Rating: 
Summary: As good as it gets
Review: i'm not a huge speaker, more of a reader, so i only want to say a little about this book. I haven't read the rest of the series yet (but i just ordered them all!) and only just finished the first book this afternoon, but this is as good as modern fantasy gets. In an overcrowded marketplace this book stands out, from the cover (the artwork is gorgeous, not just for the art itself, but the abscence of the musclebound hero and heroine glaring out courageously from atop the corpse of some slain beast or other) to the final word. I can't wait to read the rest as soon as they arrive. Great stuff
Rating:
Summary: Am i reading the same series?
Review: I wouldn't have written this review normally, except to voice my disagreement with some of the most recently posted other reviews here. i can't believe that anyone who seriously read this book could find the characters or dialogue wooden or stereotypical, or anything about this series unoriginal. This series works so well precisely because it is different, and the characters, (where they follow conventional roles, by no means often) never have all of the traditional flaws or graces that charactersistically drive the plots of many fantasy series. I would go so far to suggest that the similarity of some of irvine's characters to fantasy stereotypes makes it all the better when you consider how he subverts said traditional roles with the original yet human ways in which his characters react under pressure (which, lets face it, they are almost always under). Please, if you are going to be swayed yay or nay on this series, at least be swayed by the opinions of people who finished the series, or at the very least, the first book. I have read the series numerous times and love it.
Rating:
Summary: Entrancing
Review: There is only one word to describe this book: entrancing. the beginning is a bit slow, but once you get into it, its worth it. it seems like an easy-to-read novel on the side, but it is far from that. i was stressed for one week what would happen next because i didn't have time to go to the book store and buy the second book.
the book begins in the world of Santhenar, with a chonicalor named Llian. (the weirdest part of the books-the names) he is, i must admit, an idiot. the main character is a self-centered, idiot; through rightfully so, since he is brillent and popular. but when he tells the "Tale of Forbidding' and reveals a 3,000 year old secret, he is in trouble. he's sent off to find a girl, Karen of Bannador, since they REALLY want to get rid of his mischief at the collage. this starts his adventure - a young, immature adult on the tough road...hmmmm...
then there is Karen. she is a sensitive (a certain talent) and can have links b/w minds and sence things. but when the person who she was in great dept to, Maigraith, comes, and asks her to repay the debt, her life is thrown on the line. she is to help Maigraith get the Mirror of the Aachan, which rightfully belongs to the Aachin, whom Karen is loyal to and related to. this causes quite an emotional battle. but then there is also the battle of getting past Yggur, a sorceror w/ the power to take over the world. (and he uses it)
but this is only the beginning. something may be stirring - that 3,000-year-old secret and the enemies from that age that still havent perished may be seeking the right opportunity. and Karen Llian, now together, are stuck in the middle of it. and as Karen discovers herself, and Llian discovers his hidden maturity, they form an unbreakable bondage as they run. the world wants them all for diffenent purposes, most death, but they just want to go home.
this majestic story of love, friendship, devesation, war, and the hatred that tears us apart is sure to touch your heart and leave an eternal mark on your soul. -desi
Rating: 
Summary: How on Earth did this get published?
Review: I could only get through half the book before putting it down for good. I should have quit a quarter of the way through but kept hanging on to see if lightning would strike. It didn't. The characters are wooden and don't act realistically. They don't even act stereotypically and that would have been better because they're all stereotypes anyway. The writing and plot drag on and on. The place names are ridiculous. This is the most stunning display of bad writing I've seen in quite a while. Thankfully the author seems to have a decent first career to continue. And there's three more books in this series. That can only be explained by a very good agent who got the four book contract before delivery of the first manuscript. Either that or the publisher stayed home sick one day and the interns went on a buying spree.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting story, not so well written
Review: When I first began reading Shadow on the Glass I was struck by how badly the book is written. It seems the author went for the short and punchy method with the prose but overcompensated. Many events are skimmed over or explained away in a single line. Other events are explained before they even happen, which removes the anticipation. The worst moment was early in the book when two characters were swapping the point of view indiscriminately. The scene was very confusing as I lost track of who was talking and who was thinking at a given time. As a reader I quite often felt distant from the story, as if I was reading a historical record of the event. It strikes me as a very long teenage novel, written simply and explained clearly way ahead of time to avoid confusion. For all that, I find myself reading on and on, long after I wanted to put the book down and move onto something else. The story itself is interesting enough to persevere with and the writing style does mature a little as the book moves forward. All in all I would reccommend it as a filler between heavier and more brain intensive books, a lightweight story to breeze through when you can't be bothered thinking.
Rating:
Summary: Worthy
Review: I have read this book twice, something I almost never do, in preparation for the next in the series. The style switches viewpoints between the main players fairly successfully, so the reader knows what is going on as people seem driven by an unseen fate involving three worlds and three peoples. The settings are very realistic, the main characters appealing. I highly recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Not the best book written, but worth reading!
Review: This book is a must read for all those who enjoy fantasy. There are many twists in the book, which always come unexpectedly. The tetralogy is also packed with action - ranging from murder, to deceit and betrayal. All the characters seem terrifyingly real and authentic. Every character has his/her own personal fears and 'defects' - none are the perfect hero or heroine that you might read of in some other books.
If you want to read this book, it is advisable to also finish reading the other books in the tetralogy, as each subsequent book gets better and even more electrifying. I would recommend this book to mostly advanced readers as there can be up to three or even four scene changes within just one chapter. This can be quite confusing when you first start reading the tetralogy, but generally, most readers would accustom themselves quickly to the different scene changes. The element of surprise, an edge of the seat plot and the intricate world that Ian Irvine has created would draw those who are avid readers of fantasy most.
Rating:
Summary: A Very Detailed World
Review: This is the first book of Ian Irvine's that I have read, so I didn't know what to expect. Whatever I did expect, this book surpassed it greatly. The worlds and characters are very well created; you feel as if you could step right into the book. Sometimes this makes it a bit confusing, however. But if you like reading something a bit different and very immersing, this is a wonderful book for you.
Rating:
Summary: Hunted.
Review: This is the first book of The View from the Mirror tetralogy (before The Tower on the Rift, Dark Is the Moon and The Way Between the Worlds). A Shadow on the Glass opens with the story of Llian, a 28-year-old Zain Chronicler of Chanthed. His graduation telling, where he presents the Tale of the Forbidding, is a great success but Wistan, the college headmaster, realizing his student might inadvertantly have uncovered a deadly mystery, harrases him to retract his tale. That day Karan, a young red-haired sensitive, is in the audience. After a week's walk she finally arrives home in Gothryme, only to be snatched off again by Maigraith, a woman to whom she owes her life. And when the latter asks her to go to Fiz Goro and help her steal a legendary relic, the Mirror of Aachan, from the hands of the powerful mancer Yggur, Karan simply cannot refuse. But in the citadel, Maigraith is made prisoner, and Karan barely escapes. The book then describes Karan's flight through marshes and mountains chains, hunted by a band of alien Whelm, Yggur's servants. When Mendark, the Magister of Thurkad who is also Llian's former sponsor and Yggur's bitter enemy, asks Wistan to help Karan and bring back the Mirror to him, the headmaster is only too happy to get rid of the dangerous Chronicler and sends Llian. But the young man is tremendously awkward, and obsessed by the secrets he has recently exposed and which could be the key to the discovery of Great Tale, and in the end it is he who becomes a real burden for Karan. It's only after several weeks of running and hiding that she faces the fact that he probably is her only friend. A Shadow on the Glass is a bit shallower than what I expected. Although I can say I enjoyed it, I found it hard to concentrate on the story, which somehow failed to grip me, and I hope that in the next volumes it'll become a little more intricate, the characters better developed.
Rating:
Summary: It wants to be epic...
Review: ...but I'm not quite certain yet that it's going to be. Irvine, as noted by other reviewers, is clearly good at plotting. I was interested in the world portrayed by this novel and that alone would probably motivate me to buy the next book. The characters are rather less compelling, and Irvine too often writes in cliche. I wanted to shake Llian more than I wanted to like him. I'm curious to see what the next installment is going to bring.
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