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90s (or earlier) cross-world fantasy book with a circular river and character-class tattoos

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90s (or earlier) cross-world fantasy book with a circular river and character-class tattoos

Book with children disappearing and animal suicidesFantasy book with main character who has a scarred hand and powerful blood granting him longer lifeAmazon zombie story with a main character who loves Mountain Dew and DoritosFantasy book with magical tattoosStory Identification: Trying to recall an older (early 90s) fantasy book set in modern timesBook where a boy and girl are transported into a fantasy video gameFantasy Book about main character with a rapierFantasy book series about persecuted people with elemental magic powersBook series my dad told me about. It involves space travel, clones, and an indigenous people with kangaroo tailsComing of age fantasy book- main character trains by dying fighting demons

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9

I'm looking for a book I read in the early 1990s that is probably a bit older than that. I picked it up in paperback off a used-book rack in bad condition, and it had one of those extra-generic 1980s painted covers, so might have been a decade older. For some reason, when it came back to my mind, I thought it was by David Drake, but nothing I can find from his limited fantasy output matches it.

The basic worldbuilding conceit of the novel is that everyone has a D&D-style "class" and experience level visible to everyone as glyphs or tattoos on their forehead, which apparently appear by magical means; they aren't applied by the people themselves. The glyphs are easy to interpret, for example sailors have anchors on their foreheads, and more anchors means a better sailor. Likewise, merchants all have barrels.

Another interesting detail is that the world is relatively small and organized around a circular river. It's not a canal; there is a current and so forth. However, sailing downriver for long enough will eventually loop around to the same places that were passed upriver.

The plot revolves around a vague conspiracy, which I recall as just "basic economic literacy" without remembering the details. The key point is that it's carried out by a certain character class with distinctive forehead markings that no-one can recognize or understand. Apparently all people with this marking are involved in the conspiracy, so it amounts to an indication that the person cannot be trusted; as a result, they must be very indirect.

The main character is recruited to investigate the conspiracy by some members of the merchant class, because he is a Conan-type superior physical specimen. This is indicated not only by his physique, but because he has a large number of swords on his forehead, more than anyone has ever seen before. However, it turns out that this isn't the whole story; his body is that of a great warrior, but it has had someone else's mind stuffed into it. This is a reader-relatable character who "died in the real world" and then found his real-world personality transferred into the impressive body.

So far as I'm aware it was a standalone book, not a part of a series, despite setting up quite a lot of worldbuilding tropes as I've mentioned.

story-identification novel

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edited 8 hours ago

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9

I'm looking for a book I read in the early 1990s that is probably a bit older than that. I picked it up in paperback off a used-book rack in bad condition, and it had one of those extra-generic 1980s painted covers, so might have been a decade older. For some reason, when it came back to my mind, I thought it was by David Drake, but nothing I can find from his limited fantasy output matches it.

The basic worldbuilding conceit of the novel is that everyone has a D&D-style "class" and experience level visible to everyone as glyphs or tattoos on their forehead, which apparently appear by magical means; they aren't applied by the people themselves. The glyphs are easy to interpret, for example sailors have anchors on their foreheads, and more anchors means a better sailor. Likewise, merchants all have barrels.

Another interesting detail is that the world is relatively small and organized around a circular river. It's not a canal; there is a current and so forth. However, sailing downriver for long enough will eventually loop around to the same places that were passed upriver.

The plot revolves around a vague conspiracy, which I recall as just "basic economic literacy" without remembering the details. The key point is that it's carried out by a certain character class with distinctive forehead markings that no-one can recognize or understand. Apparently all people with this marking are involved in the conspiracy, so it amounts to an indication that the person cannot be trusted; as a result, they must be very indirect.

The main character is recruited to investigate the conspiracy by some members of the merchant class, because he is a Conan-type superior physical specimen. This is indicated not only by his physique, but because he has a large number of swords on his forehead, more than anyone has ever seen before. However, it turns out that this isn't the whole story; his body is that of a great warrior, but it has had someone else's mind stuffed into it. This is a reader-relatable character who "died in the real world" and then found his real-world personality transferred into the impressive body.

So far as I'm aware it was a standalone book, not a part of a series, despite setting up quite a lot of worldbuilding tropes as I've mentioned.

story-identification novel

share|improve this question

edited 8 hours ago

Jenayah

26.9k99 gold badges123123 silver badges164164 bronze badges

asked 8 hours ago

Let Before Pull ShirtLet Before Pull Shirt

4822 bronze badges

New contributor

Let Before Pull Shirt is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

add a comment | 

I'm looking for a book I read in the early 1990s that is probably a bit older than that. I picked it up in paperback off a used-book rack in bad condition, and it had one of those extra-generic 1980s painted covers, so might have been a decade older. For some reason, when it came back to my mind, I thought it was by David Drake, but nothing I can find from his limited fantasy output matches it.

The basic worldbuilding conceit of the novel is that everyone has a D&D-style "class" and experience level visible to everyone as glyphs or tattoos on their forehead, which apparently appear by magical means; they aren't applied by the people themselves. The glyphs are easy to interpret, for example sailors have anchors on their foreheads, and more anchors means a better sailor. Likewise, merchants all have barrels.

Another interesting detail is that the world is relatively small and organized around a circular river. It's not a canal; there is a current and so forth. However, sailing downriver for long enough will eventually loop around to the same places that were passed upriver.

The plot revolves around a vague conspiracy, which I recall as just "basic economic literacy" without remembering the details. The key point is that it's carried out by a certain character class with distinctive forehead markings that no-one can recognize or understand. Apparently all people with this marking are involved in the conspiracy, so it amounts to an indication that the person cannot be trusted; as a result, they must be very indirect.

The main character is recruited to investigate the conspiracy by some members of the merchant class, because he is a Conan-type superior physical specimen. This is indicated not only by his physique, but because he has a large number of swords on his forehead, more than anyone has ever seen before. However, it turns out that this isn't the whole story; his body is that of a great warrior, but it has had someone else's mind stuffed into it. This is a reader-relatable character who "died in the real world" and then found his real-world personality transferred into the impressive body.

So far as I'm aware it was a standalone book, not a part of a series, despite setting up quite a lot of worldbuilding tropes as I've mentioned.

story-identification novel

share|improve this question

edited 8 hours ago

Jenayah

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asked 8 hours ago

Let Before Pull ShirtLet Before Pull Shirt

4822 bronze badges

New contributor

Let Before Pull Shirt is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

share|improve this question

edited 8 hours ago

Jenayah

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asked 8 hours ago

Let Before Pull ShirtLet Before Pull Shirt

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Let Before Pull Shirt is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

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edited 8 hours ago

Jenayah

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edited 8 hours ago

Jenayah

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edited 8 hours ago

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6

This is Dave Duncan's The Reluctant Swordsman.

Wallie figured it was fever when he awoke, not in his hospital, but in the body of a brawny barbarian. A swordsman of the seventh rank, Wallie was now the master of a beautiful slave girl and a cunning blade. His mission: to serve a Goddess--even though he had never fought before! Original.

It is a part of a series (a trilogy of at least four books). I happened to have read it several years ago, and remembered the plot points of the forehead symbols and the inhabiting personality from our world.

share|improve this answer

edited 8 hours ago

answered 8 hours ago

FuzzyBootsFuzzyBoots

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• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I've found an Amazon review that mentions the circular river and the forehead tattoos, but I can't link to it from my phone. If this is your answer, you can accept it by clicking on the checkmark by the voting buttons.
  
  – FuzzyBoots
  8 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  You answered it before I was even allowed to hit the checkmark. Yes, this is definitely it; it seems I got my Daves confused.
  
  – Let Before Pull Shirt
  8 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Welcome to the site!
  
  – FuzzyBoots
  8 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

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6

This is Dave Duncan's The Reluctant Swordsman.

Wallie figured it was fever when he awoke, not in his hospital, but in the body of a brawny barbarian. A swordsman of the seventh rank, Wallie was now the master of a beautiful slave girl and a cunning blade. His mission: to serve a Goddess--even though he had never fought before! Original.

It is a part of a series (a trilogy of at least four books). I happened to have read it several years ago, and remembered the plot points of the forehead symbols and the inhabiting personality from our world.

share|improve this answer

edited 8 hours ago

answered 8 hours ago

FuzzyBootsFuzzyBoots

102k1212 gold badges316316 silver badges480480 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I've found an Amazon review that mentions the circular river and the forehead tattoos, but I can't link to it from my phone. If this is your answer, you can accept it by clicking on the checkmark by the voting buttons.
  
  – FuzzyBoots
  8 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  You answered it before I was even allowed to hit the checkmark. Yes, this is definitely it; it seems I got my Daves confused.
  
  – Let Before Pull Shirt
  8 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Welcome to the site!
  
  – FuzzyBoots
  8 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

6

This is Dave Duncan's The Reluctant Swordsman.

Wallie figured it was fever when he awoke, not in his hospital, but in the body of a brawny barbarian. A swordsman of the seventh rank, Wallie was now the master of a beautiful slave girl and a cunning blade. His mission: to serve a Goddess--even though he had never fought before! Original.

It is a part of a series (a trilogy of at least four books). I happened to have read it several years ago, and remembered the plot points of the forehead symbols and the inhabiting personality from our world.

share|improve this answer

edited 8 hours ago

answered 8 hours ago

FuzzyBootsFuzzyBoots

102k1212 gold badges316316 silver badges480480 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I've found an Amazon review that mentions the circular river and the forehead tattoos, but I can't link to it from my phone. If this is your answer, you can accept it by clicking on the checkmark by the voting buttons.
  
  – FuzzyBoots
  8 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  You answered it before I was even allowed to hit the checkmark. Yes, this is definitely it; it seems I got my Daves confused.
  
  – Let Before Pull Shirt
  8 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Welcome to the site!
  
  – FuzzyBoots
  8 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

This is Dave Duncan's The Reluctant Swordsman.

Wallie figured it was fever when he awoke, not in his hospital, but in the body of a brawny barbarian. A swordsman of the seventh rank, Wallie was now the master of a beautiful slave girl and a cunning blade. His mission: to serve a Goddess--even though he had never fought before! Original.

It is a part of a series (a trilogy of at least four books). I happened to have read it several years ago, and remembered the plot points of the forehead symbols and the inhabiting personality from our world.

share|improve this answer

edited 8 hours ago

answered 8 hours ago

FuzzyBootsFuzzyBoots

102k1212 gold badges316316 silver badges480480 bronze badges

share|improve this answer

edited 8 hours ago

answered 8 hours ago

FuzzyBootsFuzzyBoots

102k1212 gold badges316316 silver badges480480 bronze badges

answered 8 hours ago

FuzzyBootsFuzzyBoots

102k1212 gold badges316316 silver badges480480 bronze badges

answered 8 hours ago

FuzzyBootsFuzzyBoots

102k1212 gold badges316316 silver badges480480 bronze badges