Rating: 
Summary: The End of a Long Journey
Review: I read all four volumes of the Otherland series back to back, and boy is my mind tired! While I agree that the plot is an endless series of separations, conflicts, and escapes, the author writes so well and is so imaginative that the sometimes-repetitive plotlines didn't bother me too much. The resolutions and explanations at the end were fine and mostly unexpected, and I am neither happy nor unhappy with the way they were presented. The only thing that really annoyed me was Williams' habit of ending many, many scenes with one or a group of characters losing consciousness, or everything fading to black; it was the only badly-handled aspect of the series. Now I have my life back and will bid Otherland a fond goodbye.
Rating: 
Summary: An ending?
Review: I asked myself this over and over as I finished the last pages of this the forth novel in the Otherland series..I enjoyed every bit of this book.. it was wonderfull to finally get answers to the many subplots that plague these books. it was satisfying to finally read !Xabbu and Renie confess there love for eachother.. And it was just awe inspiring to hear those same words go to Sam form someone that she loved. (you are just gonna have to read the book to find out who though).. The only reason though that this book received a four was that the last chapter added what seemed to me like two to three additional plot lines.. Was very confusing as to why they where tossed in there but, I am sure that Tad has his reasons.. Maybe it is so that he can start a whole new series dealing with some of our favorite heroes.
Rating:
Summary: NETFEED/NEWS: Otherland Withdrawl!!
Review: I finished Sea of Silver Light two days ago, and I can't stop thinking about it. After running out to pick up a copy the day the paperback was released, I had been plodding along, enjoying every minute of the adventure. But it wasn't until I had about 400 pages left that I really got down to business and finished it in a day. In short, I absolutely loved this series! The twists and turns in this last book had me gasping right and left, with mutters of, "Of course, that makes sense." Williams really came up with some great explanations for all the questions brought up in the four novels. Although the conclusion was neatly put together, no huge revelations that you might expect occured. Huge plotlines, like saving the children who were put into comas through the network and the birdlike Ava who was such a mystery and even the characters like Gally who seemed so important at the time, ended up really having a small part in the grand scheme of things, which was a little disappointing. What really was the final conflict was between Sellers, the Other, and Dread, with the main characters trying to hold on for dear life. In addition, Williams brings in a subplot near the end that seems to have come out of nowhere. I'm not sure what the purpose of this was - it really has no relevance to the story at all, but it will be interesting to see if Williams uses this as a starting point for another series. I did find the fourth book to have much more of an emotional impact than the others. There were some very touching scenes and times where I was rooting with all my might for a particular character. What was truly wonderful was the thought-provoking themes brought up in the series. What is truly life and what is truly death? Do humans have souls? Is someone still alive if their body is dead but their mind lives on as code within the net? If knowing these people are really dead, how can one have a meaningful relationship with them? What about God and Heaven? I really wished Williams would have gotten more into this. But maybe this is what he wished to provoke - thought and not answers. Because someday his society may mirror ours, and we will have to face these types of issues. Either way, I find I'm having Otherland withdrawl. I was happy to have finished the series, to know the conclusion, yet I'm sad that I'll not be spening more time with Renie, !Xabbu, Sam, Orlando, Sellers, etc. Now I'll have to find another series to get into. Any suggestions?
Rating:
Summary: I should have known
Review: This is an excellent conclusion to a series that was long and interesting. I don't know that I can say that it is one of the best books that I have ever read, but it definitely comes very close.
When I say I should have know, I refer to the revelations that the book makes regarding the Other.
It comes as no surprise to me that there is so much hatred expressed by this being toward Felix Jongleur, after you understand what it is.
To those who 'skimmed over the first sentence in each paragraph' I do not wonder at all that they missed out on so much of the book.
A truly awe inspiring conclusion, and an actual sense of ending are two of the wonderful things about this book.
Rating: 
Summary: One VERY Disappointed Reader
Review: The first novel in this series was great. After that, the series goes downhill v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. This series is WAY too long. And the really frustrating thing is, that while this series is over 4,000 pages long, the last two books are pretty much the same. They go like this: The cast gets thrown into a new world. They have a bunch of problems. The get away. Repeat. Meanwhile, we have to put up with the whole Dread thing, which was also a storyline that wore out its welcome by the middle of the third book. I agree with those reviewers here who express disappointment that Williams just kind of "makes up" an ending. You could never have guessed it. It does not adequately address the intriguing questions raised in the first book. In my opinion, it ruined the whole series. For those of you who are considering reading this series, I would recommend that you not read it. Yes, the first book is fantastic, but once you are hooked, Williams just toys with you and never pays off in the end. I bought all these books in hardback. What a ripoff.
Rating: 
Summary: What a waste of time !
Review: I have loved Tad William's fantasy trilogy which is one of the best I ever read. So when the Otherland series was completed I bought book 1 as a start. Once again I was gripped and book 1 is just excellent. Now, in book 2, the story goes splitting more and more in many different ways. Too many in fact. And progressively, the adventure starts to be cut in so many pieces that you feel like being dragged from one place to another. Moreover, splitting the story again and again breaks the whole atmosphere or suspense which he tries to build up. So I liked half of the book hoping for a more action packed book 3. I started it (book 3) and after half of it discovered that the story was going on and on in the same direction, splitting even more what was already too much. So, unfortunately I must admit I gave up and did not finish it. I decided to read the synopsis in book 4 and go on from there: useless. Just boring, overdetailed, and lost in so many directions you ask yourself "what the hell am I doing here ?". These were the last 200 pages I read of book 4. Sorry for Mr Williams, the idea of the series is great but way too long. 3 books was the maximum. Too many details, too many little parts and finally I completely did not care about what was happening. Too bad. Please come back to fantasy !
Rating:
Summary: This is a wonderfully satisfying read! But be prepared...
Review: I have read and enjoyed the entire book now... That is to say, all four books of this one immense volume. That is why I say to be prepared! The first three books do not have clean 'everything gets resolved' endings. They are simply somewhat random stopping points for this character rich tale. But as you finish the final volume, Mr. Williams brings everything together masterfully, with a suspence that rivals the most twisting of mystery novels. It is also believable sci-fi, without the need for 'galaxy far-away' civilizations and incomprehensible alien technologies to make it work. Otherland is a testament to the sci-fi genre.
Rating:
Summary: Like it or not, it's all tied up
Review: After a couple thousand pages of excellent character development, Williams moves back to the story. The "real world" characters briefly mentioned in the other books share center stage in this last novel. This allows the story to be tied up without resorting to completely unrealistic "virtual" heroics. As much as Williams blurs the lines, he maintains the idea that all of the characters actions have been for the sake of the "real" world. My favorite thing about this book is that it actually has a conclusion. So many novelists these days are content to end the story as soon as the bad guys are defeated without answering the question "now what happens to the hero?". Having spent so much time with these characters, I wanted to see them win much more that I wanted to see the bad guys lose. All in all, Williams has crafted a science-fiction masterpiece: creating magnificantly fleshed out future world and then exploring the many issues raised by that world. The fact that the writing, characters, and story are also excellent is what earns this book five stars.
Rating:
Summary: Long long LONG
Review: Unlike Mr. Williams, I will be brief. The first book was great. He started some really interesting ideas, introduced a lot of interesting characters and kept me reading. Some 4,000 pages later, I have to say that Mr. Williams is a great author who needs a good EDITOR! I am very disappointed with how much time it took to wrap up this tale. For hundreds of pages, I was able to skim by just reading the first sentence in each paragraph and still follow the rambling story. This 4000-page story was at least 1000 pages too long and he just keeps piling on new material. Twist, twist, twist. New book. Repeat. Much like Robert Jordan, I felt that this story started off great but was seriously hurt by its length. I had to force myself to finish. The final book was the worst. It just when on and on and the ending (say 200 pages) introduces completely new plot twists, several of which I thought were rather unrelated to the rest of the 4000 page tale and could have been the premise for their own books. Tad Williams is a great writer. But if you are looking for a good story to read, forget about the Otherland and read Memory, Thorn and Sorrow. Three long books but a much tighter and complete tale.
Rating: 
Summary: Less than satisfying end to the series
Review: After finishing this book, I was left feeling very unsatisfied. Before, we felt that the characters were being led to a major point, but now we find them aimless again. There is a lot of additional wandering through the network of the Otherland with a lot less focus on its majesty or its wonder. Before, every environment seemed to come to life, a world on its own, but this time I felt as though the worlds were just hastily plowed through, which was strange as there was SO much text. The sacrifice could be seen as necessary if there was greater character development, but none of the characters seemed to change that much. There are perhaps just too many characters by now to have good progression in any of them, though some attemt is made. So we have hundreds of pages of what wasn't exactly filler and not exactly progress in the narrative leaving the reader with the desire to hurry up and just end it. Williams constant delays in revelations are much help either, and in the end these revelations are borderline ridiculous. This story starts out with the idea that we are just in the near future, and as one reviewer stated, it all seems very possible. Even as I read about the idea of copying a brain into the network from the last book I decided it wasn't TOO farfetched. When Dread took over the entire online universe with some kind of psychic power, I was of course a little disappointed. In fact, that is probably why the story took such a sad turn. What was previously a series exploring complex questions on artificial intelligence became a story of stop the monster. I was more interested in the idea that to free the children, the network would have to be shut off, though the online characters seemed to have achieved sentience. Instead, such concerns only become secondary to stopping Dread, a character who should have remained minor. The final revelations, as to what the Other is and how the children in comas were involved are so utterly out there it becomes pathetic. Tad uses paranormal forces to tie up loose ends, when the previous books seemed to suggest that a magnificent but plausible explanation would be given. Worse, the explanations all but contradict assumptions of previous books, specifically where it seems the Grail Brothers weren't responsible for the children going into comas. Yet then why didn't they ever see the correlation and discuss it? Weren't they concerned it could ruin them? The problem is that after reading 4000 pages, one would like to be able to see the final explanations and then look back and see the clues. For the biggest revelations, the clues are theorectically there but only by large stretches of the mind. Finally, Sellars last revelations are almost pointless, having about nothing to do with the other books and as others said, could be a whole new novel, which may be what Williams is planning. Sadly, I think I might have to sit out on any more Otherland adventures. The story overall was interesting, and there was a lot of good writing in this last book, but the conclusions were just too disappointing, and after 4000 pages I thought the reader deserved more.
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