Customer Reviews

The Way Between the Worlds (The View From the Mirror, Book 4)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

As a reader of a lot of fantasy books I am rarely really really excited about a series (re-reading of the lord of the rings not withstanding) but this one definately had me mentally salivating as i turned the pages. This book especially, as it is not only the culmination of what is a masterfully crafted adventure set in beautiful worlds, but the episode in which all the intrigues and the gathering tensions of the first three books are unleashed in riveting chaos on the grandest scale of them all. No mere death of a hero hangs in the balance for Ian Irvine, who is satisfied only when all the three worlds are at risk simultaneously from within and without, all the characters in mortal peril, and not a shred of hope to be found anywhere. What sets these books and these characters apart from the humdrum concepts on which almost all fantasies are based is that there is no good and no evil forces here. In the final installment even the blackhearted Rulke, scourge of almost all the other characters and public enemy number 1 of Santhenar is revealed to be as complex, fallible, and ultimately understandable as all the others. These are worlds, like ours, where good and evil are matters of perspective, and both sides and motivations of the characters are explored, leaving them more detailed, rounded and engaging than any you are likely to see elsewhere. This series definately stands out amongst a sea of generic titles, not only because of its scale and the original flair with which the standard fantasy cliches are avoided but because of the love and work that were obviously put into what is much more than just a set of four books.

I truly loved this book in every way possible, you get to see every side of every character, and as the truth comes out for so many of them, sometimes you see that your visions of certain characters has been thoughtfully manipulated till you see who they really are, what they really want, and what their ambitions are. My love for this series started when I realized how much I loved Karan as a character from the start. She was strong willed, highly temperamental, and she wasn't your typical female lead. I know I'm not the only person who read this series and yelled at the book at some point "Can she get a break already? Jeez!" Although she's a very special person in the series, she reacts and has feelings and emotions that are so lifelike and what we would expect of someone in her situation, that it makes the books so great to read.

This book gives you a lot of closure that one would expect for the final book of a series, but it also leaves you thinking about the possibilities of the future, and what may happen as well. Irvine does a great job at giving you enough to make you happy, and the last two words of the book brought a smile to my face and tears to my eyes.

I went into this last book a bit nervous. After finding out so much about the characters in the past three books, and being burned several times over the last couple of series I read, mostly because they try and wrap up a several thousand page epic in 10 pages, I was very happy with this book.

Have you ever heard how an artist has a particular strength and weakness? For example, being able to draw really good faces, but not-so-good hands or feet? I feel that Ian Irving is like that -- he writes a good, entertaining read (obviously, since I am going through book #4), but his "weakness" is character development, particularly romances. I know romance plays a pretty prominent role in most fantasy and sci-fi books, but this is not Irving's strong point. The romances seem shallow, improbable, and rushed. I had a hard time enjoying the story because of them. But as other readers have mentioned, there is "something" about the books that make you coming back for more.

So what is Irving's strong point? Food descriptions -- pay attention to every meal mentioned in the books. You will learn the texture of cheese, the ripeness of fruit, the grains in every bread mentioned, etc., etc. It's almost humorous how much detail goes into food, but not character development.

If I had any advice to give, it would be for Irving to to write a cookbook, or perhaps a Zagats review or two. I'm sure they would be captivating, and right up his alley.

i read this series a long time ago... when i a stupid teenager ((maybe 14? 13??!! 12 maybe 0.o?? i duno really T___T)) and i am seriosuly considering (now that ive matured somewhat) to reading the whole series again... from my understanding and memories... i found it very vivid in the first couple of books... he explained the evironment really well... and i can remember the university quite vivdly! when he burned all the manuscripts in the begining book... (cant beleive i rememeber any of this its been soo long) and after ive finished the tawny man series by robin hobb... ill probably read this series again... maturity changes everything...

This has been a rather infuriating series in a lot of respects for me. I didn't particularly like the main characters and that really impacted my ability to connect with the rest of the book. On the other hand, I kept reading all four books, so there was obviously *something* quite compelling about this fantasy universe.

What is good is that good and evil are blurred. I liked the different human races and I liked the way that nobody really seemed to cross sides into being saintly or really villainous (with a few minor exceptions). Irvine clearly has a lot of imagination and the ability to handle multiple threads of a really complex plot-- both of which are things to be applauded.

Probably the best indication is that I would be willing to take a try at his *next* series, despite my doubts.

this is an amazing book filled with suspense and adventure i recommend this to any one who enjoys sci fi

In my 49 years, I've read literally thousands of books on many, many categories, but I've never HATED a character before the way I do Llian. I struggled through the first three books but couldn't finish this one. Karan is such an exemplary character with incredible courage and wiles - and she falls for this [DUD]? Puh-leaze! Like I said, I've hated books because of lack of story line, lack of action, etc., but I've never stopped reading a book because I hated one of the heroes(?). Don't waste your money on the series like I did.