Mountain of Black Glass (1999)

My full review of the series will be on the final book. This one was good, though. I started to get a bit bored of how long it was dragging on for, though. ( )

Kept me on the hook and looking for volume 4 ( )

OTHERLAND

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. ( )

As it says in the title this is volume 3 for the series of 4 books followinf Renie, !Xabbu, Martine and the rest of thr groups through Otherland trying to find what is happening to the children and why the comas are all occuring.

This third addition sees them travel to Troy and meet up with Paul Jonas (who Sellars told them originally was key to the whole mystery). As well as this with the death in the previous book of Long William by Dread we also find out the history of the others in this group. They are all though fighting for the same thing to bring back loved ones from the internet induced comas.

As well as the ongoing story in VR you pick up the story in Real Life as well. Cristabel is found out by her family that she is in contact with Mr. Sellars and this leads to her family leaviing the base and their lives. As well as this the real life of Dread starts to come to life with the Police starting to think he did not die and may be behind a series of murders where the video cameras suddenly turn off.

Though for Dread he has other tasks to look after - becoming a god, killing his boss and chasing down Renie and the group. And taking over Otherland!

One more book to go.....I can't wait to get started on it. ( )