One of the most interesting things about Ian Irvine's novels is that they don't follow the path of one person. The reader sees things from different points of view and there is no true good or evil characters.
The View from The Mirror:
It takes more than a few paragraphs to summarise the storyline but I'll try. (I'll also try to avoid spoiling the story for those who haven't read it)
A long time ago, the charon came out of the void and took Aachan from the aachim. Rulke, one of the hundred charon who took Aachan, summoned Suthdar from santhenar to create a device which would allow the charon to pass between the worlds. Suthdar created the golden flute, but became so attached to it that he couldn't bare to see it in another's hands. He used the flute to escape to Santhenar and many came to follow him. After centuries of being hunted, Suthdar destroyed the flute, himself and brought about the forbidding, which closed the way between the worlds. Three charon remained on Santhenar. Yalkara, who found a way through the forbidding and fled back to Aachan; Kandor, who was killed; and Rulke, who was trapped in an alternate dimension by old humans and the aachim.
The story revolves around the Mirror of Achaan and the characters around it. Karan, a young sensitive who is a blending (a descendant of more than one race), is hired by Maigraith, a powerful young woman, to steal the Mirror of Achaan from the powerfull warlord Yggur. Maigraith is stealing the Mirror for Faelamor, the leader of the faellem who came to Santhenar to persue the golden flute. The Mirror of Aachan was able to show things which were far away but when it was brought to Santhenar it became corrupted.
Llian, a chronicler and teller, is sent to help Karan.
Rulke is trying to escape his prison and things take a turn (and many more turns) for the worse.
The Well of Echoes:
This story is set 200 years after the events of "The View from the Mirror". Humans are at war with the lyrinx, an intelligent, powerful, winged race from the void. The only thing keeping humanity alive is it's mechanical clankers. But the clankers' power source is failing...
Tiaan is a young artisan who creates controllers which supply energy for clankers. However, some of Tiaan's controllers have failed and she is charged as being a traitor. Her punishment is being sent to the breeding factory. She escapes and flees to her friend Joeyn. Joeyn gives her a special crystal, which glows and is unusually powerful. With the help of this crystal, the people of Aachan speak to Tiaan. Their world is dying and they need Tiaan's help. The crystal has awoken her latent talent for geomancy, the most powerful of all the Secret Arts, and only Tiaan can save the aachim. But Tiaan is persued by her own people and the lyrinx because they want to utilise her power.
