Glass Dragons (The Moonworlds Saga, Book 2) [Hardcover]

Sean Mcmullen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 3, 2004 | Series: Moonworlds Saga

Sean McMullen, one of Australia's leading genre authors, delivers Glass Dragons, the scintillating sequel to Voyage of the Shadowmoon which Kirkus Reviews called "a brilliantly inventive, marvelously plotted sea-faring fantasy that both mocks and surpasses genre expectations. . . . Australian author McMullen writes like Roger Zelazny at the peak of his powers: his dashing, flamboyant, cleverly resourceful characters trade off insults and reveal surprising abilities as they swagger bravely from one hair-raising scene to another. Exciting, suspenseful, vividly believable, and great, clever fun: a major fantasy-award contender."

Glass Dragons continues the tale of Laron, the chivalrous 700-year-old vampire, the appallingly dangerous and beautiful Velander, and the long-suffering Terikel, as they investigate a secret project of arcane magic, a magic so dangerous it could destroy their world. A project which threatens to fall into the wrong hands.

Glass Dragons is a broad and complicated tale, filled with wonderful characters both new and old, woven through with low humor and great courage, built upon grand acts of heroism and love. Enjoy.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Like 2002's well-received Voyage of the Shadowmoon, this second novel in Australian author McMullen's Moonworlds Saga expertly blends fantastic melodrama and broad farce. It also demonstrates the truth of the old saying that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Vain sorcerers create Dragonwall, a world-encircling magical barrier, to improve the weather, but they discover that the wall's etheric energy offers them an irresistible temptation to incinerate their rivalsâ€"or any entity that imagines it could exist outside their control. It's up to more cautious, self-doubting people to destroy Dragonwall, including a cowardly court musician, a centuries-old reformed vampire, a guilt-laden priestess and a drunken but chivalrous young lout who wishes to better himself. It takes a while for all those characters to get to where they need to be, literally or figuratively, and meanwhile agents of the Dragonwall sorcerers are plotting to thwart them. McMullen tells a lively tale that jumps from person to person as the plot meanders along, but the book is especially attractive for its tricky shifts from dark, passionate intrigue to sly but rowdy slapstick, like a Storm Constantine story line performed by Monty Python. There may be a lot of story to come before the world's balance of magical powers is restored, but readers won't mind if additional books in the series are as entertaining as this one.
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From Booklist

In 2002, on the heels of his critically acclaimed Greatwinter trilogy, a saga firmly rooted in sf territory, Australian rising star McMullen launched the Moonworlds series with The Voyage of the Shadowmoon, a story owing more to fantasy. In the second helping of the saga's eccentric wizards, embattled medieval cities, and enigmatic "glass" dragons, McMullen adds to a nucleus of characters from Voyage a few colorful new ones: Laron, a 700-year-old vampire in a 14-year-old body; Terikel, an ancient sage from a vanishing magical sect; and Wallas, a royal musician masquerading as a commoner after being falsely accused of regicide. While Voyage featured an insidious device known as Silverdeath, here the itinerant protagonists confront Dragonwall, a series of megaliths designed by powerful wizards to undo Silverdeath's destruction that, unfortunately, may prove just as deadly. McMullen has a gift worthy of the best mainstream authors for creating memorable, finely nuanced characters, making him must-reading for fantasy enthusiasts weary of routine sword-and-sorcery outings. Carl Hays
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (April 3, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765307979
• ISBN-13: 978-0765307972
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,795,225 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as the first, May 6, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Glass Dragons (The Moonworlds Saga, Book 2) (Hardcover)

The sequel to the Voyage of the Shadowmoon, The Glass Dragon again unites the main casts to confront a new danger that might again destroy the world.
If the ending to The Voyage of the Shadowmoon, left you with a warm fuzzy feeling, my advice to you is to treasure that moment and avoid this book. The main issue I had throughout The Glass Dragon was a lack of a definitive antagonist. With Shadowmoon, there were active characters who were intent on using Silvedeath to gain power (Warsovran, Feran, etc). The Dragonwall is a danger that is similar to Silverdeath in that it's a weapon of doomsday potential that is available to anybody. However, unlike the pursuers of Silverdeath, the Dragonwall's "people" were all annonymous who might or might not have used it for their selfish purposes once they realized it's true potential. Also, about 30% of the story was actually devoted to Dragonwall. The majority of the book was focused on the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern-like antics of Andry and Wallas, who go from place to place with no rhyme or reason with little or no relation to the overall plot. Personally, I thought the book would have benefited if the story focused solely on the antics of these two instead of confusing the overall flow of the story with intermittent scenes about the Dragonwall. In all honesty, if it wasn't for the Terry Pratchett-like humor and dialogue I probably would have given this book a lesser rating.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, April 3, 2004

By 

R. Albin (Ann Arbor, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Glass Dragons (The Moonworlds Saga, Book 2) (Hardcover)

The second book in a fantasy series by the imaginative and fairly funny Sean McmMullen. Set in a parallel world with somewhat different kinds of humans and magic as a form of technology. This is a better book than the first book in the series, Voyage of the Shadowmoon. Glass Dragons has a more focused plot, a smaller cast of characters, and more dramatic integrity than Voyage of the Shadowmoon. Most of the characters are carryovers from the first book and a limitation of this book is that it is more enjoyable if you've slogged through the first book. It also has a similar theme to the first book. A large scale and destructive magical device is created and the book is about efforts to destroy it. This is McMullen's recurrent theme, the dangers of attempting large scale manipulation of the natural world, which appears in this series and also in a slightly different way in his prior Greatwinter trilogy. Despite the joky tone of his writing, it appears that McMullen is producing books that are, in part, allegorical commentaries on the dangers of modern attempts to control the natural world.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fantasy, Farce and Dragonwall, April 29, 2006

By 

James D. DeWitt "Alaska Fan" (Fairbanks, AK United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Glass Dragons (Moonworlds Saga) (Mass Market Paperback)

Most modern fantasy is formulaic junk. I renew my call for a complete ban on multi-volume epics in which the young hero (occasionally, heroine) must overcome terrific odds to save the world, win the girl (guy) and rule in peace forever. Or at least until the next multi-volume epic... That mine is depleted of ore; that well is long since dry. It is time for something different.

Which is why I like McMullen. He writes serious fantasy that doesn't take itself too seriously. McMullen addresses serious themes - world-threatening weapons, for example - without losing his sense of the absurd. It makes "Glass Dragons" a refreshingly different and delightful read.

A cadre of sorcerors is re-building a fearsome, ancient weapon, the Dragonwall, which makes a sorceror a minor god. At least its gives the sorcerors who create it fearsome powers of destruction. Against this terrifying weapon are pitted some of the same characters we met in "Voyage of the Shadowmoon." Laron, the 700-year old vampyre in at 14-year old body; Terikel, the guilt-ridden last priestess of the Metrologan sect; Wensomer, the self-indulgent master sorceress. And delightful new characters, including the wonderful Andry Tennoner, lately of the bargeyard slums but now an aspiring gentleman. Andry is a masterpiece of a character, whose every action gently mocks the traditional luck child and epic hero, without ever being so crass as to come out and say as much.

I am baffled by McMullen's only limited success in the United States. He is a fine writer, and every one of his novels improves on the last. If you are looking for a break from fantasy-by-the-numbers, if you don't believe fantasy has to be solemn, you will enjoy the Moonworld series and "Dragonwall." Strongly recommended.