Rating: 
Summary: I thoroughly enjoyed it...
Review: I honestly don't see what everyone is complaining about. As a fiction novel, it's got your almost typical bad wizard/sorcerer, and the hero. This first book, begins rather well, but just trudges through the rest of the story rather tediously. Things just seem to get old and boring, and characters do act rather spontaneous, doing things for no apparent reason. Still, I do suggest reading this, as the second and third installments, are many times better, and as a whole, are just much more interesting. If you don't want to bother with this first (and mediocre) title, move to the second, which does include a forward from Book 1. 4 stars because it really takes off after this.
Rating: 
Summary: All time low
Review: I have been reading Fantasy for 20 years. During that time I've come across a number of badly written books, but A Shadow on the Glass is undoubtedly the worst so far. Irvine tries very hard to construct an original story, but fails completely. Some parts of the book is actually not too bad, but the writing is much too inconsistent to draw you in. I was mainly annoyed by the characters, their interaction and the dialogue. I'm all for complex characters that have both good and bad sides, but they need a consistent behaviour to make them believable. Karan showed up so many different personalities (often within the same chapter!) that it was impossible to form an opinion of her, and the other characters were not much better. Add to this a dialogue that occasionally drops down to kindergarten level. Although the pace is quick and there are lots of action, the plot does not make much sense. In Fantasy you expect the heroes to pull of a number of next-to-impossible stunts, but there are limits to what they can do. Not so in this book. Sheer willpower seems to overcome all obstacles. Moreover, the characters go off in different directions more or less randomly, without any logic in their decisions. Still, I feel that this could have been a decent story if the author had put more effort into it. A Shadow on the Glass reminds me of a first draft where the typos have been corrected. Some restructuring and work on the characters could have brought it up to a 3-star book. In this state it should be avoided.
Rating: 
Summary: How can you not like this book???
Review: i loved this book! im currently on holiday and ive only got the first in the series and im dying to read more of this masterful writing! the only problem id have with this book is that it ends with no temporary ending!this only makes me desperate to read the rest of the quartet. the characters are genuniely likeable and though some stages in the book are a bit slow or repetative you just have to perservere to get to the real highlights of the book!
since it is a little slow at times i will give this book a 4.5, since its not brilliant but most books aren't perfect, but this book is definitly up in the top range!
Rating: 
Summary: Not bad...
Review: This honestly wasn't one of those books that you will cherish for a lifetime. It made for a so-so read, and I had absolutely no desire to go pick up the rest of the books that make up the full story. Great for passing the time, but no masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: Good book!
Review: I thought this was an excellent book that really drew me in. The characters are strong, with the human tendancy to not always do the right thing, but it takes you through a very intricate and complex world full of some of the most interesting people I have ever read about.
However, there are a few things that left me feeling slightly ambiguous about this book. Llian's quest, for instance, to discover the truth about the Forbidding all but fades into the background of his aiding Karan's flight across Meldorin with the Mirror.
Rating:
Summary: A good read !! Leaves you hungry for the second book.
Review: This is the first book in the series "THE VIEW FROM THE MIRROR". It is the story of Karan who is a strong survival type female character. She is made to steal a magic mirror. She succeeds but afterwards is pursued by all kinds of people because the mirror remembers everything that it has seen. She throws in with Llian who is a chronicler. Llian wants to uncover the truth about the past and make chronicles but is a soft person. Karan has to help him survive. There allusions to the remote past throughout the book and the reader is left hoping for answers to questions raised there. Karan comes accross as a resourceful goodhearted person who has to look after Llian as well as herself. The story is good because it keeps giving you tantalizing glimpses of the big picture about the world where Karan lives and you are left hungry for more. It is like a mirage. You try to get near but you never get there. The big picture will hopefully be made clear in the next book in the series when the secrets in the magic mirror is revealed. I have not read the second book yet but I will if I get the chance.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Start.
Review: This long story in four novels (it's not really a quartet) was originally published in Australia in 1998, and then in the UK during 2000 and 2001. It's now reached North American shores being published in 6 monthly chunks by Time Warner. Australian SF and Fantasy is definitely on the rise at the moment, witness the recent publication stateside of some of Sara Douglass' books, so is this one any good? There is no denying that there is a lot of fantasy on the market at the moment, a lot of it pretty simplistic and generic, some people like that stuff, unfortunately that seems to be where people are heading when they realise after seeing The Lord of the Rings that fantasy is actually a valid genre. Really of course they should be heading to George RR Martin (even at his glacial writing speed), Tad Williams, Robin Hobb and JV Jones. I don't think Irvine's work falls quite into that category but nevertheless it's a lot better than a lot of the dross on the market. Opinion here seems to fall between wonderful and awful, and I can see how a lot of people might dislike it; at the end of the day the characters are not cut and dried and you're not quite sure who's bad and who isn't. From what I can tell the Big Bad hasn't even been introduced yet. Story wise it moves on quite well, although a few scenes could very easily have been trimmed; and by the end I felt that the plot had moved on (are you watching Robert Jordan). I would definitely recommend waiting until you have the lot before reading the series though judging from this book. I bought the last 2 from the UK so I could do just that.
Rating:
Summary: Slow but good none the less
Review: I loved this book and immediatly took up the next in the series, but i cant help but admit that i thouht Ian Irvine seemed to dwell a little bit to long on some things and not long enough on others. But how i loved his introduction!! With the young chronicler telling a knew and exciting tale of the Forbidding. I had hoped though, throughout the book that much more would happen between Lilian and Karan instead of things happening to them. It was also difficult to realize that a book looking so small would hold so many pages and adventers. The pags were amazingly thin and the book seemed to have but 3-4 hundred when it really had about 640. This book is worthy of 5 stars and so much more!!
Rating:
Summary: Am i really seeing all this?
Review: I am totally in shock from all these reviews, that i am seeing saying that people shoulndt even contemplate reading. I know thats the point of reviews. And i see also that most of the people that are writting these bad reveiws are American or UK, or another words, not Australian, and therefore, have not read the entire series. I am the sort of person that reads the series to the end, no matter how bad the begining might be, how do you people, that have read the first chapter only, know that in the 2, 3, 4, last even, next book, that it doesnt get 10x better??? I aggree with some of the people. If you like blood and guts and lots of action everytime you turn a page, then no this book isnt for you. I you are looking for a book that follows the convention that good guys and bad guys fight, and the good guys always win, then no, this book isnt for you. But. If you are the sort of person that likes to be challenged and to actually have to use your imagaination while reading, and to be totally drawn into that world, and the characters, then yes, this book is DEFINATLY for you. I dont mean to nit pick, but being a BIG fan of Ian's work (all of it) i have to point out that Karan is spelt K-A-R-A-N, not Karen, and she is a Sensetive, not a phycic. Basically all i can say is that Ian is up there with the best. If i had to pick the best series out of, Jordan, Feist, or Irvine, it would be Irvine. The characters are believable, and the ones that have magickal powers, suffer from using them, not these super human powers that others have, that they have no side effects from using. First beeing 14 when i started reading Irvine, i believe that the people that say they had to re-read parts, were not truley reading it all to begin with. I had no problems following dialouge, and i thought that the word and characters were very well described. Now being in my final year of High School, and haveing done many assignments on Ian's books, i feel that he is one of the greatest Fantasy authors to have emerged. Not a series to be missed, and the "Well of Echos" Is well along the lines, of being a great carry on series, also not to be missed. Dont judge a book by the cover, or even by these reveiws, judge it for yourself, take the time and read it.
Rating:
Summary: A surprise!
Review: And not a good one. When this book was voted on for a book club choice I headed over and read the first chapter here at Amazon - and I could not _wait_ to get the book in my hands and get reading! The first chapter was rich and lush and intriguing and wonderful. The premise was interesting. I was very eager to see where this would lead.... It actually took me a while to fall into completely disliking this book. Even when I discovered that Mr. Irving was a fan of head-hopping povs rather than clear cut povs, the former being a style that I really find hard to stay with, I still felt there was a wonderful story to be had. Even when I discovered that the majority of the characters were falling flat and it seemed as though none of them really had a personality pegged down but rather varied erractically, I still thought I could a least finish the book and enjoy it... I did end up giving up at chapter 23 or 24 - I may pick it up again just to finish it, but I did not enjoy this book. And still, there was the first chapter: a gem, one of the best first chapters (in terms of sucking me in right away) that I've read in a long time, a sign that Mr. Irving does have some talent and skill. It just doesn't show in this book at all. The people participating in the book club I'm in have a very wide range of taste, and many of us often disagree with books that others find quite good. That nearly every single person that participated in this round thought more or less the same of this book (badbadbad!) was quite surprising and not at all what I expected... I second the suggestion of reading George R.R. Martin's aSoFaI series for a good view of multidimensional characters. Be prepared to toss this book across the room as you read....
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