A Shadow on the Glass, by Ian Irvine, is the first of a series of three that make up the "View From the Mirror" saga. Shadow is Irvine's first novel, and it is an outstanding fantasy hero adventure story with some really interesting twists.
I enjoyed reading this book, and was immediately sucked into the story. The best part of the book is that it is full of strong female characters. The two lead characters are Llian, the Chronicler (or storyteller) and Karan, a female landowner who possesses "sensitive" powers that allow her to communicate telepathically.
Like any great adventure story, this one features an ancient secret, a priceless magical artifact, and a long drawn out journey that must be undertaken while fleeing some scary enemies. And in the style of Lord of the Rings, we also have an ancient "mancer" enemy who gas been imprisoned in a jail from which he cannot escape. (Or can he?)
There are some very clever and original elements to the world of Santhenar, however. There are four races of human(ish) characters in the book. There are the humans of Santhenar, who are pretty much like us, then the other three races who have come from other planets: the Aachim, the Faellem, and the Charon. These mysterious three races have a much longer life span than the regular humans, and have various types of special gifts and magics. Even some human necromancers have found ways to extend their lifespan, so events that occurred way back in the past still have contenporary witnesses. The key event in the past that everyone is trying to get to the bottom of is the creation of a block between traveling from Santhenar back to the other three alien worlds. Called, the Forbidding, this magical block has trapped members of the other three races on Santhenar where they hide and lay low for 3,000 years.
The strong female character of Karan is wonderful in that she is tough and resourceful, and plays the role of the adventuring hero. In fact, she is much stronger at fighting, climbing, and escaping the bad guys than the make hero Llian. Llian is more of the young person finding his way in the world. He has lived a soft life in the college studying to be a Chronicler, and this adventure helps him develop from a callow youth into a strong man.
The writing is very good, always keeping the reader drawn into the story. There are a lot of politics in the story, but he is careful to feed us a little bit at a time so that as a reader you never feel overwhelmed or left in the dark. Irvine really shines at descriptive writing about the places and people you encounter in the book. His characters are fully described, and not one dimensional good or evil either. Like real people they have various motives and emotions making them lie somewhere in a very very grey area between good and evil.
The only complaint I have with the book is that it did feature quite a bit of running to escape from the baddies, the Whelm, and it got a bit tiresome at times. And it ends with a cliffhanger leading into the next volume so don't expect any satisfying ending yet.
Sci Fi Experience 2009 Book Review Site.