Rating: 
Summary: Too Dense Tad
Review: Reading this series requires intellectual stamina due to the complex plot and disorientation associated with the intertwining of reality and virtual reality. I'm hooked but frustrated - in my opinion it takes the author too long to get to the good parts where there is some serious action.
Rating: 
Summary: Otherland keeps Rolling
Review: The promises Williams laid out in the earlier volumes begin to cumulate in the third and second to last installment of the mammoth Otherland 'novel.'The beginning part of the novel stars off a little slowly, which is good I guess, to help get the readers re-familiarized with the characters. Once that is out of the way though, about 1/4 of the way into it, the plot lines begin to come together and the story really shifts into overdrive. There are a good deal of surprises that come about as this volume closes that were hinted at in the earlier volumes. Williams does a good job of summarizing the first two volumes in the front matter before he we get into this volume. It is helpful, since there has been over a year since the last volume was published. Renie, !Xabbu and the rest of their group are still stuck in the massive House simulation, Orlando's life signs continue to weaken as he progresses through different simulations in his attempt, along with the gender confused Fredericks, to reunite with Renie's group, which he was seperated from in the 'River of Blue Fire' Paul Jonas' character and his past continues to come to the light, as the reader discovers his identity at the same time Jonas does. Jonas joins up with the mysterious Azador who was part of Renie's group as the companion of Emily. The mysterious angel who has helped to guide him through the simulations to "Priam's Walls" has her true identity revealed. Paul wanders through different simulations until he finally arrives in the Troy simulation from Homer's Odysey Outside in the 'real' world, we learn more of Felix Jongulear and his Grail Brotherhood, just how powerful they really are. The assassin Dread is further explored and roots of his early life are discovered. As this volume draws to a close, the question of Otherland attaining Self Awareness is opened up and the path for the final volume is clearly set and looks very promising. Williams very cleverly interweaves many different myths, and traditional stories into the futuristic evironment of the Otherland VR world. I particularly enjoy the 'tribes' of the House simulation, Sisters of the Linen, etc. This is not a book that you can really get into unless you have read the earlier volumes. Newcomers tread hesitantly. If you have read the earlier volumes this obviously is a must. If you enjoyed Williams' "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" series give this a try.
Rating:
Summary: Enough Already
Review: The series is good so far, but not great. The third book seems to be a rehash of the second, just in different settings. Every hundred pages or so the story progresses and something new is learned, but for the most part people are running around in virtual worlds not doing too much. I've read the three books one after the other. By the mid point of the third, I was losing interest. However, I will finish the series because I really like it, but I don't think it needed to be dragged out to four huge volumes. Good story, good characters, too much filler. Once I started reading it, I wanted to finish it, but it doesn't keep me up late at night.
Rating:
Summary: Good but Looonnngggg....
Review: Let me start by saying that Tad Williams can flat out write. His descriptions are amazing. I feel like I know these characters inside and out. He has successfully blended a number of genres with his use of the real world and a number of virtual worlds. However, its time to wrap this thing up! At about page 500 of Mountain of Black Glass I realized that this ride (however enjoyable) is nowhere near over. I'm going to read just one more in this incredible series. Just one more...
Rating: 
Summary: SHADES OF RIM!
Review: The plot of this story sounds suspiciously like it's been lifted from an earlier novel, Rim: A Novel of Virtual Reality (HarperPrism, '94) by Alexander Besher. In Williams' 1999 tome, the "Grail Brotherhood" is responsible for a sinister malady that causes hundreds of children who go online to fall into a coma. In Besher's Rim, which was nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award in '94, a mysterious group named the "Satori Corporation" is responsible for a sinister malady that causes hundreds of children who go online to fall into a coma. Williams' book features Egyptian Book of the Dead-type gods running around, Besher's book wraps its theme around the Tibetan gods from the Tibetan Book of Dead. Other similarities abound, including descriptions of the children in their hospital wards etc. Too close for comfort, as far as I'm concerned. Check it out--and decide for yourselves, readers!
Rating: 
Summary: A dream within a dream...
Review: I would have to say that the Otherland series has given some very powerful insights to a future that is nearer than we think. A future where one can dream of something, and make it real in an instant. The future of Virtual Reality. This series not only brings up the possibilities of this new future, but also brings up the ethical questions that are brought up. The idea of being a god in pretty much every essence will become possible, and this probably will cause reverberations that will still be echoing hundreds of years from now. Otherland: Mountain of Black Glass is a key continuation of a very powerful series. As the author said this book is just part of a larger book, that would be almost impossible to pubish as itself. The description in this book almost seems vital to its unique energy that keeps me hooked. It makes it much more real, than otherwise. Also, the house was a very interesting idea. A world that is a house. Sort of interesting when one realizes that all a house is, is a haven from the outside reality... what if the outside reality is the house?
Rating:
Summary: Scanned me out
Review: 'City of Golden Shadow' had promise, but after the second bookI was really hooked. 'Mountain of Black Glass is a worthy third equivalent to a roller coaster ride. Yet balancing that is stunning imagery and moments of pain as real and deep as anything experienced in RL. Tad Williams` imagination seems to have no limits, and with this idea it has been granted freedom to create a masterpiece. That is not to say that the book does not have flaws. While I enjoyed this book as much as the second, and it had some elements the second book lacked--some answers, and a growing clarity--I do think it was less perfect in its entirety than 'River of Blue Fire.' I think priorities have to made in the character development. A lot of attention is paid to T4b and Florimel, but it`s obvious that !Xabbu is a more important character. So why does he get less attention? I feel that I`m supposed to care deeply about him, but that`s hard when we barely hear from him--except to tell the occasional story or bit of wisdom. I will willingly take whatever Tad Williams wants to teach us about the Bushman culture, but only if he combines it with some individual elements. But overall, I`m amazed. I was really beginning to think that there is no such thing nowadays as a truly great fantasy writer--sooner or later they all sell out. It`s a pleasure to be reading books by someone who seems to have no such intention.
Rating:
Summary: This series just keeps getting better & better....
Review: I first became a fan of Tad Williams with "Tailchaser's Song", and then found the "Memory Sorrow & Thorn" trilogy (quartet if you bought it in paperback). He was a good writer even then, but somehow I always felt there was something missing. With the "Otherland" series, Williams has definitely come into his own, and each book in this series has been better than the last. The major weakness so far has been the character of Dread/Johnny Wulguru, who quite frankly isn't as scary as Williams wants us to think he is - the members of the Grail Brotherhood are much more frightening. But the description of the ersatz Trojan War is definitely unsettling, to say the least, and the climax of this book is incredible. I can't wait for the fourth and final volume in this series. I want to know the results of Calliope Skouros' investigation, and the ultimate role of Olga Pirofsky in this little drama - and, of course, the fate of Renie, Paul Jonas, Orlando Gardiner, and all the others stuck in the virtual reality that is Otherland.
Rating:
Summary: End it already
Review: I'm only halfway through this volume but I have to write since I've had one thought running through my mind for the last 300 pages -- no, make that 500 pages since the feeling started in book 2: this is just a vehicle for Tad to indulge himself. The central storyline is great, don't get me wrong, and it's the reason I'm still willing to slog through hundreds of pages of those wild, wacky adventures that do nothing to advance the plot and to endure "exposition" of the most meaningless sort. Do we really need to know about the childhood of someone who could charitably be called the twentieth-most important character in the book (Dulcie)? Do we really need yet another different world, the story of which reads like any other fantasy novel you could find on the shelf? Does Paul Jonas need to endure every single trial of the Odyssey? I hate to say it, but simply adding a one-off sentence at the end of a given chapter where (take your pick) a> the bird lady shows up, b> the Twins show up, c> the Other does something enigmatically sinister or d> yet another of those weeeeeird Otherland phenomena somehow manifests itself doesn't mean that that chapter moved the plotline ahead. I'll say it again -- the overarching plot is quite interesting and I love the concept. But the more I read this, the more I'm finding that each chapter is likely to be essentially a self-contained and not particularly rewarding short story. I _never_ speedread or skim, but I'm starting to because pages pass where _nothing_ important, interesting or particularly novel happens. Stick to the main plot, Tad, or at least keep the tangents worthwhile. I'll stick the series out but my enthusiasm is waning. If you're looking for bloated epics, Jordan's are better-written and more interesting. This is fun, sure, but you can only meander so much before it hurts the quality of the work. I _am_ still curious to see how it ends.
Rating:
Summary: I love it...
Review: Williams is one of, if not the best sci/fi fantasy author out there. Although the second book was quickly becoming "One Hundred and One Totally Unlelated Adventures", this book moves the story back on track. I love reading these books and will continue to do so.
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