In "Mountain of Black Glass," book three in Tad Williams' "Otherland" tetrology, the sci-fi saga continues. An overly simplified summation of a very complicated plot:Children around the world are being lost to unexplained comas, including Renie Sulaweyo's baby brother, Stephen. Researching Stephen's condition leads Renie to the Otherland, a massively complex virtual reality network. Its architects? A secretive group who refer to themselves as the Grail Brotherhood. In an attempt to save Stephen, Renie and her friend, !Xabbu, find a way into this exclusive network. Once there they discover others who are on similar quests. But in an even more nightmarish twist our adventurers soon learn that they are stuck on the network – and although the environments are simulated, the dangers are all too real. Which brings us to book three:Renie, Orlando, Jonas and their companions are still adrift in the seemingly endless simulations that compose the Otherland. The members of this mismatched group, fractured early on in the series, are braving many obstacles as they try to find their lost friends. During the course of their misadventures each are summoned to "Priam's Walls" by a mysterious woman who is somehow part of the system in which they're trapped. In their quest to reunite the group and reach their destination they encounter a re-created Ancient Egypt that is alive with warring gods, an entire world that exists in a giant house, and even Homeric Troy. Will our heroes be strong enough to survive and make a stand against the Brotherhood?My take:I absolutely love complex world building and juicy make believe. Tad Williams gives me all of that and then some. I will admit to being slightly bogged down about halfway through this tome. There are so many characters and plot lines that my brain needed a breather. But once I came back to it I was instantly hooked again. This tetrology is for those who love epic science fiction* and revel in richly detailed narration. If you prefer a short and sweet novella don't touch this series with a 10-foot pole. You've been warned. *Is epic science fiction a genre? If not, it should be.
Der 3. Teil der SCIFI- Trilogie kommt nach dem spannenden Finale im 2. Teil in der Qualität bei weitem nicht an die ersten beiden Teile heran.Erstens weil die Phantasie und Innovationskraft bzgl. der beschriebenen VR-Environments massiv nachläßt. Die Geschichte findet bis auf eine Ausnahme fast nur noch im alten Ägypten und in der Odyssee des Homer statt. Der Plot ist daher sehr absehbar und ohnhin hinlänglich bekannt. Zweitens bekommt die erneut zersplitterte Geschichte durch die getrennten Erzählstränge & Gruppen durch die schnellen und vielen Szenewechsel noch immer nicht mehr Struktur und wird, obwohl man schon alle kennt, sehr unübersichtlich.Erst auf Seite 725 fand ich die erste wirklich geniale Idee, die daraus resultiert, dass die jungen Protagonisten fast gar nichts mehr lesen und dadurch völlig unwissend durch die Illias tappen, ohne zu ahnen, was ihnen durch die Verkörperung einer bestimmten Figur bevorsteht. Im antiken Troja werden die getrennten Gruppen und Erzählstränge auch wieder zusammengeführt, der Plot kommt dadurch so richtig in Schwung und erhält Struktur. Ab diesesm Zeitpunkt geht es Schlag auf Schlag und die Story wird in gewohnter Williams Qualität extrem spannend. Ich hoffe, ich muss diese Qualität nicht im 4. Teil gleich wieder vermissen. 3,5 Sterne für ein Sequel, das irgendwie in der Mitte stecken geblieben ist.
What do You think about Mountain Of Black Glass (2000)?
Volume #3 of the Otherland series, which is not so much four separate books, but one 2800 page book split into four volumes. I read the first two books a few years back, but luckily there is a great synopsis of the two preceding books at the beginning. Overall, I enjoyed reading this as the whole virtual reality storyline is very detailed, varied and well thought out. (It's a typical Tad Williams book.) If you have read through the first two books then you are probably sucked into the story and don't need any incentive to keep going. This book probably deserves 4 stars but there are a few things that made me knock off a star. 1) It's to long without moving the overall story along very far, 2) Not as many interesting virtual worlds as the first two books, although 'The House' was a fantastic construct. 3) Early on there are a lot of characters in different places and there are many separate story elements to keep track of. At least, by the end of this volume, all the main virtual characters do end up together at last. (Plus half a star for that I think). Looking forward to the fourth and final volume of this series. At almost 1,000 pages I hope it's worth while.
—AndrewP
Now that I'm done with this volume, I can look back in awe at how many pages I've turned to get to this point... and yet I can't honestly say it should have taken this long. I can still remember the sequence of the plot so far but the sheer amount of words seems too many for the amount of forward movement in the story. Everything is epic, for sure, but it cooled my enthusiasm that diving into new worlds would again cause a slowdown in the narrative momentum, with new information or revelations sprinkled here and there too far and few between (or vague in meaning, frustrating to reader and character alike) to be exciting. I'm not one to give up easily, though, and am eager to finish the series once and for all. This series is recommended for those with the stamina to make it through long, detailed, yet sometimes frustrating storytelling. Kind of like the television show Lost, which I'm a big fan of even if it does frustrate.
—Andres
Mountain of Black Glass is the next book and continues the adventures of the very disparate gang from the previous book in which we see them start to come closer and closer together as they go through the various virtual world in an attempt to undo what the Grail Brotherhood are attempting to do and to healthy while doing it! :DAs in the previous book the characterisation is really great with all the characters feeling very different throughout!:D As the story progresses straight after the previ
—Christopher
