Later, the group stops at the Respectorate of I, a city ruled by rats insisting on cultural relativism. The protagonists then find a boat but are soon capsized and thereafter carried upriver by the Elephant Ducks: 'a pair of absurd creatures with duck-like bodies and large elephant heads' (Rushdie 66). Luka eventually bests the Old Man in a game of riddles. Once revived, Luka realizes that this world will revive him continually until he achieves his purpose, or exceeds his chances of doing so. At the River of Time, which they must follow to find the Fire, they are attacked by the Old Man of the River, who kills Luka. All four seek the eponymous 'Fire of Life' to revive Rashid. Bear is identified as Barak of the it-Barak (a set of immortal dog-men), turned into a dog by a Chinese curse and Dog as the monarch of a northern land, transformed by an ogre. Thereafter, Luka travels through the 'World of Magic' imagined by his father, guided by a phantom-like creature nicknamed 'Nobodaddy', representing Rashid's imminent death. (Rushdie 4) One month afterward, Rashid enters a coma, attributed to a curse placed by antagonist 'Captain Aag'. (Rushdie 6) Later that day, the animals revolt and the rings of fire consume the tents and Dog and Bear (a bear and a dog respectively), two animals from the circus, become Luka's faithful pets. They pass the Great Rings of Fire circus, where, upon seeing the pitiful state of the animals, Luka yells: 'May your animals stop obeying your commands and your rings of fire eat up your stupid tent'. The book opens with protagonist Luka and his father Rashid walking home from Luka's school in the fictional city of Kahani in the land of Alifbay. Rushdie has said 'he turned to the world of video games for inspiration' and that 'he wrote the book for his 13-year-old son'. It is the sequel to Haroun and the Sea of Stories.

It was published by Jonathan Cape (UK) and Random House (US) in 2010. Luka and the Fire of Life is a novel by Salman Rushdie.

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