Title: Looking Glass
Authors: Max & Ariana Overton
Published in 2003 by Mundania Press
Genre: Paranormal Action/Adventure
ISBN: 1-59426-020-6 (Hardcover @ $22.00)
ISBN: 1-59426-143-1 (Trade Paperback @ $12.00)
Related Books: 1) Glass House, 2) A Glass Darkly
Samantha and James Hay have been searching for their missing daughter Gaia for the past several months. It was during a portal travel gone awry that she disappeared with her Yowie protector Rima, affectionately known to Sam as Cindy. Not knowing where the two ended up Sam and James anxiously await news from a council of special beings housed within the disabled Glass House Mountain complex. It is reported by Dr. Xanatuo, a dolphin and manlike being, that he has managed to locate them 30,000 years in the past. They were sent there because of the incredible power of the Vox Dei Machine that wreaked havoc upon the complex. Sam's sister Andi helped to build the massive instrument of evil and also aided in it's destruction. Sam and James are angry at the elusiveness of the answers to their questions as to Gaia's whereabouts. As they hold their tempers in check they are at once gladdened at the news that they would be able to travel back and retrieve Gaia and Rima. But all of this comes with a price.
It is announced that a team of specialists including James and Sam will be making the journey to the past. As Ernie, an aboriginal medicine man, briefs the team it is then known that Gaia is within an extension of their current reality. Not really the past and therefore an extremely volatile situation that could just collapse at any moment. It is further revealed that the continued existence of all the beings inside the Glass House complex rests on whether or not the alternate reality is allowed to continue. The “others” created the society based on a flaw that was created in the past. To go back and eradicate the mistake will mean they all will just cease to exist. As James and Sam listen in they realize that although Gaia is important to them the fate of the entire world is more so in the eyes of the Society. As everyone learns of the crucial role they are to play Sam and James are let in on a shocking secret that both astounds and makes them angry. The last minute arrival of Narahdarn and Shinara is a mystery. As it unfolds it will leave everyone truly bewildered and terrified as to the tremendous powers that Shinara possesses.
There are many dangers to be found in going back. The Quinkan, Aboriginal embodiments of evil, are believed to be the cause of the mistake made so long ago. Listless shadows without true shape and form they hide within crevices of rocks awaiting their next victims. They prey on the fears and weakness of man thereby controlling them once they are able to be let in. The same shadows that once convinced a group of scientist to build the machine that caused the destruction of Glass House Mountains. There is evidence that these same beings now threaten Gaia and Rima. More than ever Sam and James need to reach their daughter before it is too late. The question arises that once found and the flaw eradicated what becomes of them all and will there be a world to come back to?
Marc and Andi, Sam's sister, are married now and live a life still in wonder of everything they've witnessed at The Glass Mountains. They are at once summoned to meet up with James, Sam, Nathan, Ratana, Ernie and Garagh to once again journey to North Queensland in Australia. Andi knows that her sister needs her once more. After all her help in the building of the Vox Dei is part of the reason Gaia is lost. Having less than pleasant memories of a place where myths and legends are all to true they go despite their fears. Upon arriving the two encounter two people who are in the exact location they were supposed to be in. Tilly and Bertie Simpson are archaeologists who have been studying and finding proof about Neanderthals and their existence. It is while they are preparing to meet up for dinner that Andi and Marc find that the couple has suddenly vanished. There are no clues to their whereabouts and so they await for word from Sam and James.
Arriving back 30,000 years in time is not without it's repercussions. Arriving with “Extra baggage” has caused the team to arrive 12 years later than they expected. To further their troubles, Ernie discovers that Garagh, Their Neanderthal leader, is no longer among them. As leader of the expedition Ernie knows that he must continue on without his good friend or all would be lost for the world's future. Gaia holds the cure for earth and it is with her that life has a chance. All isn't easy for the team as an evil foe they once thought conquered has managed to come along with them. As Ehrich makes his move he immediately comes upon Gaia and takes her from Rima endangering her to the Quinkan enemy that already possess his soul. As the Quinkan battle for possession of Gaia she comes across magnificent powers that she never knew existed within her. As old friends are lost and new ones found the way that was paved so long ago becomes that much clearer. In order for life to prevail, there has to be death. Max and Ariana Overton have once again taken us on a journey of epic and wondrous proportions that has not failed in it's endeavors to draw the readers into a world nearing it‘s end.
The coming together of Man, Yowie, Alien, and beings whose origins are not yet known truly opened my eyes to the grand scale that LOOKING GLASS was written on. The book encompasses all that truly makes us human and what separates us from the animals or what we deign as not equal to us. A mothers love for a child is the key to a world without strife and help comes from those that was least expected. As the identity of the "Others" was finally revealed I realized the depth and magnitude that the Overtons had taken a chance and went to. The end result is a trilogy of such brilliance that one can only benefit and appreciate all that it has to offer. Max and Ariana Overton have Prevailed in the writing of LOOKING GLASS and have ended the trilogy with one powerful blow that will impact the reader long after the last word is read. There were parts that I had to reread in order to really understand the extensive research that went into the making of this commanding conclusion. I recommend LOOKING GLASS to everyone who craves the paranormal and one that is written with strikingly hypnotic imagery. Available as of 2003 and Published by Mundania Press. The book is worth more than any priceless artifacts to be found. To read the trilogy is to embark on a quest in doing our part to preserve the beauty of our world. For that is the only way we will be able to look into the glass, through the glass and beyond the glass to see ourselves as the people we were all meant to be.
Yours in good reading,
Joann Ruffen
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