The Tekumel Novels

(Or, what I read on my hols, part 1).

Finally I got around to reading the last three of these, and since it’s so long since I read the first two, I reread those as well.

The books are all travelogue fantasies, each taking the reader through a specific area of the world of Tekumel, created by MAR Barker and the setting for the Empire of the Petal Throne RPG. The first two were published by DAW, and seem to have benefited from better editing; the last three are published by Zottola. Roleplayers interested in the EPT RPG will find some (but not all) of the milieu’s questions answered; I also noted that coins and ancient technology are much more common in the novels than in the game backgrounds. Dates in parentheses are the year the novel occurs in the setting.

1. The Man of Gold (2360?). Chiefly of interest because the hero saves the world without ever knowing it, and feels like a failure as a result, despite his material rewards. That was genuinely novel for me.

2. Flamesong (2361). The only one of the novels in which the priest Harsan does not figure as a central character; the most memorable feature for me was the unusual nature of the magic weapon.

(Here Prince Dhichune’s grab for the throne and the resulting civil war occur, offstage. There should have been a book covering this, I feel, even if neither Harsan nor Trinesh – the two principal characters – were involved.)

3. Lords of Tsamra (2363). Very interesting to me as an EPT roleplayer, not so good as a novel; a tale of mediaeval fantasy biowarfare, explaining who the real Lords of Tsamra are, and their surprising connection to the ancient subway system.

(Here the Mu’ugalavyani invasion occurs, offstage again.)

4. Prince of Skulls (2372). Dragons and demons and priests, oh my! Prince Dhichune reappears, and in a surprise plot twist he and his old foe Harsan are compelled to work together.

5. Death of Kings (2373). This reads like the first half of a much longer novel. I found the ending disappointing, in particular that all the major romances except one are broken up, for no very obvious reason; and the plot doesn’t feel resolved. One of the main characters is Captain Harchar, the character run by Dave Arneson (RIP) in Professor Barker’s own EPT campaign.

The books, especially the last three, rely heavily on deus ex machina and on critical events occurring far away, to other, more powerful characters, which shape the world dramatically but which the novel’s protagonists only find out about in passing, weeks or months later. For me, this makes them dissatisfying as novels, although the world of Tekumel and its history remain fascinating as a complete break from the usual Dark Ages mediaeval milieux.

I would, however, read another one of the series if it appeared, because I still want to know how and why Tekumel dropped out of realspace into a pocket universe. Some hints are dropped, mostly in book 5, but I’d still like the correct answer at some point; I think I know who did it now, but not why.