A Dragon of Black Glass is the third book in the Moonfall series by James Rollins. It picks up a few months after the events of the second book as Nyx and her group prepare for another expedition only this time they are traveling to the scorched side of Urth. Accompanied by Daal and a few other Pantheans with some Rashke they head around Hálendii through some neighboring countries. However they manage to acquire the attention of some nobles who are after a member of Darant’s crew so they must also dodge assassins. Luckily they manage to meet the local people who live in the desert and acquire a guide from among them named Esme. Meanwhile, Kanthe and his allies work on trying to find a way to infiltrate the Shriven keep and the iflelen in order to find a way to potentially stop Khygor from destroying the control mechanism of the turubya. The hard part is finding a way to do it without getting caught in the process or revealing their hand. Something that is easier said than done. Especially when they have to get past Wryth who spends all of his time with Khygor.
This book was as great as the previous books in the series. I found myself even further enthralled with the ongoing attempts to save the Urth from moonfall even as I found myself disturbed by their opponents. The separate but interconnected stories of Nyx and Kanthe are seriously engrossing and I find myself just as fascinated by the other characters. There is one thing that has appeared that I am not necessarily a fan of. I actually really like the new characters and cultures that get introduced as they travel around but I don’t necessarily like how that pushes other characters to the back in the process. Rhaif and Wraylin were both much more prominent in the first book and marginally more prominent in the second book. For this book Rhaif feels almost like a background character and we hardly ever get to see his perspective which is rather disappointing to me as I greatly enjoyed that before. The balance between the four characters has shifted to balance predominantly between just the two and again this isn’t bad, I just enjoyed it the way it was before as well. In terms of characters and their development you actually do get to see a lot of changes for them in this book. Honestly, I think Wryth and Mikaen probably show the most change which probably sounds weird considering they are technically the bad guys but I really do think they change the most even if not in a good way. The plot is just as well developed and the pacing does an awesome job of supporting its gradual development. What is interesting is how certain elements parallel the events of the previous book though I am not going to reveal exactly what they are. Let’s just say I was not overly surprised to meet Esme and her crab. It ended up still being a great read and I am happy giving it 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Much like the rest of the series this is a fantasy novel and would appeal the most to readers who already enjoy that genre. In some ways this book is slightly more disturbing than the earlier ones so I would recommend being careful as there are some things that may be difficult. It also has some minor references to adult content but nothing overly explicit. I would recommend caution but it could potentially be read by readers as young as sixteen if they are careful. It is a good book though so consider trying it out. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments if you do.