A Shadow on the Glass

• Shortlisted for the Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel, 1998.
• Listed in Sciencefiction.com's Best of 2001.

 

The Tower on the Rift

• Listed in the Sydney Morning Herald's Best Books of 1998.
• Listed in Sciencefiction.com's Best of 2001.

 

The Last Albatross

• Listed in The Australian's Best of Summer Reading (2000).

 

The View from the Mirror Quartet

• Listed in The Year in Review, 1999, Carolyn Cushman, Locus.

 

Geomancer

• Listed in Recommended Reading, 2001, Carolyn Cushman, Locus

 

Terminator Gene

• Shortlisted for the 2003 Aurealis Award for best SF novel

 

Scrutator

• Listed in the Sydney Morning Herald's Best Books of 2003
• Honourable mention, 2003 Aurealis Award for best fantasy novel

 

The Art & Science of Book Promotion

• Chapter, The Art & Science of Book Promotion in The Complete Guide to Writing Science Fiction, Dragon Moon Press, Canada, 2007. Winner of the 2007 Eppie Award, best non-fiction book.

 

The Sorcerer's Tower

• Shortlisted for the 2008 Aurealis Award for best children's novel.

 

Some reviewer's comments:

The Three Worlds Series - The View From The Mirror

A Shadow on the Glass

• 'An intense story that starts slowly but becomes increasingly compelling. In a world full of epic fantasy clones, this stands out as a worldbuilding labour of love with some truly original touches.' Locus.
• 'Those who like quests will enjoy A Shadow on the Glass … A recurring theme of betrayal - of people, places, and ideas - heightens the tension and increases the plot's emotional grip. Ian Irvine writes fluently, and evokes a tangible atmosphere. His protagonists are engaging and all his characters' motivations convincing.' Starburst, UK
• 'Irvine's series opener promises a grand-scale epic fantasy that features a pair of unusual heroes and a complex world rich in history and variety. For most fantasy collections.' Library Journal (US)
• 'Ian Irvine is a great find! He writes beautifully about a vast and intricate world that seems utterly real. His characters are as well drawn as any I've come across in fantasy. Best of all, none of them are quite what they seem when first introduced: no white hats, no black hats. I found them refreshing, complicated, and compelling.' Kate Elliott, author of King's Dragon.
• 'As good as anything I have read in the fantasy genre.' Adelaide Advertiser.
• 'Irvine has built a history and wonderful culture for his vivid world. His first novel vibrates with originality.' The West Australian.

 

The Tower on the Rift

• 'Wonderfully deep, fast-paced adventure.' Barnesandnoble.com (US)
• 'High suspense and tense character interaction - great reading!' Van Ikin, Sydney Morning Herald

 

Dark is the Moon

• '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 Maigraith has become almost a secondary heroine.' Roz Kaveney, Amazon UK
• 'Dark is the Moon pulled me along like a tidal wave to its powerful ending.' Hilary Williamson, Bookloons.com

 

The Way Between the Worlds

• 'Ian Irvine's hefty four-volume epic fantasy, 'The View from the Mirror', which concluded dramatically this fall with The Way between the Worlds, features solid non-Eurocentric worldbuilding, colourful characters, and a twisted plot that stays nicely unpredictable to the end.' Locus
• 'Hugely ambitious – an epic, tragic tale of history's implacable impact on the present, full of driven, often unlikable and inept characters, and betrayal. Though well written, the pace is sometimes erratic … but interest and originality there is aplenty - and action.' Starburst, UK (4 stars)
• 'An extended fantasy sequence always has to deliver an impressive pay-off; The Way between the Worlds is the fourth and final volume of Ian Irvine's 'The View from the Mirror' and brings the quartet to a convolutedly triumphant finale… For someone whose fiction plays so thoroughly with ethically grey areas, Irvine is also admirable in his preparedness to sort out endings that feel right; this is a book in which heroes and villains alike get a part of what they want, but a sort of justice as well. Irvine has brought both a lively intelligence and a keen moral sense to the heroics and spell-play of the modern fantasy novel.' Roz Kaveney, Amazon UK

 

The Three Worlds Series - The Well of Echoes

Geomancer

• 'Ian Irvine is arguably the most inventive fantasy author to emerge in recent years. His The View from the Mirror quartet established a talent not merely for creating intricate new worlds, but also for populating them with appealing, believable characters. Geomancer succeeds in being a page-turner of the highest order ... Irvine can now consider himself comfortably ranked next to the works of Robert Jordan and David Eddings and, more appropriately, the mighty Anne McCaffrey. If further volumes of the Well of Echoes saga are even half as enjoyable as Geomancer, then you can count me in. Formidable!' SFX (UK)
• 'Irvine's strength here is that he makes us care not only about the idealistic, wet, misguidedly ruthless Tiaan, but also about the occasionally vicious and manipulative Irisis and Nish, who are not merely villains, but products of their unpleasant world somewhat redeemed by their growing regard for each other. This is, attractively, grimmer and grittier than most fantasy novels with a real sense of industrial squalor and a society in paranoid melt-down-and with a neatly unpleasant set of twists at the end.' Roz Kaveney, Amazon.uk
• 'Ian Irvine has produced one of those rarities in the fantasy genre, and that is a unique, well-thought-out world coupled with a well-written storyline. A gripping read for Irvine fans or a fresh new series for any other readers.' Enigma (UK)
• 'Readers of Eddings, Goodkind and Jordan will lap this one up.' Starlog (UK)
• 'The magic-science technology and repressive, war-centred social system are strikingly new, and even those places revisited are interestingly changed. Irvine mixes in plenty of interesting characters of uncertain moral fibre to create a compelling adventure in a landscape full of wonders.' Locus.
• 'Irvine imagines the epic landscape through which the characters move in persuasive detail and describes it powerfully. The misery of the manufactory's oppressed children and fearful adults is effectively communicated and elaborated. Driven by fear and inadequacy … they cheat, lie and betray others in the cause of their own ambition, but are nonetheless sympathetically portrayed.' Australian Book Review.

 

Tetrarch

• "Wondrous Worldbuilding". Locus

 

Scrutator

• "Ian Irvine's Scrutator is the third book in the superb Well of Echoes Quartet. Don't worry if you didn't read the others: you'll soon be spellbound by a stunning landscape teeming with mages and monsters." SMH BEST BOOKS OF 2003
• "It is the most engrossing book I've read in years, the lucid prose unfolding an action-and-suspense storyline featuring wonderfully credible characters." Van Ikin, Sydney Morning Herald.

 

Chimaera

• "… brings his Well of Echoes saga to a spectacular and satisfying conclusion, confirming his reputation for first-rate fantasy page turners." Van Ikin, SMH BEST BOOKS OF 2004.
• "A story that is begging to be filmed. Very enjoyable. The action doesn't flag." Sue Davies, SF Crowsnest.

 

The Three Worlds Series - Song of the Tears Trilogy

Torments of the Traitor/The Fate of the Fallen

• "Another blockbuster fantasy series." Colin Steele, Canberra Times.
• "Whether you like interesting characters, good description or a well thought out world, this book is bound to impress you. Don't let its somewhat hefty size put you off – it only means that you get to keep reading longer." Nicole Juliette, Dreamhosters.com.

 

The Curse on the Chosen

• 'Hang on with both hands, because this story waits for no one.' Sandy Auden, SFX.
• 'The final payoff is fantastic. The most unflaggingly inventive storyteller we've seen in years.' Sydney Morning Herald.

 

The Destiny of the Dead

• 'Unbelievably, Irvine has managed to increase the pace of his story in this third and final volume … for sheer excitement, there's just no one like Irvine around at the moment.' SFX, 4 stars.
• 'This precise and beautifully crafted novel blooms from its ascetic opening to a resonant and rewarding climax. Makes what's currently available on fantasy shelves seem hackneyed and formulaic. Utterly absorbing.' Stephen Davenport, Independent Weekly.

 

Human Rites

The Last Albatross

• 'Ian Irvine's The Last Albatross is a radical departure from his successful fantasy series The View from the Mirror, and is the first in a trilogy of eco-thrillers exploring the not too distant implications of climate change and global terrorism. Being a bit of a greenie myself, I thought that the action-packed plot of doomsday cults and planetary collapse isn't far from the truth. Why join Greenpeace when you can sign onto the death lottery and save the planet your burdensome ecological impact?' Tim Cadman, The Times (London)
• 'A chilling SF suspense story set against a backdrop of 21st Century environmental depletion and cultural degeneration. Portrays a frighteningly plausible near future and belongs in most SF collections.' Library Journal (US).
• 'Australia-consciousness in SF and fantasy takes another step forward with this well-crafted near-future ecothriller … The chase takes place against the well-developed backdrop of an unpleasantly plausible dystopia … The tension remains high right to an end that suggests a possible sequel. SF and technothriller fans should dive into this one. Roland Green, Booklist (US).
• 'A faster paced thriller than his excellent fantasy quartet The View from the Mirror. Your heart pounds with the violence and adventure of the racing plot.' Australian Bookseller and Publisher.
• 'Frantic action and SF terror … in a world where corruption and technology are hell-bent on social destruction.' Murray Waldren, The Australian.
• 'A book for right now, that everybody should be reading. Buy a copy for yourself and another for a friend.' Keith Stephenson, Aurealis, on the 2008 revised edition.

 

Terminator Gene

• "Ian Irvine is a great storyteller." Australian Bookseller and Publisher
• "One of the best genre writers around - Irvine's considerable narrative powers are brought to bear in a grim near-future vision of plot and counter plot." Hobart Mercury.

 

The Life Lottery

• "With its sobering blend of frighteningly well researched catastrophic environmental change, triggering immense global socio-political upheaval, Ian Irvine's Human Rites trilogy is the most important work of Australian science fiction yet published in this country." Rob Jan, Sci-Fi Radio Zero-G.

 

The Runcible Jones Series

Runcible Jones and the Gate to Nowhere

• "A great book for rainy days and lazy afternoons. Young readers will gobble up this book." John Cohen, Reading Time.
• 'A well written and exciting series.' Northern Daily Leader.
• 'A great read.' Book Bites.

 

The Sorcerer's Tower

Thorn Castle & Giant's Lair

• 'A new series by two of Australia's best. It has all the things that turn reluctant readers into avaricious readers – fast moving plot, big gribby monsters and really cool illustrations.' Reading Time.
• 'This exciting story is likely to appeal to young readers who like their adventures action-packed, but also to slightly older, reluctant readers.' Sunday Tasmanian.
• 'A thrilling bedtime chapter book for parents to read to children five years and older. The test audience loved the "cool and powerful monsters".' The Courier Mail.
• 'Fast moving fantasy adventure, brought to life by Cornish's distinctive illustrations.' Good Reading.
• 'A fast-paced, easy reading book for middle primary school.' The Ballarat Courier.

 

Black Crypt

• 'Children as young as six will enjoy this fast paced novel. Non-stop fantasy action with humour and colourful detail.' The Courier Mail.
• "Beautifully crafted with magic, excitement, surprises, chases and fights all the way." Aurealis.
• "From one of Australia's masters of fantasy, this action-packed series is a wonderful introduction to the genre for readers aged nine and over. Perfect for the reluctant or younger reader." Aussiereviews.com.

 

Grim and Grimmer

Book 1: The Headless Highwayman, book 2: The Grasping Goblin & book 3: The Desperate Dwarf

• "The Headless Highwayman is the first book in the Grim and Grimmer series from fantasy genius Ian Irvine, who manages to create a world which is believable, thrilling and funny all rolled into one." Aussiereviews.com.
• "Entertainingly written in an energetic, descriptive style. An extraordinary fantasy world. Fast and furious and very funny." Reading Time.
• "Irvine has great fun creating his world … Funny and fast-paced, Ike's story reads briskly, leaved with a little horror and a dash of scatological humour. A fun adventure for upper-primary readers. Recommended." Bookseller and Publisher.
• "The funniest horror story you'll read in a long while – Ian Irvine is a master of fantasy and this is the best yet." Good Reading.
• "The Grasping Goblin takes the two reluctant heroes on a very wild ride … very funny too, as well as dangerous, gory and grotty. A grand adventure." Aussiereviews.com
• "A madcap, fantastical adventure packed with crazy creatures in a world created by a delightful warped imagination, The Headless Highwayman is the first in what promises to be a highly entertaining series. Ian Irvine … has a thorough grasp of not only what makes a good story, but also what makes children laugh." NSW Association for Gifted and Talented Children.
• "The pace, setting, characters and language are enticing and will hold the interest of upper primary readers. Odd humour and funny turns of language which will cause mirth amongst readers." Read Plus.
• "I gasped and laughed my way through these three books. Not only are they full of gross bits that boys in particular love, they are action packed and have flawed but likeable characters. Children aged 10+ who love action and humour won't be able to put these books down." Dee White, Kids' Book Capers.

 

Legends of Australian Fantasy

• "A collection that wouldn't have been possible a generation ago, this is a robust anthology — a testament to the strength of our genre writers and a feast for local fantasy fans." Cameron Woodhead, The Age.
• "A selection of the greatest writers of epic fantasy in Australia." Ian Nichols, The West Australian.

 

Reader's reviews (sadly, not all complimentary!) and star ratings can be seen at Amazon UK http://www.amazon.co.uk, Amazon US, http://www.amazon.com and Barnes & Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com.