- Hardcover: 512 pages
- Publisher: St Martin's Press (30 April 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0765307987
- ISBN-13: 978-0765307989
- ASIN: 0765307979
- Product Dimensions: 17.3 x 10.2 x 3.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,356,423 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Glass Dragons (Moonworlds Saga)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Praise for "Glass Dragons"
"McMullen has a gift worthy of the best mainstream authors for creating memorable, finely nuanced characters, making him must-reading for fantasy enthusiasts."--"Booklist"
* "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 . . . the book is especially attractive for its tricky shifts from dark, passionate intrigue to sly but rowdy slapstick, like a Storm Constantine plotline performed by Monty Python. There may be a lot of story to come before the world's balance of magical powers is restored, but the readers won't mind if additional books in the series are as entertaining as this one."--"Publishers Weekly" Starred Review
"This one is much better than its predecessor, which was pretty good itself, and suddenly McMullen is threatening to emerge as one of the leading names in fantasy."--"Chronicle"
"Australian aut --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
"McMullen has a gift worthy of the best mainstream authors for creating memorable, finely nuanced characters, making him must-reading for fantasy enthusiasts."--"Booklist"
* "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 . . . the book is especially attractive for its tricky shifts from dark, passionate intrigue to sly but rowdy slapstick, like a Storm Constantine plotline performed by Monty Python. There may be a lot of story to come before the world's balance of magical powers is restored, but the readers won't mind if additional books in the series are as entertaining as this one."--"Publishers Weekly" Starred Review
"This one is much better than its predecessor, which was pretty good itself, and suddenly McMullen is threatening to emerge as one of the leading names in fantasy."--"Chronicle"
"Australian aut --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
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 sort of magical Manhattan Project which threatens to fall into the wrong hands. It is a broad and complicated tale, filled with wonderful characters both new and old, woven through with low humour and great courage.
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First Sentence
Winter bites hard in Rogaland. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
Winter bites hard in Rogaland. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
the trilogy was pretty complex and i read it twice to get the hang of what was going on,and was pleased to have found such an interesting author,i even ordered up the originals from australia.The voyage of the shadow moon was quite different but enjoyable.Glass Dragons took the touch of low humour and expanded it here to the books detriment,and instead of a complex plot- very little happens in this book, so that threequarters of the way through,i had to give it up,it wasn't worth the effort.Other authors -in particular roger zelazney-wrote brilliant early books but after 'nine princes in amber', they too became unreadable,i hope this is only a temporary blip.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
7 reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Not as good as the first
6 May 2004
Format: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.
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
Entertaining
4 April 2004
Format: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
Fantasy, Farce and Dragonwall
29 April 2006
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
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.
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.
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