Cover of Flamesong

Flamesong

core novel 1985 Tekumel

Record

First published1985
Original language EN
Work typenovel
Canon statuscore
Reader rating3.73 (130 ratings, collected 2026-08-26)
Page count412
First-edition ISBN9780886770761
Internal chronology2

Synopsis

Flamesong is the second novel in the Tekumel series, following The Man of Gold. Lieutenant Trinesh of the Tsolyáni army leads a small detachment in pursuit of a group of hostile Yán Kóryani noblewomen who flee into an ancient, half-functioning subway system running beneath the world of Tekumel. Attempting to take the women prisoner, Trinesh and his soldiers instead find themselves trapped alongside their quarry inside the tubeway network, carried without warning to distant and unfamiliar parts of the world. Forced into close, uneasy cooperation with people who began the journey as their enemies, Trinesh and the Yán Kóryani women must navigate the network's dangers together, even as tensions between their two peoples remain far from resolved.

Where it sits

  • Universe: Tekumel
  • Series: Tekumel core; position 2 of 5 in the series' recorded order
  • Author: M.A.R. Barker

Notes

  • From the series record (Tekumel): Five novels set on the invented world of Tekumel, originally developed by the author as a role-playing setting decades before the first novel appeared; the final three novels were published after the author's 2000 death from manuscripts he had completed.

Neighbouring works

Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.

Sources

← Tekumel dossier · All universes

Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.