"An epic with the texture of the legends of yore, with rousing action and characters to cheer for."
- Terry Goodkind on Lord of the Isles

IN Lord of the Isles, David Drake has built a towering and complex epic of heroic adventure filled with passion and magic.  This epic series now approaches its greatest fulfillment.

The Fortress of Glass is the first in the Crown of the Isles trilogy, which will conclude Lord of the Isles.  It is a fine moment for readers new to the Isles to enter this world and a new climax for fans of the series.

The Fortress of Glass begins the story of how the new kingdom of the Isles is finally brought into being by the heroic characters who have been central to all the books in the series.  Prince Garric, heir to the throne of the Isles; his consort Liane; his sister Sharina; her Herculean sweetheart Cashel; his sister Ilna, with her adopted child, Merota; and piratical Chalcus, her beloved, all journey on giant triremes filled with soldiers and diplomats to the small kingdoms of the Isles.

Magical forces now intervene from all angles to force them apart, scattering the band of characters to different worlds and times where strange dangers threaten them.  Separately and together, they must fight their way back to the same time and place to combat the mysterious and supernatural menace of The Green Woman.

"David Drake writes fantasy with the texture of the legends of yore." - Terry Goodkind

"He employs the standard epic fantasy tropes of action, sorcery, and romance to great effect in this exciting, compelling read." - Romantic Times BOOKreviews on The Fortress of Glass

THE ISLES have been more or less unified under Garric's rule, but the Change that created the content has removed the old Gods of the Isles from reality and released other Gods from other planes of existence.

Now the servants of the forbidden Gods of Palomir call forth The Worm, an ancient thing that threatens to devour all life in the newly formed kingdom and make way for the reign of dark Gods, newly awakened to ambitions of worship and dominion.  Some are bad... and some are worse.

"Drake has a well-known ability to make the nasty , really nasty, and the fates the new gods threaten for Garric and company are quite unspeakiable."
- Booklist

"David Drake's Lord of the Isles is an epic with the texture of the legends of yore, with rousing action and characters to cheer for."
- Terry Goodkind, New York Times bestselling author

The Mirror of the Worlds is the second book in the Crown of the Isles trilogy, which concludes the epic Lord of the Isles series.

The powers of magic in the Isles have flooded to a thousand year peak, and even local magicians can perform powerful spells normally beyond their control.  Fantastic forces from all angles threaten, trying to keep Garric and his companions apart to thwart the reunification of the Isles.

Now the world has suffered a magical upheaval.  The ocean has receded and the Isles have become the higher ground of a newly formed continent, a patchwork of geography from the past and future, peopled by creatures from all times and places.  With the land itself thrown into chaos, Garric and his companions must now struggle for the survival of humanity.

"Drake has a light touch with his characters, making them believable and serious without becoming overly ponderous or melodramatic.  He employs the standard epic fantasy tropes of action, sorcery, and romance to great effect in this exciting, compelling read."
- Romantic Times BOOKreviews on The Fortress of Glass

From amazon.com:

Now with a new afterword by David Drake!

The inhuman Rulers of the galaxy sent three fleets to learn what had happened to the world located by Captain North and the Survey Team he led. Neither a soul nor a message returned. The fourth time, the Rulers sent a single man: Nils Hansen.

Commissioner Hansen had a mind that saw the shortest path to each task's completion and a ruthless determination to do what the task required. The cost - to himself and whoever happened to be in the way - didn't matter. Hanson's Special Units had kept his planet safe from the most sophisticated and violent criminals in the galaxy. Now Hansen was being sent to penetrate a spacetime enigma which had made gods or demons of the first humans to discover it. He would succeed or die.

Northworld: a place of slashing violence and mystic transformation
Northworld: a place of treachery and dazzling beauty
Northworld: a place of honor, of faith, and of love.

Hansen's iron will and strong arm confront godlike power and godlike cunning while a galaxy trembles for the outcome. And if Hansen dies - he will not die alone!

At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).

Praise for The Northworld Trilogy:

"Down and dirty . . . this one blazes!" —Los Angeles Daily News

"Fast-paced adventure with convincing depth!" —Publishers Weekly

"Good military SF . . . the action is fast and the tension is high!" —Locus

"Northworld is that rare work-a novel that works on more than one level. A stunning tapestry . . . highly recommended!" —The SFRA Newsletter

Vietnam veteran, former lawyer, former bus driver, and now bestselling author, David Drake tells a military story like no other. His readers recognize that he can take them where no one else can, with gut-wrenching description that puts them face-to-face with the enemy, and in the midst of the action right on the battlefield. He helped create the audience for mercenary military science fiction with his best-selling "Hammer's Slammers" books. Drake graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Iowa, majoring in history (with honors) and Latin. His stint at Duke University Law School was interrupted for two years by the U.S. Army, where he served as an enlisted interrogator with the 11th Armored Cavalry in Vietnam and Cambodia. Drake has a wife, a son, and various pets.