Customer Reviews

Glass Dragons

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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.

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.

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.

More sedately paced and less focused than Voyage of the Shadowmoon, but still an enjoyable read. Includes characters from the first book (Terikel & Velander play fairly substantial parts), but I was hoping for more from Laron.

This is the second book I've read by McMullen and, while I can't say I laughed out loud, I do appreciate the humor and lightness of the fantasy - a good counterbalance to some of the dark, grim fantasies out there. The humor is similar to Glen Cook or Lawrence Watt-Evans (who also happen to be two of my favorite authors).

I will confess to making a mistake when first reading this book and its prequel, Voyage of the Shadowmoon. I tried to read them as serious fantasy books, and found myself hating them. I kept them, and went back and reread them, and found that in the right frame of mind, these books were excellent. The Moonworld's saga is not meant to be taken seriously - well, not very often, anyways. From the opening scene, where two sorcerers complain about the attitudes of a powerful sorceress who prefers more sensual pleasures, to the hapless Wallas's Willy, this book is nothing more than lighthearted comedy.

This is not to say that the book is without its serious side, of course. Many of the themes seem to be similar to issues that are problems in today's society, and like many books with an established magical community, McMullen doesn't miss a chance to rag on both the establishment and the people trying to bring the establishment down.

For all this, the books suffers from some serious (and possibly fatal, depending on your view) flaws. Pacing is rough, and the story moves forward in fits and starts; important events are sometimes described too quickly, plotlines and relationships that haven't even been hinted at in the book suddenly burst into the main storyline as if they've always been there. If this book had focused on what it initially promised to be, that is, the story of Andry and Wallas, and hadn't thrown in Terikel, Laron, and many of the remnants from the first book as main characters, this might have been an excellent book; as it is, it is only moderately good.

Glass Dragons is head and shoulders above McMullen's other book in this series (and I have high hopes for the upcoming third). I don't know that I'd recommend it on its own, though it can certainly be read that way, but if you get through Voyage of the Shadowmoon and are unsure of whether or not to pick up this one, do so. You won't be disappointed, unless you can't read it as the comedy that it is.

Glass Dragons is Sean McMullen's direct sequel to Voyage of the Shadowmoon. Like the previous book, it is set on a fantasy world, the moon of a large planet, inhabited by people who seem very human though turn out (with one exception) not to be: they have double hearts, for instance. In the first book, an entire continent is destroyed by a terrible weapon, which is only destroyed by the heroic efforts of a large contingent of characters -- some of whom end up not quite so heroic by the end. I had complained in my review that the characters are a bit hard to keep track of, that too many of them turn out to be nobles or royals in disguise, and that I wasn't sure their characters were consistently maintained.

This new book once again features a terrible weapon, and a quest to destroy it. Once again a large contingent of not always very heroic characters joins somewhat haphazardly in the effort. It is noticeable, though, that the characters are not this time all nobles or royals in disguise. I also think that they maintain their characters more consistently -- but I still think McMullen's view of his characters tends to be excessively cynical -- and I really have a hard time believing so consistently in a such a parade of mostly nasty folk. BUT -- I did enjoy the book, on the whole.

I should add that, even though the book is a direct sequel to Voyage of the Shadowmoon, there is no need to read that book in order to enjoy the new one.

A group of wizards establish something called Dragonwall, ostensibly to control the Torean storms, storms caused by the heat engendered in the destruction of the continent of Torea in the previous book. But Dragonwall makes a great deal of power available to any wizard who knows how to tap it. And you know what power does, right? The eventual group who quest to destroy Dragonwall include a few characters from the last book -- mainly Laron, the hundreds of years old vampire who is no longer a vampire; Velander, who became a vampire in the last book and who has a drinking problem -- caused by sucking the blood of too many drunks; and Terikel, who in her twisted self can never love anyone -- but she does hold the key to destroying Dragonwall. There are also some new characters, for example the incompetent Master of Royal Music to the Emperor of Sargol, one Wallas, who is implicated in the assassination of the Emperor when the actual assassin assumes Wallas's form to do the deed. Wallis finds himself partnered with Andry, a low born sailor/carpenter who wants to be a gentleman, and who appears to have the inner nature to be more gentlemanly than anyone. There are plenty further characters: students, dragons, princesses, monks, etc.

The plot is rambling, full of incident, pretty fun on the whole. It's not a great book by any means but it's an enjoyable and imaginative long fantasy.