Imaro

By R. Zamora Linmark

Book Overview

Imaro is a rousing adventure... a tale of a young man's continuing struggle to gain acceptance amongst his people, and to break the cycle of alienation and violence that plagues his life.

Imaro is heroic fantasy like it's never been done before. Based on Africa, and African traditions and legends, Charles Saunders has created Nyumbani (which means "home" in Swahili), an amalgam of the real, the semi-real, and the unreal. Imaro is the name of the larger-than-life warrior, an outcast, who travels across Nyumbani, searching for a home.

Like his contemporaries, Karl Edward Wagner (Kane) and Michael Moorcock (Elric), Charles Saunders brings something new to the traditional heroic fantasy tale. A broad knowledge of, and passion for, the history and myths of Africa led to the creation of a heroic fantasy character the likes of which the world has never seen. Imaro is no Tarzan... no Conan... Imaro is a warrior out of African legend.

Saunders' novel fuses the narrative style of fantasy fiction with a pre-colonial, alternate Africa. Inspired by and directly addresses the alienation of growing up an African American fan of Science Fiction and Fantasy, which to this day remains a very ethnically homogonous genre. It addresses this both structurally (via its unique setting) and thematically (via its alienated, tribeless hero-protagonist). The tribal tensions and histories presented in this fantasy novel reflect actual African tribal histories and tensions, and provide a unique perspective to current and recent conflicts in Africa, particularly the Rwandan genocide and the ongoing conflict in The Sudan.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1597800368
• ISBN13: 9781597800365
• Release Date: February 2006
• Publisher: Night Shade Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.2" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Grand Entertainment

Imaro by Charles Saunders fills a big hole in the world of Fantasy. In Imaro Saunders brings to life a true, archetypal African hero. This could quite possibly be the first of its kind in western literature and it is long overdue. Imaro is an outcast, born to a mother cut loose from her tribe. She returns her young son to his tribe for warrior training. Though the boy is mistreated he grows to be the greatest warrior in...

An African Hero

I have been fascinated by Africa since a child. I watched every movie and documentary I could and read what few fictional books there were as well as the non-fiction. For the longest time I never really minded that there were no black heroes in these as I was transposing myself there anyway. However as I grew older I felt that lack finally. I had a good appreciation at this point for African culture and wanted to be inside...

Excellent Book!

The original novel published in 1984 has been updated with two new chapters, and tons more characterization and content. The novel is set in a fantasy version of Africa called Nyumbani, and our hero the warrior Imaro struggles to come of age despite the all-seeing dark powers arrayed against him.

I loved this Book!

I read it about ten years ago , so i'm a little fuzzy on the plot , I do remeber it being a great rite of passage story as the young Imaro progressed into manhood battling dark and evil magics, and a race of African Giants. At one point he is enslaved by the giants. The best stuff to compare the Imaro books to is Robert E. Howard's Conan series. Imaro is unabashedly a Black Conan with a flavor and vitality all his own in a...