The Mirror of Worlds (Crown of the Isles, Vol. 2) [Hardcover]

David Drake (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 10, 2007

The Mirror of the Worlds is the second in the Crown of the Isles trilogy, which will conclude the epic Lord of the Isles series.

 

The Fortress of Glass began the tale of how the new kingdom of the Isles is finally brought into being by the group of heroes and heroines who have been central to all the books in the series: Prince Garric, heir to the throne of the Isles, his consort Liane, his sister Sharina, her herculean sweetheart Cashel, and his sister Ilna. 

 

The powers of magic in the Isles have flooded to a thousand-year peak, and even local magicians can perform powerful spells normally beyond their control. Fantastic forces from all angles threaten, trying to keep Garric and his companions apart to thwart the reunification of the Isles.

 

Now the world itself has suffered a magical upheaval. The ocean has receded and the Isles have become the higher ground of a newly formed continent. But the new continent is a patchwork of geography from the dispast and future, peopled by creatures from all times and places. Garric and his companions must now struggle for the survival of humanity.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Three strong women on separate missions dominate this slow-moving middle volume (after 2006's The Fortress of Glass) in the trilogy slated to round out Drake's long-running Lord of the Isles series. Prince Garric's sister, Sharina, the wizardess Tenoctris and Ilna the witch-weaver face the lion's share of adventure, taking on tasks to help Garric reunite the Isles. The self-effacing Tenoctris must draw huge amounts of magical power to help Garric defeat a new enemy called the Last. Sharina abandons princessly femininity to mount an offensive against a city overwhelmed by the Last while her brother quests after the mythical Yellow King. Ilna, who's taken on the job of personally eradicating the catlike Coerli despite Garric's attempts to make peace with them, faces her prejudices against a society that mirrors her own. While second book blues bogs things down a bit, Drake balances it with vivid descriptions and lots of action. (July)
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From Booklist

The second volume in the third trilogy of the Lord of the Isles saga focuses tightly on Prince Garric and his faithful companions. They face perils notably including that ingenious combination of magical and material weaponry, the Fortress, and the continent on which they must fight their last battle is a hodgepodge of geographical features, flora and fauna, and strange races conjured from past and future by the wizards who seek to rule Garric's world or at least prevent his victory and survival. In short, the book re-offers just about everything the saga has provided thus far, including an absolute surfeit of weird, sometimes terrifying creatures. Green, Roland

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition edition (July 10, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765312603
• ISBN-13: 978-0765312600
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,216,003 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

The Army took David Drake from Duke Law School and sent him on a motorized tour of Viet Nam and Cambodia with the 11th Cav, the Blackhorse. He learned new skills, saw interesting sights, and met exotic people who hadn't run fast enough to get away.

Dave returned to become Chapel Hill's Assistant Town Attorney and to try to put his life back together through fiction making sense of his Army experiences.

Dave describes war from where he saw it: the loader's hatch of a tank in Cambodia. His military experience, combined with his formal education in history and Latin, has made him one of the foremost writers of realistic action SF and fantasy. His bestselling Hammer's Slammers series is credited with creating the genre of modern Military SF. He often wishes he had a less interesting background.

Dave lives with his family in rural North Carolina.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Better than the last, but still has room for improvement., November 11, 2007

By 

C. Moore - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Mirror of Worlds (Crown of the Isles, Vol. 2) (Hardcover)

I've loved the Lord of Isles books since they were first released and have purchased and read each book as it came out in hard back. The last book (first in the ending triology) greatly disapointed me and I was hesitant to pick this one up but decided to give Drake another chance. This book was definitly better than the previous, and was MUCH easier to read (took me a week rather than two months), but the same anoying flaws exist. There still is more action than development. The characters are no more explained than in previous books and the rehashing of what we already know to be true is PAINFUL! Still the plot was better and flowed better than most of the previous novels so that I was compelled to keep reading until the end. I will buy the last installment though I am largely skeptical that the series could be wrapped up in one book. There is way too much still hanging out there.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Anxious for the end to the Isle saga, July 11, 2008

By 

JackieVT (Vermont United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Mirror of Worlds (Crown of the Isles, Vol. 2) (Hardcover)

I've read all of the Lord of the Isles + Crown of the Isles volumes over the last year. I've sort of enjoyed the character development and story lines, but am now ready for the saga to end. Mirror of the World is true to the format of all of the others: each key character has a sub-plot story that neatly wraps up and brings everyone back together at the end of the volume. I'm not a big fan of this style because it prevents deep development of any one of the characters; still, I'm invested and looking forward to the final book in the series, to see how it all ends.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Completion of the set, March 16, 2010

By 

Richard M. Lyon (GREGORY, TX, US) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Mirror of Worlds: The Second Volume of 'The Crown of the Isles' (Mass Market Paperback)

Having exhausted local new and used options, the large chain bookstore recommended Amazon.Com.
I looked, I found, I had my book in three days!