A Shadow On The Glass: The View From The Mirror, Volume One (A Three Worlds Novel)

I first read this book over 20 years ago and have put off re-reading it as I didn't want to be disappointed. However I'm so glad I did, parts of the story had really stuck with me and it was so lovely to re-read them. And there were plenty of parts I had forgotten or suddenly remembered on the way through! I can't wait to read the rest and am glad I no longer have to keep going to ask the librarian if the next one is out yet!

I love all of 3 of Ian Irvine "3 world" series. The plots are well thought out and have enough twists to keep the readers attention without being unrealistic. The characters are extremely well thought out and are certainly believable in their strengths, weaknesses and complicated relationships.Personally, I don't think he has the best writing style, in places it is unnecessarily descriptive or repetitive which makes the reading a bit dull and can make it difficult to recognise the brilliance of the story. I'd strongly recommend these books despite that though, they're among my favourites in this genre.

Ian Irvine is an amazing author. This book is written in a lovely way, keeping interest throughout with some great plot and characters. Overall a thoroughly enjoyable tale.

A Shadow on the Glass follows the stories (eventually story) of Llian and Karan as they try to evade the myriad of enemies they encounter once Karan comes into possession of a powerful magic mirror. This is the first volume in the saga, and Irvine does a good job of setting up a suitably large fantasy world in which several narrative threads can develop simultaneously without crowding one another out.A Shadow on the Glass also manages to create two compelling characters. Llian and Karan each have their own strengths and their increasing reliance on one another feels very believable. The villain of the piece, Yggur, has less depth. His desire to dominate is neither big and scary enough to become a metaphor for power-hunger as a concept, not developed enough to feel real. Likewise, most of the supporting cast is a little one dimensional. The array of personalities in the opening chapters are much richer than those we meet later on, but the greater prominence goes to the less interesting individuals.Overall, this is a promising read with enough going on to keep the reader interested. It certainly feels like enough raw material to set up the saga and the main characters are worth rooting for, even if it lacks the depth that one might like.

One of my favourite fantasy worlds. It's not black and white choices or characters and I enjoy seeing the characters develop.

I will be brief.I got this book in a book shop having been sufficiently impressed by the first 5 pages or so. The book is a little slow, and I have to agree with the other reviewers of this book that there is a little too much slow, uneventful parts between the action. There are a few parts of the book, which are a little unrealistic, people undergoing such crushing suffering for such a long period of time seems inhuman and alienates the reader from the charactors somewhat.But the author makes up for it with a good opening plotline and good charactor development over the coarse of the book. A good start to the series. I have not read the other books, but I hear they are not as good.

i absolutely love Ian Irvine an all of his stories. very complex story line, a lot of depth and a very compelling read.

Good book

If you like vast worlds - intricate story lines - conflicting priorities - flawed heroes - then you will love these books. I am a huge fan of this series - not because I'm an Aussie - but because the author builds a world of complexity and delight that few writers achieve.Ian Irvine creates realistic scenarios for "why" things happen - yes there are goodies and baddies, this is the genre ... but the baddies have good reasons for their actions ... and sometimes the goodies ... well ... aren't always good. So in others words this is not a world where everything is Right or Wrong - Black or White as a hue of grey colours many of the characters - which is what makes them believable. Very much a study in human studies. It is easy to "imagine" yourself as a great warrior ... easier still to "connect" with characters showing the desires and flaws you see around you every day.There are many great fantasy books - I hope you will rate these amongst yours.

I first read this series (out of order, having read well of echoes first :p) as a teen, now as a mum I have parted with my hard copies, but was glad to find these affordable on kindle store. Im now re-reading and it's just as good as before. If I remember correctly, the series is still unfinished :P so fingers crossed the last book will be available by the time I finish the existing books again haha

The main characters endure much hardship, and the reader travels alongside them, page by page, as one conflict leads to another. This is a book of heroic struggle, not a quick and easy plot that slides into a resolution. It is actually a wonderfully detailed journey to savor.There is a large cast of characters, all of them realistically flawed in some way. The story unfolds gradually enough that the reader can track most of the characters, so at the grand finale, the names have meaning. However, one frustration with the writing is that point-of-view changes can happen in the middle of a paragraph.Another frustration with this first book is that it ends in chaos. There really isn’t any resolution. Everything is in a big mess. So much so that I feel I’ve lost any hope in any of the characters in getting their world straightened out. Everyone has made huge mistakes. The supposed bad guy is more confidence-inspiring than the supposed good guys. Everyone is exhausted from their ordeals, and so am I. Not sure I have the stamina to sort through another book of political scheming, historical propaganda, the characters getting caught and escaping (almost) over and over again, the fight scenes, and so little humor and romance.

For those who have enjoyed Game of thrones this is well worth the time to read. Very entertaining, easy to read and well paced so much that I had trouble putting it down.

The idea for the story line is pretty good. However the book itself is just OK. It is meant to be an epic fantasy. The book needs work mostly editing for misspelled or wrong words. The author uses a lot of archaic language as well that was a little confusing at times. The plot had a lot of sameness to it with lots of running from enemies. I kept reading hoping to find the climax and resolution to at least part of the story. It was disappointing for the climax to be glossed over and then the book just stops with no resolutions.