Sea of Silver Light

Everything falls apart at the close of Mountain of Black Glass (Otherland #3), and now the unlikely heroes of the Otherland system are scattered far and wide in the heart of the dying operating system and beyond. Renie, !Xabbu, and Fredericks are stuck with unlikely allies in the evil Felix Jongleur and the brain damaged Ricardo Klement. But even this tenuous partnership is shattered when the virtual world shatters, and Renie finds herself stranded in an amorphous landscape with the doddering Klement her only companion.

Martine, Paul Jonas, T4b, and Florimel find themselves back in the already terrifying bug world, made even worse with horrifically human-bug mutations on the loose, mutations whose sole desire is to rip them limb from limb. Not even the benevolent Kunohara seems to be able to hold off the writhing masses for long.

In the real world, things are becoming truly scary for little Christabel. Her daddy learns of Mr. Sellers and now the entire family, plus Sellers, the boy Cho Cho and the lawyer Catur Ramsey, end up on the run together. But they can’t run forever…

Meanwhile Dulcie Anwin awakens from her fledgling crush on Johnny Dread into growing unease and fear, even as he begins to show her the romantic attention she has long desired. Dread himself revels in both the virtual destruction of the Otherland realms and the terrorization of the Other itself, the effects of which are felt keenly by those still trapped within the system.

Finally, Long Joseph, Jeremiah, and Del Rey find themselves under siege, the military stronghold under the mountain no longer the sanctuary they’d thought it to be. It’s only a matter of time before Dread’s mercenaries break through the base’s defenses, and all the three have to defend themselves are a single gun with three bullets and none among them skilled enough to make them count.

This is perhaps the most edgy installment of the Otherland series. Everything seems to be falling apart and danger stalks the heroes and the villains at every turn. No one is safe, and still the children lie comatose in their hospital beds. Will the destruction of the Otherland network spell their doom?

I love this book and the series that spawned it. You’ll find no plot holes in this series, everything, even those things that seemed insignificant in the other books, finds a purpose in Otherland #4. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves sci fi and has the time and patience to tackle such a massive work.

Great ending to a great series.

Tad William’s characterization was solid from start to finish. He wrapped up all the important mysteries in this book, and he didn’t rush anything, which is why I suspect this final book is over 900 pages.

I was amazed at how Mr. Williams can not only create a huge cast of characters, but also make them realistically believable. Not only that, he does a good job of alternating between different characters in different scenarios yet keeping the story as a whole connected.

Otherland as a whole is a brilliant mix of science fiction and fantasy. From the beginning, you can see the Tolkien influences in the quest, but you can also see a lot of cyberpunk influence. Tad mixes genres in a smooth way.

The story telling is great. Tad knows how to make a story interesting throughout the entire book. He uses many cliffhangers at the end of chapters, and creates many secrets and revelations, making you want to read more and uncover information. I highly recommend this book, start to finish. One of the best collection of books I’ve ever read.

A lot of times, you’ll come to the end of a series, and you’ll be let down. It’s almost inevitable; series like Williams’ “Otherland”, are so detailed, and involve so many characters, any satisfying resolution seems to exceed the author’s grasp. Not so in this case.

“Sea of Silver Light”, wraps everything up nicely, but not hurriedly, and not without enough twists to keep you guessing right up until the end. In my case, a few of my pet hunches panned out, but many others were way off the mark, and in most instances, I didn’t even hazard a guess. That’s the beauty of this series, since Williams’ operates outside of the world as we know it, the only constraint is his imagination, which is top notch. I would go on, but the risk of spoliers is just to great.

Furthermore, his writing has just gotten better and better as the series has progressed. His character development is light-years beyond where it was at the beginning of the series, let alone his earlier works; and it was pretty good then.

For those of you who have stumbled across this book, find “Otherland: City of Golden Shadow” and order it now! The whole series is predicated on a virtual reality network so realistic that it is seemless with the real world, to the point where if you die on the network, you die in real life. As you might guess, this network contains a near infinite number of “worlds”, each populated by a host of bizarre, fun, frightening characters. Furthermore, William’s pays tribute to many of his own literary influences by borrowing from Tolkien, Wells and Burroughs, to name a few.

At the same time, he carries on a subtle debate about what “life” really is. Not only is this a well written, original adventure, but it’s also a serious consideration of where technology is taking us as a species.

Jake Mohlman

Excellent finale to the finest work I have ever read. Be prepared for the three thousand pages of this amazing adventure of the complete four-volume series. Every word is well chosen. The description of the virtual worlds is as topical now as when it was first written. Marvelous character development. Artful description of the fantastic landscapes of Other land. Take the time to read this series and enjoy every word. I can’t say enough about Tad William’s masterpiece except that you have to read it!

This was a typical Tad Williams’ series, which is generally good. The final book wrapped up the adventures of the characters quite well. Not everything ended the way i had hoped, but the endings were satisfactory. i didn’t try to understand all the technical details, and this did not detract from the series. If you like Williams’ books, you will enjoy this series as well.

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