, dungeon crawls in literature are still less well-regarded than they might be. I'm not sure if I'll track down the sequels any time soon, but I'm glad I tussled with this lopsided yet oddly magnificent beast.
*If he is an avatar of the author, I guess that makes him a doable Barker.
**That admittedly worked out fairly well in the Wild Cards series, which goes to show one can judge these things too hastily.
December 3, 2008
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.
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.
September 6, 2021
A small but persistent minority of Citizens wanted me to read this book, so read it I have! It took a while. I usually read a chapter before going to bed. The chapters are short but dense.
His fans call M.A.R. Barker “the American Tolkien” because like the grand old man of high fantasy, Barker was a linguist, working in both Native American and South Asian languages. And it shows! Those short chapters weren’t dense with ideas or involved prose- they were packed with references. Nothing on the planet of Tekumel is just an animal or plant- it’s a “dri-ant” or a “whatever-fruit.” Every page is packed with proper nouns and not just that of characters- gods and clans and cities and empires. Seemingly every word in all of the several Tekumel languages has an accent mark in it (I haven’t reproduced that here because they’re redundant and annoying). The picture I’m going to use to accompany this review on my blog (and maybe I’ll include it on fb and the newsletter?) is a picture of a random page in the book. Truly random- I entered “356” for the number of pages into random.org and produced a page number. Page 307 is the end of an action scene, not exposition-heavy as far as the book goes, and get a load of all the names and proper nouns and accent marks! It reminds of late-era Magic card expansions- they can’t get away with calling something “warrior” anymore, so it has to be “X-civilization’s warrior,” etc.
Look, I like world-building. I like Tolkien, I like multi-layered worlds with lots of history, especially if someone tries to rigorously construct them according to some kind of logic. I wrote a novel and there is too much world-building in it so I have more or less given up on it. But there’s such a thing as too much, too quickly, and too poorly-distinguished. That’s a place where Tolkien’s oft-lamented slowness as a writer comes into its own. He introduces you to the many-fold nooks and crannies of Middle Earth slowly, “organically” even. Not so in “The Man of Gold” – Barker just throws words and concepts at you in an exhausting fusillade.
It’s not an altogether bad world, Tekumel. It’s pleasingly asymmetrical and complex. It seems like it was a colony planet of Earth, thousands of years ago, and degenerated from several eras of high-tech into a kind of medieval situation, except they can’t even figure out iron, just bronze and copper like jerks. Humans live in byzantinely complex hierarchical societies. People belong to temples of one of twenty-odd gods (who might have once been powerful technologists? Or aliens? Or something?), most of whom seem to have multiple mythic aspects as well as their main names. People also belong to clans (which don’t have Tekumel-language names, but names in English, which is both confusing and a relief) and the clans have some relationship to the temples? Then there’s kingdoms and empires, and various non-human races, lizardfolk and mantis-folk, etc. Magic exists, mostly access to ill-understood ancient technology. A lot of it has a Central Asian/Indian imperial vibe, as understood by a midcentury white scholar, to me- layers of history, people bound by multiple codes meant to respond to transhistorical imperatives, ornate flowery language to go with ornate social arrangements, etc. “Orientalist,” probably, but that’s fantasy fiction for you.
The story is pretty basic fantasy boilerplate. A young scholar, Harsan, in the temple of the scholar-god discovers an ancient secret during his linguistic research (like the author, he’s a linguist). He’s sent off on a quest to explain this secret to his superiors. He gets whisked off on various adventures as different factions try to use his knowledge. He has the key to some kind of ancient weapon (the titular Man of Gold) that can defeat another ancient weapon, but can’t consciously access it. All the different factions, most of them vying for the imperial throne, want it. He gets seduced by a lady from the sex-goddess temple. Death-god cultists mess with them. They get shanghaied by slavers. He meets another lady and escapes into ancient labyrinths of ruins to find the titular McGuffin, all while being pursued by various groups. With pluck and fortitude, Harsan survives, averts disaster, and winds up with two wives! Score!
All this is in fairly basic high fantasy prose. That’d be fine, but if you’re going to have that many groups running around, it’d be good to be able to distinguish them more, and Barker either didn’t have the chops or the inclination to do so as much as he perhaps should have in this one. Probably his best creation in this one is the death-cult, classic lawful-evil well-mannered horror villains with all manner of gross undead critters to menace the heroes with. But they also just kind of reminded me of Jack Vance, who did worlds like these but with a much defter hand. Vance often had nigh-indistinguishable factions hating each other in stagnant worlds- but that was the point, that their hates were petty, and he did as much prose-wrangling to get that across and no further. Barker, I think, got lost in the love of Tekumel. Apparently, he was a great dungeon master on the early role-playing game scene: Dungeons and Dragons co-designer Dave Arneson apparently said Barker was his favorite DM. I could see that. But as a novel… well, I’m curious enough to maybe try out another Tekumel book. But ultimately, this was more of a slog than I was thinking it might be. ***
His fans call M.A.R. Barker “the American Tolkien” because like the grand old man of high fantasy, Barker was a linguist, working in both Native American and South Asian languages. And it shows! Those short chapters weren’t dense with ideas or involved prose- they were packed with references. Nothing on the planet of Tekumel is just an animal or plant- it’s a “dri-ant” or a “whatever-fruit.” Every page is packed with proper nouns and not just that of characters- gods and clans and cities and empires. Seemingly every word in all of the several Tekumel languages has an accent mark in it (I haven’t reproduced that here because they’re redundant and annoying). The picture I’m going to use to accompany this review on my blog (and maybe I’ll include it on fb and the newsletter?) is a picture of a random page in the book. Truly random- I entered “356” for the number of pages into random.org and produced a page number. Page 307 is the end of an action scene, not exposition-heavy as far as the book goes, and get a load of all the names and proper nouns and accent marks! It reminds of late-era Magic card expansions- they can’t get away with calling something “warrior” anymore, so it has to be “X-civilization’s warrior,” etc.
Look, I like world-building. I like Tolkien, I like multi-layered worlds with lots of history, especially if someone tries to rigorously construct them according to some kind of logic. I wrote a novel and there is too much world-building in it so I have more or less given up on it. But there’s such a thing as too much, too quickly, and too poorly-distinguished. That’s a place where Tolkien’s oft-lamented slowness as a writer comes into its own. He introduces you to the many-fold nooks and crannies of Middle Earth slowly, “organically” even. Not so in “The Man of Gold” – Barker just throws words and concepts at you in an exhausting fusillade.
It’s not an altogether bad world, Tekumel. It’s pleasingly asymmetrical and complex. It seems like it was a colony planet of Earth, thousands of years ago, and degenerated from several eras of high-tech into a kind of medieval situation, except they can’t even figure out iron, just bronze and copper like jerks. Humans live in byzantinely complex hierarchical societies. People belong to temples of one of twenty-odd gods (who might have once been powerful technologists? Or aliens? Or something?), most of whom seem to have multiple mythic aspects as well as their main names. People also belong to clans (which don’t have Tekumel-language names, but names in English, which is both confusing and a relief) and the clans have some relationship to the temples? Then there’s kingdoms and empires, and various non-human races, lizardfolk and mantis-folk, etc. Magic exists, mostly access to ill-understood ancient technology. A lot of it has a Central Asian/Indian imperial vibe, as understood by a midcentury white scholar, to me- layers of history, people bound by multiple codes meant to respond to transhistorical imperatives, ornate flowery language to go with ornate social arrangements, etc. “Orientalist,” probably, but that’s fantasy fiction for you.
The story is pretty basic fantasy boilerplate. A young scholar, Harsan, in the temple of the scholar-god discovers an ancient secret during his linguistic research (like the author, he’s a linguist). He’s sent off on a quest to explain this secret to his superiors. He gets whisked off on various adventures as different factions try to use his knowledge. He has the key to some kind of ancient weapon (the titular Man of Gold) that can defeat another ancient weapon, but can’t consciously access it. All the different factions, most of them vying for the imperial throne, want it. He gets seduced by a lady from the sex-goddess temple. Death-god cultists mess with them. They get shanghaied by slavers. He meets another lady and escapes into ancient labyrinths of ruins to find the titular McGuffin, all while being pursued by various groups. With pluck and fortitude, Harsan survives, averts disaster, and winds up with two wives! Score!
All this is in fairly basic high fantasy prose. That’d be fine, but if you’re going to have that many groups running around, it’d be good to be able to distinguish them more, and Barker either didn’t have the chops or the inclination to do so as much as he perhaps should have in this one. Probably his best creation in this one is the death-cult, classic lawful-evil well-mannered horror villains with all manner of gross undead critters to menace the heroes with. But they also just kind of reminded me of Jack Vance, who did worlds like these but with a much defter hand. Vance often had nigh-indistinguishable factions hating each other in stagnant worlds- but that was the point, that their hates were petty, and he did as much prose-wrangling to get that across and no further. Barker, I think, got lost in the love of Tekumel. Apparently, he was a great dungeon master on the early role-playing game scene: Dungeons and Dragons co-designer Dave Arneson apparently said Barker was his favorite DM. I could see that. But as a novel… well, I’m curious enough to maybe try out another Tekumel book. But ultimately, this was more of a slog than I was thinking it might be. ***
September 18, 2019
This is fantasy as Tolkien intended it. If post-Lord of the Rings fantasy resembled Barker's "Tékumel" rather than Brooks' "Shannara," we'd live in a better world. Barker, I imagine, was one of the few who understood what Tolkien was after on a molecular level (language being the basis for mythology and world-building). His vision is different, of course, honing in on non-Western cultures. The influence of the pulps is present, but rather than cheap exploitation, Barker seems to utilize it to further the development of his world and distance it from that which we are used to (in other words, it's good fantasy). Tékumel is cosmopolitan and complex, just like what one would expect from a land based on the Subcontinent or pre-colonial Mexico. While the plot is relatively simple, the setting is what grabs the reader's attention. It's overwhelming, in fact. Imagine staring at a Aztec mosaic and perseverating upon the intricacies of each line and angle, so much that it might even distract you from the image of the whole - that's what exploring this novel feels like.
I first learned about M.A.R. Barker in November 2012, less than a year after he died. I've wanted to read his work ever since. I've been happy to finally have a chance (his work was out-of-print). I don't play "Dungeons and Dragons"-type board games, but it would be nice to see Tékumel return in force as a computer-based RPG, or in literature as a short story collection.
5 stars. Highly recommended. This is fantasy as it should be.
I first learned about M.A.R. Barker in November 2012, less than a year after he died. I've wanted to read his work ever since. I've been happy to finally have a chance (his work was out-of-print). I don't play "Dungeons and Dragons"-type board games, but it would be nice to see Tékumel return in force as a computer-based RPG, or in literature as a short story collection.
5 stars. Highly recommended. This is fantasy as it should be.
November 9, 2021
Barker obsessed about Tekumel for decades before writing this book. By this point, the Tekumel RPG had been out for a decade so there was a fair amount of fandom already. The amount of detail of this world is insane, there are few if any fantasy worlds that can match Tekumel. It's a wonderfully alien, non-western culture with lots of strange corners and cracks to fall into.
This is also a problem as well. Barker does a good on disguising his info dumps as part of the action, but it's still one big pile of details. Tolkien had a problem with this as well. Combined with both the characters and the Barker's use of purple prose, it does feel a bit old school.
Harsan is a fun character and the plot's decent, it's a great read, I wish Barker had continued writing commercially after his second book.
PS Empire of the Petal Throne was my first RPG, and I have way too much Tekumel stuff, I am a fanboy.
This is also a problem as well. Barker does a good on disguising his info dumps as part of the action, but it's still one big pile of details. Tolkien had a problem with this as well. Combined with both the characters and the Barker's use of purple prose, it does feel a bit old school.
Harsan is a fun character and the plot's decent, it's a great read, I wish Barker had continued writing commercially after his second book.
PS Empire of the Petal Throne was my first RPG, and I have way too much Tekumel stuff, I am a fanboy.
September 6, 2019
Well, that was dense. I talked about world-building and the balance between it and story, character, entertainment, etc. when I reviewed "The Golden Sword" recently. If there's a perfect balance, I'd put "Dune" in there. That's a book that is packed with world-building, yet completely engrossing, and featuring lots of very cool, memorable characters. "The Golden Sword" would be at the way far edge of the too much world-building/not enough story or character side of things. Tolkien's Middle Earth books would be somewhere on the same side of the scale, but closer to "Dune." M.A.R. Barker's first Tekumel book falls somewhere past Middle Earth, but nowhere near "The Golden Sword." I hope all that makes sense.
This book is JAMMED with detail about the world Barker created. Tekumel was one of the first worlds out there for Tabletop RPGs, and in fact, predated role-playing games. It's vast, complicated, intricately detailed, and fascinating. To call it colorful would be a huge understatement. The book even features some interesting characters and a good story, which helps it be closer to "Dune" than to "The Golden Sword" on my scale. But that said, it is dense, dense, dense. I respect Barker for not making it easy, not holding your hand as you enter his creation. Yet, that doesn't mean it's always a great read. There were many times I found myself wanting some kind of guide book to consult, some dictionary, bestiary, and/or encyclopedia.
One thing I really like about Barker's take on the genre is that he doesn't rehash European-centric ideas. This world doesn't feel like some variation of Medieval Europe. It's something very different. It also blends in some science fiction in ways that I enjoy.
Tekumel was one of those settings I came across in my early days of Tabletop RPG fandom, and elements of it leaked into my creative subconscious. I know there are elements of my own Conquest of the Sphere setting that have their roots in flipping through some Tekumel book in a game store. I'm glad I've finally read the first novel. For fans of dense, heavy on the world-building, Fantasy novels, I'd definitely recommend this. If you're looking for something light, something fast paced and easy, maybe look somewhere else.
This book is JAMMED with detail about the world Barker created. Tekumel was one of the first worlds out there for Tabletop RPGs, and in fact, predated role-playing games. It's vast, complicated, intricately detailed, and fascinating. To call it colorful would be a huge understatement. The book even features some interesting characters and a good story, which helps it be closer to "Dune" than to "The Golden Sword" on my scale. But that said, it is dense, dense, dense. I respect Barker for not making it easy, not holding your hand as you enter his creation. Yet, that doesn't mean it's always a great read. There were many times I found myself wanting some kind of guide book to consult, some dictionary, bestiary, and/or encyclopedia.
One thing I really like about Barker's take on the genre is that he doesn't rehash European-centric ideas. This world doesn't feel like some variation of Medieval Europe. It's something very different. It also blends in some science fiction in ways that I enjoy.
Tekumel was one of those settings I came across in my early days of Tabletop RPG fandom, and elements of it leaked into my creative subconscious. I know there are elements of my own Conquest of the Sphere setting that have their roots in flipping through some Tekumel book in a game store. I'm glad I've finally read the first novel. For fans of dense, heavy on the world-building, Fantasy novels, I'd definitely recommend this. If you're looking for something light, something fast paced and easy, maybe look somewhere else.
May 15, 2019
The Empire of the Petal Throne is a game world created by the author for Dungeons & Dragons style game playing.
It is a deep and layered world with a non pseudo mediaeval sub Tolkien background but more a mish-mash of Aztec, Incan, Mayan, Indian, Lovecraftian fantasy with Science Fiction underneath all that.
This novel (First of Three) works well for anyone seeking a little more immersion in that world. More knowledge of how things work there. Or just as a reminder of the times you spent there, in games with friends.
For all of the above I would give 4.5 stars.
As a novel however...it lacks.
Prof. M.A.R. Barker is a smart and learned creative man but he is not a natural novelist.
This is one of those books where the protagonist achieves success through no real effort of his/her own. Stuff just happens to them and they go with the flow. Buffeted along by this friends actions, or that enemies words, or even just blind chance.
Also, this is a novel where the action just disappears offstage for a while and we get to hear about it later. like the author got bored of his own plot and just skipped a few bits here and there.
So as a novel I would go 2 stars.
Making a split the difference(ish) of 3 stars.
If you like discovering new worlds with their own working languages and a deep and fascinating history, or even a Lovecraftian atmosphere without all "that" baggage...then dive in.
It is a deep and layered world with a non pseudo mediaeval sub Tolkien background but more a mish-mash of Aztec, Incan, Mayan, Indian, Lovecraftian fantasy with Science Fiction underneath all that.
This novel (First of Three) works well for anyone seeking a little more immersion in that world. More knowledge of how things work there. Or just as a reminder of the times you spent there, in games with friends.
For all of the above I would give 4.5 stars.
As a novel however...it lacks.
Prof. M.A.R. Barker is a smart and learned creative man but he is not a natural novelist.
This is one of those books where the protagonist achieves success through no real effort of his/her own. Stuff just happens to them and they go with the flow. Buffeted along by this friends actions, or that enemies words, or even just blind chance.
Also, this is a novel where the action just disappears offstage for a while and we get to hear about it later. like the author got bored of his own plot and just skipped a few bits here and there.
So as a novel I would go 2 stars.
Making a split the difference(ish) of 3 stars.
If you like discovering new worlds with their own working languages and a deep and fascinating history, or even a Lovecraftian atmosphere without all "that" baggage...then dive in.
April 28, 2012
The world of Tékumel, created by the recently deceased Professor M.A.R. Barker, is one of the greatest worlds of Fantasy RPG's ever done. Emerging from the 70's right on the heels of D&D it was undisputedly one of the most unique worlds to exist and one of the first to ever give a reason for delving into underground crypts. A world crafted that didn't come from some derivation of 15th century Germany, Tolkien or the pulps, though with that last there is certainly a few elements of homage. The World of Tékumel was fully realized and intensely involving.
That being said; world builders are not always good story-tellers and it was a very pleasant surprise to find out that this was not the case with Prof. Barker. I enjoyed this book more than I had thought I would. The world-building is evident, and every now and again your kind of swept into a description; like a Major Imperial Road that is composed of bridges over a deadly swamp, or the way two characters debate which long-dead empire the crypt they are in was built in. I think for some this might be distracting, for me it was fantastic, but the actual story drives this book. You get the characters, even though they live in a very alien culture. The notion of this small man, suddenly thrust into the power-plays of those vastly beyond him, was deeply compelling. Also interesting was how is started with what might be a fairly standard, cliché sort of beginning; the beautiful young women he encounters early on in most stories would remain his love interest throughout, and yet here-in you see a degree of complexity. In a way echoing more recent stories that 'the tales of heroes are not always as they are sung'.
Anyways, long story short, for anyone who likes good fantasy, world-building, truly strange vista's, or has a soft spot for half-naked characters fighting impossible horrors in long-unearthed crypts, this is definitely for you.
That being said; world builders are not always good story-tellers and it was a very pleasant surprise to find out that this was not the case with Prof. Barker. I enjoyed this book more than I had thought I would. The world-building is evident, and every now and again your kind of swept into a description; like a Major Imperial Road that is composed of bridges over a deadly swamp, or the way two characters debate which long-dead empire the crypt they are in was built in. I think for some this might be distracting, for me it was fantastic, but the actual story drives this book. You get the characters, even though they live in a very alien culture. The notion of this small man, suddenly thrust into the power-plays of those vastly beyond him, was deeply compelling. Also interesting was how is started with what might be a fairly standard, cliché sort of beginning; the beautiful young women he encounters early on in most stories would remain his love interest throughout, and yet here-in you see a degree of complexity. In a way echoing more recent stories that 'the tales of heroes are not always as they are sung'.
Anyways, long story short, for anyone who likes good fantasy, world-building, truly strange vista's, or has a soft spot for half-naked characters fighting impossible horrors in long-unearthed crypts, this is definitely for you.
June 4, 2014
Re-read this a couple weeks ago, as I'm going through the series. So far I think this was the best one. Not obviously an account of an rpg campaign, although it might be. The world is very imaginative, although it does sometimes come off as a gaming setting (especially when 'monsters' make their appearances). The main characters are great, but when they appear in subsequent books they are almost unrecognizable. I'm not sure why that is, possibly because of the significant amount of time that went by in the author's actual life.
June 26, 2018
I read this novel over 10 years ago, but was just reminded of it today, went up into the attic and leafed through the first couple of chapters and remembered why it is in my 'favorite books' box. The world-building in the first half of the novel is mind-blowing. The 'quest' plot that carries the second half of the novel was less immersive for me, but fans of Robert Jordan will enjoy it.
March 7, 2015
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.
Still, though most of the characters were wooden and flat, I did really like the death-cult prince.
Read
October 30, 2015M.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
July 14, 2008
The first book of the complex and amazing world of Tekumel, the Empire of the Petal Throne.
March 21, 2019
4/5 — Very interesting, complex world and a reasonably good story with a fair amount of intrigue. Writing is acceptable and has many linguistic components.
October 27, 2023
This was a really interesting setting to delve into - presumably heavily based on Meso-American culture, rather than the more standard European based fantasy settings. It certainly had that feeling, as did the naming conventions, and the feel of the culture, architecture, and landscape came across very clearly. It was also very interesting to see less usual different fantasy races represented, and as the book developed to see that they could fall into different groups and had their own personalities and histories which fitted into the general tapestry. The world's history is revealed in layers as well, becoming steadily more important to the story and we quite literally discover its depths as the plot progresses.
Some of this world building is immersive and we are thrown into the world with its ten gods and various human nations, and additional alien species and cast of characters with unfamiliar names and clashing consonants and syllables. However, in addition to this is a steady smattering of local words to describe flora and fauna mostly which are entirely meaningless. The strong smell of the chkta flowers or the taste of b'kchaka meat are equally lacking in image - and yes, I made these up, because I could not be bothered to go looking for example of random letters. I suppose that reading more of these books then the lexicon will slowly develop and give the reader some feeling of recognition that a zirja is a dangerous predator, and it is up to them to decide if they imagine it as a tiger-like creature or like a velociraptor. If later on you find out it actually has wings... well, that could be a flaw with the introduction of the animal in the first place, or it could be a merit in the fact that there is so much world building here that things can just be thrown out there and until something is really important it is not overly explained, just implied.
In general, I liked this. This kind of world building relies on the reader being engaged with the book and reading carefully and thinking about the world, imagining and re-imagining what the author is describing, and slowly building up a more complete picture, like a jigsaw puzzle. However, I think at times Barker strays over the line into throwing too much jargon at us, and this sometimes is rather off-putting, and fails to draw us in.
The main problem I have though is that the plot is not really very interesting. The story is really rather basic and the action really repeats itself in several scenes which could very well be the same scene - or even chapters - as earlier in the book, but with a different backdrop. The fact that from time to time the book cuts away entirely to totally different characters to give us some political perspective of the motivation of the antagonists does not really help. The book is not about these people. The book has one main character and it is a negative that to be aware of what the stakes are his story needs to be propped up with selective scenes of 'meanwhile in the fortress of big bad...'
There is probably a lot to be said about the views of sex, the gender roles, slavery and depictions of sex, violence and religion in this book, and I suspect others will have a lot more to say that I do. I simply feel though that on the one hand this gives a very good feeling of a certain style present in works like Conan or Tarzan, but in a rather more modern way. Also, I felt that these things added to the culture of the world, and showed flaws and issues with the society rather than glorified them, and hints of other cultures where things were a little different made it feel less two dimensional.
All in all, pretty fun and very interesting. If the plot had been a bit better I would happily give this four stars. I am quite curious to read at least one more of these to see if with perhaps a more interesting story this could really stand out as something unique and interesting.
Some of this world building is immersive and we are thrown into the world with its ten gods and various human nations, and additional alien species and cast of characters with unfamiliar names and clashing consonants and syllables. However, in addition to this is a steady smattering of local words to describe flora and fauna mostly which are entirely meaningless. The strong smell of the chkta flowers or the taste of b'kchaka meat are equally lacking in image - and yes, I made these up, because I could not be bothered to go looking for example of random letters. I suppose that reading more of these books then the lexicon will slowly develop and give the reader some feeling of recognition that a zirja is a dangerous predator, and it is up to them to decide if they imagine it as a tiger-like creature or like a velociraptor. If later on you find out it actually has wings... well, that could be a flaw with the introduction of the animal in the first place, or it could be a merit in the fact that there is so much world building here that things can just be thrown out there and until something is really important it is not overly explained, just implied.
In general, I liked this. This kind of world building relies on the reader being engaged with the book and reading carefully and thinking about the world, imagining and re-imagining what the author is describing, and slowly building up a more complete picture, like a jigsaw puzzle. However, I think at times Barker strays over the line into throwing too much jargon at us, and this sometimes is rather off-putting, and fails to draw us in.
The main problem I have though is that the plot is not really very interesting. The story is really rather basic and the action really repeats itself in several scenes which could very well be the same scene - or even chapters - as earlier in the book, but with a different backdrop. The fact that from time to time the book cuts away entirely to totally different characters to give us some political perspective of the motivation of the antagonists does not really help. The book is not about these people. The book has one main character and it is a negative that to be aware of what the stakes are his story needs to be propped up with selective scenes of 'meanwhile in the fortress of big bad...'
There is probably a lot to be said about the views of sex, the gender roles, slavery and depictions of sex, violence and religion in this book, and I suspect others will have a lot more to say that I do. I simply feel though that on the one hand this gives a very good feeling of a certain style present in works like Conan or Tarzan, but in a rather more modern way. Also, I felt that these things added to the culture of the world, and showed flaws and issues with the society rather than glorified them, and hints of other cultures where things were a little different made it feel less two dimensional.
All in all, pretty fun and very interesting. If the plot had been a bit better I would happily give this four stars. I am quite curious to read at least one more of these to see if with perhaps a more interesting story this could really stand out as something unique and interesting.
December 16, 2020
I've known of Empire of the Petal Throne (EPT) since 1976/77, I was part of a wargaming club and a guy brought it in. Interesting and fascinating at the time but didn't really follow it up then. Since then I've done many different RPGs but only had a passing fancy for EPT mainly because nobody was playing it. As for the the books, I've been aware of Dr. Barker's writings for a while and finally decided to give it a go and see what he imparted.
I'll open by saying you have three choices here; know EPT (you'll love the book), research it as you go (it's the slow way but you might get hooked), and then there's the go with it and let him tell his story (you do that with other writers, sit back and relax as you read this one). For me it was a combination of research and sit back and relax; see I got fascinated with some of the things being described.
Now the story is different than most fantasy stories you'll read, almost mundane compared to many but then this is EPT and it's somewhere between fantasy and science fiction (you'll get more of the SF on the back end of the story). As you read it you find that Dr. Barker does a very good job describing the world he's weaving and bringing forth a culture most westerners (and therefore fantasy readers) aren't familiar with. This is something that either makes or breaks the story for most readers (for me I bounced between the two). The fascinating part is how complex of a society Dr. Barker makes. Yes, he had everything to make it (he developed a role playing game that has a complete society in it) but what really made it was Dr. Barker tells the story so naturally, almost as if he's seeing it as it unfolds. This is what makes the book worth the read if you enjoy "other cultures" because EPT is a rich and complex world and Dr. Barker does an excellent job presenting it.
Rating wise I was going toward 3 stars through most of the book because the story does drag just a little. Much of that's because Dr. Barker is trying to e as rich in his story telling as his world is (he does a good job too) but it drags the telling down just a little. What sold me to make this 4 stars though was the back half. The back half opens up and that's when you get to see the real world being presented and enjoy the story telling more than the learning. Having said that, is it worth your time, depends... do you enjoy exploring new worlds or different thoughts? Or are you more of the D&D, hack and slash type? If your fantasy love is western hack and slash then you're going to be a little disappointed (I think). Now if you're into world building and complex environments where you can learn about a people to some degree then you'll be more entertained with the Man of Gold.
I'll open by saying you have three choices here; know EPT (you'll love the book), research it as you go (it's the slow way but you might get hooked), and then there's the go with it and let him tell his story (you do that with other writers, sit back and relax as you read this one). For me it was a combination of research and sit back and relax; see I got fascinated with some of the things being described.
Now the story is different than most fantasy stories you'll read, almost mundane compared to many but then this is EPT and it's somewhere between fantasy and science fiction (you'll get more of the SF on the back end of the story). As you read it you find that Dr. Barker does a very good job describing the world he's weaving and bringing forth a culture most westerners (and therefore fantasy readers) aren't familiar with. This is something that either makes or breaks the story for most readers (for me I bounced between the two). The fascinating part is how complex of a society Dr. Barker makes. Yes, he had everything to make it (he developed a role playing game that has a complete society in it) but what really made it was Dr. Barker tells the story so naturally, almost as if he's seeing it as it unfolds. This is what makes the book worth the read if you enjoy "other cultures" because EPT is a rich and complex world and Dr. Barker does an excellent job presenting it.
Rating wise I was going toward 3 stars through most of the book because the story does drag just a little. Much of that's because Dr. Barker is trying to e as rich in his story telling as his world is (he does a good job too) but it drags the telling down just a little. What sold me to make this 4 stars though was the back half. The back half opens up and that's when you get to see the real world being presented and enjoy the story telling more than the learning. Having said that, is it worth your time, depends... do you enjoy exploring new worlds or different thoughts? Or are you more of the D&D, hack and slash type? If your fantasy love is western hack and slash then you're going to be a little disappointed (I think). Now if you're into world building and complex environments where you can learn about a people to some degree then you'll be more entertained with the Man of Gold.
September 28, 2020
I'd give it a five for world building and a two for writing. The world of Tekumel is worth a visit as one of the first non-Western fully fleshed fantasy worlds out there. It was made into a RPG similar to D&D in the '70s so anybody who came from that time and played tabletop RPGs probably knows of it.
Scattered throughout are a huge number of details that are not important for the story arc, but, add a richness to the world building that I usually don't see. If you are into world building for the sake of world building, you will love it. If you are mainly concerned about the plots/characters it will drive you crazy.
There are parts that haven't aged well for 2020. The female characters are one dimensional. But, there are many different societies in the world and I give the author some credit for having some which were much better about their treatment of women than the main one so while I roll my eyes, I think it would be misplaced to judge solely based on that criteria.
So, if you like either the world building or want an appreciation of how fantasy worlds evolved it is a must read. If you are not, then I would suggest you pass and find something else.
Scattered throughout are a huge number of details that are not important for the story arc, but, add a richness to the world building that I usually don't see. If you are into world building for the sake of world building, you will love it. If you are mainly concerned about the plots/characters it will drive you crazy.
There are parts that haven't aged well for 2020. The female characters are one dimensional. But, there are many different societies in the world and I give the author some credit for having some which were much better about their treatment of women than the main one so while I roll my eyes, I think it would be misplaced to judge solely based on that criteria.
So, if you like either the world building or want an appreciation of how fantasy worlds evolved it is a must read. If you are not, then I would suggest you pass and find something else.
October 29, 2022
Way way way too many made up words.
I’m sure the language is very clever but introducing endless new words, often without context, isn’t any fun. It’s not helped by unusual combinations of letters and lots of accents so it’s not even clear how to pronounce them.
Here’s some from the first chapter (minus accents as I can’t be bothered to type them):
Pe Choi
Harsan
Kiren
Zaren
Lord Thumis
Sakbe
Tsolyanu
Paya Gupa
Tumissa
Chaka Range
Tsan
Pijena
Yan Kor
T’kek
Ch’be
Lket
Etc etc
You get the idea by now.
Even without the made up words, we still have phrases without much context. From the first paragraph of chapter 3:
New Annex
Hall of Mighty Tongues
Monastery of the Sapient Eye
Temple of Eternal Knowing
All in all, this makes it a difficult book to follow.
I’m sure the language is very clever but introducing endless new words, often without context, isn’t any fun. It’s not helped by unusual combinations of letters and lots of accents so it’s not even clear how to pronounce them.
Here’s some from the first chapter (minus accents as I can’t be bothered to type them):
Pe Choi
Harsan
Kiren
Zaren
Lord Thumis
Sakbe
Tsolyanu
Paya Gupa
Tumissa
Chaka Range
Tsan
Pijena
Yan Kor
T’kek
Ch’be
Lket
Etc etc
You get the idea by now.
Even without the made up words, we still have phrases without much context. From the first paragraph of chapter 3:
New Annex
Hall of Mighty Tongues
Monastery of the Sapient Eye
Temple of Eternal Knowing
All in all, this makes it a difficult book to follow.
February 5, 2025
I personally found myself incredibly immersed in the world of Tekumel. I think a lot of the layers of the world were excellently portrayed in the book. The way it's written doesn't make the reader feel like they are watching a show, but rather in the world. Many in-universe elements are used in place of things from our own world, and so the reader can simply draw lines between our own real world with the fantasy world of Tekumel, and not be lost within, scraping for answers. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a fantasy novel that isn't about elves, dwarves, orcs, and humans, but rather one of humans among species unlike anything on our world, where people, human or otherwise, live together, on a planet, somewhere in space.
February 21, 2019
This is an interesting book. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but it is an enjoyable story.
It is a bit clunky in certain passages, but overall the exotic elements of the setting are slowly revealed. The Professor had me reaching for the dictionary more often than any other author I can recall. I now know more about architectural features and fittings, among other things, than I did previously.
I was already familiar with the world of Tekumel, and I won’t go into details. There are plenty of other reviews here that do that. Man of Gold has all of the elements of a good story, even if it is a little idiosyncratic.
Professor Barker has been labelled “the forgotten Tolkien”. I would recommend this book to anyone curious.
It is a bit clunky in certain passages, but overall the exotic elements of the setting are slowly revealed. The Professor had me reaching for the dictionary more often than any other author I can recall. I now know more about architectural features and fittings, among other things, than I did previously.
I was already familiar with the world of Tekumel, and I won’t go into details. There are plenty of other reviews here that do that. Man of Gold has all of the elements of a good story, even if it is a little idiosyncratic.
Professor Barker has been labelled “the forgotten Tolkien”. I would recommend this book to anyone curious.
June 18, 2018
Tolkien-deep with culture and history of Tekumel. I could spend months extracting or discussing the background in this novel.
The protagonist is not necessarily a hero, but has that combination of curiosity and willpower to carry him through the story. The ending is entertaining, but SPOILERS.
The protagonist is not necessarily a hero, but has that combination of curiosity and willpower to carry him through the story. The ending is entertaining, but SPOILERS.
May 22, 2017
I need to sit on this one and process what I actually read, but for now it's definitely a solid three stars.
August 8, 2020
Found this a bit of a slog.
April 20, 2021
It was a good story, even interesting. But the names! I had a hard time with the names; and it took me out of he story when I had to stop to pronounce the names.
December 28, 2025
Written by a highly problematic linguist who created "Tsolyáni", an entire language first created for the 'Empire of the Petal Throne' role-playing game, and later for associated novels such as this. Tsolyáni is a faux language and milieu that mish-mashes elements from real-world Urdu, Pashto, Mayan, and Aztec.
As such, with this book you're looking at some doing some homework to get the hang of things here. Language is such a key element that the only "supplementary" info provided is an overly verbose far-too-detailed masters degree treatise dedicated to the exact pronunciation and phonetics the author would have you read, study, memorize, and presumably be tested on at a later date.
If you can power through all of the esoteric, barely pronounceable, often too-similar names of various characters, nations, regions, cities, gods, religions, races, cults, places, philosophies, and so on and so forth..., this does pay off in the end. How do you say "patience" in Tsolyáni? Since that is really the name of the game here.
If I have but one real complaint, is that this book seemingly assumes that only 'Empire of the Petal Throne' game players would read this (and thus already have a leg-up on the extremely rich 7 course meal the author is serving up here).
This book would be well served if it was re-released in a heavily annotated and/or footnoted version, IMO. There is just so much eccentric and esoteric material here, none of it easily approached or digested, that it's easy to see why 'The Empire of the Petal Throne' world has such a reputation of being so opaque and unapproachable. Would providing such annotations be seen as "spoon feeding" the reader? Would uber-fans of this sort of thing scoff and say "Well, I had to put in the blood, sweat, and tears to power through this, so everyone else should too!"...? Maybe. Maybe this exclusivity is part of what gives this it's almost too rich non-Euro-centric panache -- it's anti-Tolkienism nature, if you will?
During the author's lifetime, he put out the 'The Empire of the Petal Throne' RPG (a game that has been still quietly humming along with various expansions, re-releases, updates, and re-boots after all these years)..., then this book in 1984 ..., followed by a handful of other Tékumel-related books later on..., and then sadly also a neo-nazi novel under the cowardly pseudonym of Randolph Calverhall. None of which I'm interested in investigating.
Why? Well.., with all of it's weighty "100 pounds of background in a 5 pound bag" esoteric eccentricities (and the author's problematic IRL dumbassery)..., I'm happy with recommending reading just this one book: in a bubble, no more, and no less.
As such, with this book you're looking at some doing some homework to get the hang of things here. Language is such a key element that the only "supplementary" info provided is an overly verbose far-too-detailed masters degree treatise dedicated to the exact pronunciation and phonetics the author would have you read, study, memorize, and presumably be tested on at a later date.
If you can power through all of the esoteric, barely pronounceable, often too-similar names of various characters, nations, regions, cities, gods, religions, races, cults, places, philosophies, and so on and so forth..., this does pay off in the end. How do you say "patience" in Tsolyáni? Since that is really the name of the game here.
If I have but one real complaint, is that this book seemingly assumes that only 'Empire of the Petal Throne' game players would read this (and thus already have a leg-up on the extremely rich 7 course meal the author is serving up here).
This book would be well served if it was re-released in a heavily annotated and/or footnoted version, IMO. There is just so much eccentric and esoteric material here, none of it easily approached or digested, that it's easy to see why 'The Empire of the Petal Throne' world has such a reputation of being so opaque and unapproachable. Would providing such annotations be seen as "spoon feeding" the reader? Would uber-fans of this sort of thing scoff and say "Well, I had to put in the blood, sweat, and tears to power through this, so everyone else should too!"...? Maybe. Maybe this exclusivity is part of what gives this it's almost too rich non-Euro-centric panache -- it's anti-Tolkienism nature, if you will?
During the author's lifetime, he put out the 'The Empire of the Petal Throne' RPG (a game that has been still quietly humming along with various expansions, re-releases, updates, and re-boots after all these years)..., then this book in 1984 ..., followed by a handful of other Tékumel-related books later on..., and then sadly also a neo-nazi novel under the cowardly pseudonym of Randolph Calverhall. None of which I'm interested in investigating.
Why? Well.., with all of it's weighty "100 pounds of background in a 5 pound bag" esoteric eccentricities (and the author's problematic IRL dumbassery)..., I'm happy with recommending reading just this one book: in a bubble, no more, and no less.
March 6, 2010
So, at the heart of things, you have a fabulous and deep far-future sci-fi/fantasy setting in which aliens and humans coexist on a forsaken planet -- a world in which modern sorcery has emerged in the shadows of ancient and fading technology. Sure, that's been done before, but Barker bases his world on Eastern myths and cultural models -- plus he introduces a real zeal for language. There are a few places where he introduces some really fascinating linguistic notions.
It's a fabulous mythos, full of wonder and darkness -- a thousand fantasy standards made new again in this strange Ayurvedic world of Tekumel. Sadly, however, it has some fairly pulpy plot lines and characters. Sometimes the writing is perfectly acceptable, other times it takes a dive. It's far from the sifting-through-crap-for-gold situation one encounters with Hodgson's "The Night Land," but the world is generally richer than the telling.
December 22, 2013
It's a typical fantasy story. The hero starts out in a completely sedentary life and is thrust onto a wild journey by mysterious forces and fate beyond his control. It has its twists and turns throughout the story, some of which are resolved and some of which end up being irrelevant to the story. The action moves well and should keep you engaged, if at times confused. The characters also aren't particularly well-distinguished or developed and are basically just vessels for the world and action.
The best part of the book is the world. Tekumel is a rich and well-though world that really tries to do something different from the typical Western-influenced, Tolkien-like worlds that most fantasy novels work from. The catch is that the book may be somewhat difficult to read if you don't already have some background on it.
If you're into Tekumel and the Empire of the Petal Throne, it's a critical read. Otherwise, you can probably pass and find a better read otherwise.
The best part of the book is the world. Tekumel is a rich and well-though world that really tries to do something different from the typical Western-influenced, Tolkien-like worlds that most fantasy novels work from. The catch is that the book may be somewhat difficult to read if you don't already have some background on it.
If you're into Tekumel and the Empire of the Petal Throne, it's a critical read. Otherwise, you can probably pass and find a better read otherwise.
January 6, 2011
The best of the Teukemel novels (I've read all but one of them, I believe) and a fabulous exploration of a fantastic world. But hampered a bit by an ending that involved just too much dungeon crawling. The quality of writing in this one is also substantially better than the following novels, which is a bit of a pity. Also, though I love the concept of the tubecars, they pall quickly in Flamesong and Prince of Skulls. Luckily, Harsan is forced to tramp across the dusty plains of Teukemel in this book and the story is the better for it.
September 27, 2011
This book is set in MAR Barker's world of Tekumel, an Indian-inspired medieval society with its own invented (and deeply detailed) languages, customs, religions and so on. My original review was "so bad it's good." A bit unfair, really. It's "bad" in the sense that it is pulp fiction, not terribly well written. It's good because you get a glimpse into Barker's richly-detailed and very intriguing world. This one is about due for a re-read.
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