- Paperback: 635 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Australia (Sep 30 1999)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0140276823
- ISBN-13: 978-0140276824
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
An extended fantasy sequence has always to deliver an impressive pay-off; The Way Between the Worlds is the fourth and final volume of Ian Irvine's "The View From the Mirror" and brings the quartet to a convolutedly triumphant finale. By now, Irvine has entirely involved our sympathies with the feckless, untrustworthy chronicler Llian and the heroic Karan, who loves him, and, to a lesser degree, to the profoundly morally ambiguous Magraith, whose loyalties have been so endlessly warped and abused by various key magical players in this struggle for the artefacts that will re-open the way through the dangers of the void to the home-worlds they lost. Much of the novel has always had to do with Llian's attempts to uncover precisely what occurred when the path between worlds was closed centuries earlier; Irvine plays fair, giving us some answers and making the sequence's resolution depend on those answers. For someone whose fiction plays so thoroughly with ethically grey areas, Irvine is also admirable in his preparedness to sort out endings that feel right; this is a book in which heroes and villains alike get a part of what they want, but a sort of justice as well. Irvine has brought both a lively intelligence and a keen moral sense to the heroics and spell-play of the modern fantasy novel. --Roz Kaveney
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Review
'Irvine has built a history and wonderful culture for his vivid world. His first novel vibrates with originality' -- THE WEST AUSTRALIAN
'This stands out as a worldbuilding labour of love with some truly original touches' -- LOCUS --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
'This stands out as a worldbuilding labour of love with some truly original touches' -- LOCUS --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.9 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not a bad series, but not an outstanding one either., April 23 2003
By Stephanie Noverraz "crooty" - Published on Amazon.com
This is the fourth and final volume of The View from the Mirror tetralogy (after A Shadow on the Glass, The Tower on the Rift and Dark Is the Moon).It's hythe, mid-winter's day, in Carcharon Tower, and a dark moon is rising. In exchange for Llian's life and freedom, Rulke has convinced Karan to betray her people and help him open the Way between the Worlds.
In the process, a horde of monsters is unleashed from the void, and while Rulke the Great Betrayer is off exploring, with Karan's mind accompanying him in a trance, her defenseless body is suddenly attacked by deadly Lorrsk and Thranx. But taking advantage of the confusion, she barely manages to escape, to find herself in the cold, snowy mountains again, reminding her of her ordeal of the year before.
In this volume, Rulke wants to save his people, the last hundred or so remaining Charon, from extinction, Faelamor wants to lead her people the Faellem back to Tallallame, Mendark wants to become the most famous magister on Santhenar. And all are ready to sacrifice everything to achieve their goal. Karan just wants to go home and rest.
On the one hand, I was a bit disappointed by the sudden appearance of grotesque monsters which, in my opinion, serve no real purpose and weaken the plot. On the other hand, Mendark, Yggur, Rulke, Faelamor and Shand finally start to show the various facets of their personalities, to become multidimentional, but to such an extent that in the end it's all quite complicated and it's hard to make up one's mind as to whom you want to see win the battle. Hopefully, to glue it all together, there's a whole cast of endearing characters such as Pender, Thallia, Lilis and Jevi, Maigraith Karan and Llian. They're the ones that make you read on.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Conclusion, July 4 2003
By Jamie - Published on Amazon.com
The Way Between Worlds provides an outstanding conclusion to this very long but very entertaining series. With the now standard lack of a good or evil side it's up to the reader to pick a hero to cheer on towards the final showdown. All of the questions asked but not answered in the earlier books will be resolved. Karen is probably the only character with no ambitions or secret motives or plans to rule the world, though she is now widely suspected of being Rulke's pawn. Most of the other characters spend the book fighting for personal or racial gain, and their motives can't really be critised. Other fantasy novels have played up the 'no true good or evil' but this one is the first to pull it off without any exception. The usual story of pulling a super villain out of nowhere and banding the former enemies together to save the day doesn't make an appearance here.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
truly inspiring stuff, Dec 8 2003
By Alex - Published on Amazon.com
I love this series. Why? Because it is a truly thoughtful and thought provoking epic. Wonderfully absent are the hollow minor characters and largely irrelevant plot twists that so plague the masses of fantasy tales available. From page 1, through 4 volumes to the paragraph, a masterful story is being told. Unlike so many authors, Irvine uses subplots to enrich and enhance the events and characters of the main story, rather than simply as a diversion from it, poorly tied together. And, refreshingly, these worlds explored are lovingly crafted in immense detail, and the history, evolution and cultures of these worlds are as interesting as the story itself, rather than functioning simply as an arena for the action. To lovers of fantasy, i strongly recommend this series. If you don't yet love the fantasy genre, put these books first on your list.
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