Dark is the Moon

The View from the Mirror #3

by Ian Irvine

Rulke the Great Betrayer is free at last to use the deadly construct he has spent a thousand years perfecting. To succeed he needs just one thing - Karan's unique sensitive talent.

Karan and her lover Llian are lost in the Nightland, trapped in an alien palace that is collapsing about them. Only Rulke can open the gate and send them home to Santhenar, but Karan is terrified he will corrupt Llian.

Yggur and Mendark, sworn enemies, struggle to tame the power of the rift. They must seal the gate before Rulke brings forth his construct. If they fail he will ravage the world. And if they succeed, Karan and Llian will be trapped in the Nightland for eternity ...

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Epic Fantasy, Science Fiction, High Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Audiobook

674 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

I'm an Australian author of 34 novels, mainly fantasy. They include the bestselling Three Worlds epic fantasy sequence, which has sold over a million print copies. It comprises The View from the Mirror quartet, The Well of Echoes quartet and The Song of the Tears trilogy. I’ve just finished The Gates of Good and Evil quartet, the long-awaited sequel to The View from the Mirror. Book 3, The Perilous Tower, was published recently and the final book, The Sapphire Portal, will be published on November 1, 2020.
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WHY I WRITE
Funny thing is, I never wanted to be a writer. From an early age my ambition was to be a scientist. I’m an expert in pollution and I’ve spent my professional life studying it in far-flung places like Mauritius, Sumatra, Mongolia, South Korea, the Philippines, Papua-New Guinea and Western Samoa, as well as all over Australia. Often scuba diving to the bottom of foul, smelly harbours and hammering tubes deep into the polluted mud to collect samples for chemical analysis. Now that’s living!

I was a small, quiet kid who devoured books from the moment I learned to read. When I was naughty, Mum wouldn’t let me read anything for a week – talk about a cruel and unusual punishment.

I discovered fantasy in the early 70’s, with The Lord of the Rings and the Earthsea trilogy, and was immediately hooked. But there wasn’t much fantasy in those days; within a couple of years I’d read everything available. I wanted more and bigger tales, on vaster canvases, but they didn’t exist. That’s why I had to become a writer – to write the kind of stories I wanted to read.

WHAT I WRITE
I’ve never wanted to write about superheroes or huge, reckless warriors who know no fear. I write epic fantasy about underdogs and ordinary people who, in pursuit of their goals, are put to the limit of human endurance. My characters aren’t fantasy stereotypes, they’re real people with believable motivations and unfortunate flaws. I’m well known for strong female characters who have as many adventures as the men, and frequently get them out of trouble (I have five sisters). My characters are often small or clumsy or inexperienced or handicapped in some way, yet they make up for it with cleverness, ingenuity or sheer, low cunning. My antagonists are real, complex people who do bad things for strong and deeply-held reasons – never ‘just because they’re evil’.

Though my characters suffer every kind of torment imaginable, at their lowest point they discover the truest form of courage – they keep fighting because the fate of the people they care for, and the world they love, depends on them never giving up.

SOME RECENT REVIEWS
"Irvine is a veteran storyteller who excels in sustaining complex plots with well-rounded characters. Here, he delivers a compelling tale of vengeance, loyalty, and the search for a place in the world." Starred review, Library Journal (US)

"That Grand Master of the vast epic is with us again! The first gripping volume of what promises to be a vintage Irvine treat. More please!" Crisetta MacLeod, Aurealis Express

"Incredibly exciting. The end will have you eagerly anticipating the next book." Good Reading (Aus)

"He knows how to spin an epic yarn and tell it with real gusto ... ambitious in scope and tirelessly action-stuffed." SFX

Reviews

[Wide Eyes, Big Ears! · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series is slowly drawing me in. I still don't think it's as well written as the Well of Echoes series but I'm enjoying the characters and plot, and the universe he has created is great. Irvine does a strange thing in his books: He gives you very little lead up to each character but then suddenly focusses on them heavily and gives you the action from their perspective. Somehow it alienates you from the characters generally so you don't empathise as much in the focussed sections. Why not spend more time with each character at the start, give us their backstory and thoughts / feelings, then come back to them later?

[Cassy · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I originally read this book, it deterred me from reading the final one for years. I read the first three and never read the end. Now, a good six years later, I finally went back and reread everything and I can't figure out why this made me stop reading. This book was by far the best of the three. You finally meet the enemy that everyone has been afraid of for all three books and he frees himself from his prison. You start to have a lot of conflict in this one and you learn a lot of back story that you've been wondering for three books.

[Kayla Quay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I agree, it really reminds you that there is always two sides of a story. It makes you wonder if the good guys con be trusted and takes it all the way back to the age old question: who/what is good or evil??

[Alycia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok, so I know I'm bad with reviews but I just loved these books. The story behind it was just so interesting. It was one of the series I just sat down and read doing as little else as possible.

[David Melbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Burnin' through this stuff. It is awesome! --From A Reader's Journal, by d r melbie.

[Richard Barrow · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this book when it progresses the main story, with Llian and Karan, and Rulke as the main antagonist, but there is a lot of wading through side plots which often end up feeling fairly standard and unremarkable. The twists and turns with other major characters such as Yggur, Mendark and Maigraith are interesting, but I did feel like my focus was being jerked around so much I didn’t know what my expectations were anymore anyway.

Overall I find I like the writing and the book’s settings and imagery, and it continues to make me curious about how the story and the various character arcs will end. To me, it seems like an original and carefully constructed addition to the fantasy genre.

[Steven Poore · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm beginning to realise why I never made it this far into The View From The Mirror first time around - it suffers heavily from "here's another thing that happened on the way and this is how they felt about it" syndrome, with a heck of a lot of travel, a lot of it inconsequential, and argh the food descriptions and Karan's sudden burning need to go into landscaping....

There's a murder mystery buried here in this quartet, the murder that hooked Llian into the story to begin with way back in book one, but digging it out is almost archaeology.

[Karen Field · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sorry to sound like a broken record but, again, if I had to "read" the books, I would have abandoned the series. For this series, in my opinion, audio is better.

If you have read the first two books, you know what to expect and don't need to read reviews. I guess the thing that annoys me the most is the long, dry spells in the story. You know what I mean, the long periods of time when nothing much happens. Yet I listened every day and do not regret that decision or action.

The Llian and Karran relationship seems to be smoothing out to feel more realistic now. I am not totally convinced of their feelings for each other, but they seem to be finding their way. Perhaps that's how it is for some couples.

By the end of this book, we are getting a better understanding of the characters and how they might fit together. There are clues as to those who might have been deceitful and those who could have been wronged.

Good and evil can be a hazy business and I suspect that is the case within this story.

I don't have much more to say, except I am going to finish the series. I've invested a lot of time already and want to know how it comes together.

[Eran Osishkin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was by far my least favorite out of the first three. Its beginning and end are okay, but the most of it is just dragging and monotonous. I really had to struggle to keep reading to the end. The two protagonists are quite intolerable in this book.

[Teri B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though this book is extremely slow, I loved the world building and the moral and ethical conflicts the characters have to go through.
And also ho Karan develops over the course of this book, becomes stronger and more confident in herself.

[Patrick Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another past delight

Rereading after so many years, it has lost nothing. Occasionally self-indulgent writing, but what compelling characters and story. Well worth it.

[Adrian G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

OOOOH! So...damn wonderful!

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too long and the dialogue was sub-par. At the moment nostalgia is the only thing keeping me going.

[Nicola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have already started Volume 4!

[Debby Kean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am pretty sure that I have read this before, maybe 10 years ago?
I am really enjoying it again, it's the culmination of a truly awesome series.

[Matthew Archer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great series, started years ago but have read #2 and #3 in relatively quick succession. Huge in scope, far greater than I remembered initially!

[Tim Caird · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slower start than the previous 2 books but built well on the story of the mirror. Left on a point of desperation, you'll want to read on into the 4th!

[Sancho · Rating 2 out of 5]

**1/2

[Ward Bond · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review

'In Dark is the Moon, the third volume of Ian Irvine's "The View from the Mirror" quartet, the web of intrigue and magical betrayal that passes for politics in the world of Santhenar has reached a point of complexity where even its master players are feeling the strain. One of the few constants in Irvine's imagined world--the passionate erotic love between scholar/chronicler Llian and woman warrior Karan--starts to become unravelled when they are trapped with the evil mage Rulke in his semi-material place of exile, the Nightland; his seduction of the obsessional Llian with eye-witness testimony of the past is painful to watch. Nor is Rulke the cliche dark lord of much fantasy writing, he is a man who thinks what he does is justified by greater good, and not so different from many of his officially virtuous enemies. Irvine's evocation of landscapes tortured into strangeness by aeons of magical intervention and cities wrecked by civil strife is crisply visualised; his set pieces of action--a fight with pirates, a trek through desert, a magical duel--are involving and viscerally exciting; his characters are complex individuals who grow and change--the semi-villainous Magraith has become almost a secondary heroine.' - Roz Kaveney, AMAZON.CO.UK REVIEW

Product Description

n the third volume of this stunning and original saga, Ian Irvine continues The View from the Mirror, his brilliant epic fantasy.

THE TALE OF THE BETRAYERS

Rulke, the last and most powerful of the Charon, escapes from the alien dimension where he has been imprisoned for a millennium. As he amasses a conquering army of telepathic monsters, the other immortal mancers scatter in desperate quests to control or re-create the terrible, arcane magics of the Forbidding. But young Llian, his mind controlled by Rulke, becomes an unwilling spy against all who've befriended him-while Karan, the tormented daughter of three human species, discovers her beloved homeland of Gothryme has become the center of a sorcerous vortex. For there, in a mystic, ancient citadel built by a madman, Rulke plans to wield powers that will reconnect worlds-or unleash the insatiable horrors of The Void. And the key to the Charon's scheme...is Karan herself.

PUPPETS OF THE TWISTED MIRROR

Karan of Gothryme: To save her people, her land, and her lover, she will have to sacrifice the entire world...

Llian of the Zain: Born cursed to serve the Charon, he now must use his knowledge to overcome his very nature...

Yalkara of the Charon: The Demon Queen warped the Twisted Mirror to escape Santhenar and the Forbidding, but she may have left her darkest secrets behind...

Maigraith: She has the strength to lead armies against inhuman foes, yet she cannot free herself from the one person who would destroy her...

Shand: He has spent an eon burying his past but if he does not reveal the truth now, Santhenar may be doomed...

Faelamor of the Faellem: The Lady of Illusions plans to lead her people back to their homeworld of Tallallame, even if escape means sacrificing all other worlds to The Void...

[Caitlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

For the third book in a series, this was a real disappointment. Though I generally like to rate book series as a whole rather than individually, my issues with this installment compelled me to review it separately.

Dark Is the Moon opens immediately after the Aachim leader Tensor, in a doomed effort to vanquish the villain (?) Rulke, ends up freeing him from the enchanted dimension where he's been imprisoned for a thousand years. The majority of the book chronicles the attempts of Mendark, Yggur, Faelamor and other powerful figures and their allies to 1) find out what Rulke's planning 2) prove that Llian is a traitor collaborating with Rulke 3) recreate forbidden magics to stop him 4)prove that Llian is a traitor collaborating with Rulke. Or did I mention that already?

I'm not exaggerating when I say that the conflict over Llian's loyalties was one of the most padded, unneccessarily drawn out plot threads I've ever read. Characters waffle over whether he's a spy for Rulke for hundreds of pages, including Karan, whom I thought would have had more faith in him after everything they've gone through. It's always sad to see characters lose hard-won development and become tools in service of the author's plot; I couldn't shake the feeling that was happening here.

And it's a shame, because there are lots of more interesting subplots that could have been further developed instead: the truth behind the Forbidding; the history of Havissard and Yalkara the Charon; Faelamor and Maigraith's history; Lilis' search for her father; not to mention what Rulke, the guy all these great sorcerers are supposed to be so afraid of, was doing off camera while they were beating on the hapless Llian. Yes: Rulke is absent for most of the book, despite being a major, newly introduced character whom we've already waited two books to meet.

While there was enough of interest to make me keep reading, -- the telling duel between Rulke and Llian especially was more engaging than most of Llian's plot up to that point--the unfocused and padded plot made it feel more like a placeholder before the final installment. Two stars.

[Angelika Belko · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book could've been so much better if only there was more action and less tedious descriptions. But it's still a good piece of storytelling.

[Kathi · Rating 3 out of 5]

While very few of the characters are completely likable, they have become more complex in the 3rd book of The View from the Mirror quartet. And while there continue to be seemingly interminable journeys, they are shorter than in previous books. There is definitely more action.

One thing that bothers me, however, is the way some of the key characters revert back to being one or two dimensional after struggling to develop some skills or abilities or strengthen some traits. Llian becomes the proud, self-centered, story-hungry chronicler, Maigrith becomes a dependent, duty-bound tool, Shand suddenly turns blindly bigoted. It may not last, thank goodness, but it doesn't seem to take much to undo the changes the characters have achieved through hard work and effort enduring some amazing challenges and hardships.

Tallia, Lilis, Nadiril and Pender are my favorite characters. They have the least subterfuge about them and are a clear contrast to the complicated hopes, fears, vanities, and insecurities of the main characters.

[Георги Бранкованов (Grim) · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little bit better than the second book. At least here there are some actual, action and story development, despite the lack of clarity about the temporal and geographical placement of the events. The other problems still remain- inadequate character development and behaviour, virtually no magic system or any real clarification of the back story of the three worlds. Well, there were some attempts for the last one but they just made the things worse. And last but not least, the love story is a good addition to every novel but if it will be like the love story of Karan and Llian it can be removed without remorse. I am still hopeful for a nice surprise from the last book, but you know what they say about the hope, it dies last.

[V. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than the 2nd installment of the series, perhaps because the characters are becoming more complex as their histories are more fully revealed. Dark is the Moon is more tightly written than The Tower on the Rift, and that's probably due to the increasing sense that the tensions in the plot are going to be coming to a head soon. The fact that there was a clearly described six month count down to what the reader knew would be the climax of this novel in the series helped a lot too. Quite a bit more of the Histories are revealed in the third volume, so if you like folklore and mythology, you'll enjoy the greater background knowledge Dark is the Moon builds for the Three Worlds.

[Moosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book number 3 done and dusted! What an adventure it was, to be fair to those who are familiar with The View From The Mirror series I'll vague. What Irvine is best at is his character development, especially of his main character: Llian. I find my feelings mixed about this guy, how Irvine managed to get a guy who in the previous book irritated me, to make me feel such pity. Although Irvine likes to abuse his characters (with possible enjoyment) he is no George R.R. Martin, so he's fair to them.....sort of. To wrap this up this is by no means a bore, although by the end you feel no hope for poor Llian, that is all that can be said.

[Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

An epic read. Irvine builds his story and his characters to a crescendo and holds them there.

The danger some of the characters are in, and how much Irvine has made his readers care about them makes it almost difficult to read at times, but when it becomes too much, you switch to another storyline and follow that for a while, and though these characters are also having difficulties, it's almost a relief to get away from the other characters, for a little while. The structure helps the plot build.

This book is the work of a master. The issue many probably have is its length and relatively slow pace.

[Zaryna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was difficult to read. The plot seemed to just keep dragging on. I'm really not sure why Irvine needs a fourth book for this series as he could have easily taken parts from this one and pushed in the ending. But i despite the length and difficulty, i finished it and i am going to read the next one because i'm still in love with Karan and Llian. I do want to find out what happens so i'm hoping the last book is magical and overpowers my disappointment of this book.

[Connie53 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dit derde deel leest net zo makkelijk als de eerdere twee delen. Het is vermakelijk leesvoer. Niet direct hoogstaand (veel herhalingen) maar ik wil wel weten hoe het verhaal van Llian en Karan afloopt. Dus door in deel 4

[Nikki Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally melds and disforms the line between good and evil. It makes me upset that his other series were not published in the US.

[Kristi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Irvine, how I love thee.