Customer Reviews

Flamesong (Tekumel)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Barker's story takes place in the most richly textured fantasy world every created. It is a shame it is out of print and no longer available to beguile readers. As you read, you become immersed in this world, drawn into a culture that while foreign, is every bit as believable as our own. It is a world without iron, without horses, but where the gods are powerful interdimensional beings (and VERY real). You won't find taverns, but clan houses which specialize in winemaking. There is good and evil in abundance and a rousing good time in a world filled with layers of intrigue. Trinesh is a worthy hero.

M.A.R. Barker, like J.R.R. Tolkein, was a Professor of Languages. In this book, he takes the reader through a portion of the war between the empires of Tsolyanu and Yan Kor, throws in a couple of love interests, a forgotten civilization, and a mysterious race of time/space travellers who don't need a TARDIS.

Recommended for older teens and adults, this story, like most modern science fiction, does contain some topics and descriptions that might be disturbing to younger children.

I cannot recommend this book enough. The world is so rich and so different from what we always see in fantasy books. I am not even a real fantasy genre fan. I start to read them then throw them across the room because the plot and characters are as predictable as those in a romance novel. Not so with this book.

MAR Barker has shown he can write a truly superb novel with 'Man of Gold'. 'Flamesong' is entertaining, and a must for all Tekumel enthusiasts, but isn't as cohesive a novel as its predecessor.

This book is a great one you'll want to pull off your shelf and re-read every year or two. In the same style as CJ Cherryh and the Morgaine/Gate of Ivrel as well as the Tolkien series, this book magically absorbs you into a detailed world filled with lush history and truly believable characters. Sincerely a good book, although out of print now. My advice is to hunt it down, you won't regret it.

But not great. Like many other linguists who are involved in SF/F, Barker is in love with his own languages to the detriment of the story. The names are confusing and hard to keep separate on the page; I'm sure they're all etymologically very distinct but so many of them LOOK so similar it's hard to tell them apart. The characters are generally underdeveloped, and the alien races poorly described. The plot is interesting and fast-paced, but can feel very jumpy and character motivations are not always comprehensible because the characters are too underdeveloped.

For fans of the gaming world, I expect this is a fun book. For those coming new to the world, it's not nearly well-enough described to give the reader a clear picture, and the characters are not distinct and developed enough to make up for that lack. The civilizations are interesting but again, frustratingly sketchy in their description, presumably because the target audience of role-players already knows them inside and out.

As they hop all over the world at the speed of ... well, the speed of very very fast, it would be helpful for the book to come with a map. And a list of the races/civilizations. For those of us who do NOT play the gaming system, it's simply too difficult to follow and depends too intimately on you knowing the geography and culture of the world BEFORE you read the novel.

All in all, it's an excellent IDEA, but one that is poorly executed. I would not reccommend purchasing this book unless you use the gaming system.