Mountain of Black Glass

Mountain of Black Glass is the third of Tad Williams’ four Otherland books, but it is definitely not least. Paul Jonas finds himself in the role of Odysseus, confronting yet another incarnation of the winged woman who haunts his dreams. His ultimate goal, given to him by the bird woman, is to find Troy, but soon he is thrown into a nightmare as he is forced to live through the tribulations of his famous character in reverse order.

Meanwhile, Rennie, Martine, !Xabbu, Florimel, T4b, and Emily 22813 (from the Oz simworld) find themselves in a building. Not just any building, but one that stretches to infinity. Yet, like in the other worlds, they find and are able to follow the river. On the long trek through balconies, hallways and cavernous ballrooms, Florimel, Martine and T4b finally reveal their histories and motivations for responding to Sellers’ call to Otherland. And then, disaster strikes.

Long Joseph, Rennie’s dad, and Jeremiah are still monitoring Rennie and !Xabbu in the abandoned military facility, but their stories diverge when Joseph, tired of waiting, escapes on a foolhardy quest to see his son and maybe find something to drink. Of course, he makes things worse, adding to the danger when the organization who murdered the woman who was Rennie’s friend and Jeremiah’s employer takes note of and begins to follow him. Meanwhile, Jeremiah, left alone finds the silence, and perhaps his sanity, shattered when the unthinkable happens: the phone rings.

My favorite duo, the ailing Orlando and his pal Fredericks now travel through ancient Egypt, where Osiris (a.k.a. Felix Jongluer, leader of the Grail Brotherhood) reigns. Soon, they find themselves irresistibly drawn to a strange temple. But the mysterious winged woman (who they remember as the sleeping woman from the freezer) had released The Wicked Tribe into their care, and these flying monkey children have a plan that just might help Orlando and Fredericks survive their encounter with the looming structure.

The villains don’t stand idly by while the heroes make their way through the simulation. Dread plans his revenge against his former comrades, attempting to unlock the power of the golden lighter. Jongleur makes deals with key members of the Grail Brotherhood as the final preparations for the immortality ceremony are put in place. Dulcie, one time co-inhabitor of the sim who spied on Seller’s heroes, finds herself equally drawn to and frightened by her charming employer, Dread. And the forces put in play to keep Rennie and her friends from investigating the Otherland network and Grail Brotherhood and closing in on her physical location. And, of course, there is the ever present threat of The Twins, the nasty duo that haunts nearly every simworld.

The tension and worry for the wayward heroes mount ever greater as the story progresses. The villains are heartless and clever, unrelenting in their personal and combined quests. The rich simworlds include both the familiar and the legendary, and those with a familiarity with the Iliad will find they cannot help to wonder just how closely the tragic tale will affect those caught up in its story.

I love this third installment in Tad Williams’ Otherland series and would highly recommend it to people who enjoy epic sci-fi novels and who don’t mind a story that takes its time. Those who have made it this far into the series will find that this is perhaps the best one so far.

This is an intense book, one in a series of four. I would recommend buying all four and reading them in sequence because it is really one story about a group of people in a very advanced virtual world. They see, hear and taste, it is no different than what we call the real world.
Except, that there is not just one world, but seven, each one unique and they can move from one world to another, and must adapt to the rules of each.
The books are long because the author explores the lives of each character, where they are and why they are.

This is the volume of the story when secrets finally start unraveling. We learn about Pauls backstory, dig deeper into the machinations of the Grail Brotherhood, and find out just how far Dread is willing to push the boundaries for power. The storyline in the House was the highlight for me – the sprawling, cryptic, Gormenghast-like complexity of the world was fascinating, and the slow-burn narrative, while frustrating for some I guess, is for me justified ten times over by the quality of the story being told. Still totally into it, on to book 4.

The first book in the series was a little slow because the characters had to be introduced. Now we know the characters, know who we like, and know who we hope don’t see the final page–and we know some of our heroes won’t make it there. Tad Williams does a great job of storytelling, and this series is very good.

I actually liked this one better than the first two because of the increased rate of plot development. Everything start happening really fast toward the end and all the side plots are starting to come together. Some of the questions left by the first two books are finally answered in this one (although this one also presents some new puzzles). And of course Williams intorduces a couple of really intriguing new VR nodes (the endless house and the land of Troy).

There is a heavy sense of desperation for the characters in this third book that wasn’t there in the first two. You can really see the increase in the action and a sense of urgency as each of the side plots are approaching their climaxes. The next book promises to be exciting and to be full of unanswered questions.

I highly reccommend this entire series.

Galaxyaudiobook Member Benefit

- Able to comment

- List watched audiobooks

- List favorite audiobooks

- Bookmark will only available for Galaxyaudiobook member