A step in the right direction, liked this a lot more than the second book. I'm sort of both relieved to finish and interested in what's going to happen next, but will be taking a break before the last book. These books are still too long, but I enjoyed a good majority of this one. Some good plot progression, but there's just a lot of threads going on at once which can get tiring.

Even though it took me a lot longer to read this one, I think I liked it better than the second volume, chiefly because stuff happened. Through the middle of the book, the narrative remained plodding, the development of each random simworld being front and center of this story, but the end was exciting and the different pieces of the story began to fit together. Paul Jonas finally hooked up with Renie and !Xabbu, et al., who were reunited with Orlando and Fredericks, and we know a little bit mor...

Whew! Williams had worn me down with so many words. # 3 moves faster and gives more character info, which is much needed if you've gotten this far.

The journey through this incredible world continues. Lots of things are starting to make sense now, some questions are answered, although a lot of others remained to be discovered yet. The tension builds up step by step, until the book becomes unputdownable. On to the last part.

Excellent third installment! The second lingered in the virtual world and various simulations a little too much, without moving the plot forward much. This one started out that way but quickly regained balance. This book channeled the story into part crime-novel, part fantasy, part mythology, part history, part science/technology. I loved it! All of the characters gained some depth, and I was hooked on the story and outcomes. Already started the last book. I love that each book fairly seamlessly...

Well this book was really, really good again! I think we can solidly say that Tad Williams is now a very firm favourite author of mine. I did feel that although I really love the different worlds within Otherland and seeing our team exploring them, this one actually didn't give us that many answers in terms of the overall plot direction until right at the end. I do think some of it could possibly have been cut to make it more exciting, but otherwise this is just more of the same super world from...

Slow progress, it took me about a month, as it's a very big book. But I enjoyed this installment which doesn't have too much going on, but it's a great buildup to the final part. Guess I'll be getting started right away! I'm curious to know how it all ends.

This is my favorite of the Otherland volumes so far. There's less hesitance in the story telling, and now that all the characters have been (finally) introduced and set in motion, this volume moves forward at a much better pace than the last two. Also, there was an added sense of connection to this piece of the story for me because of so many references I recognize from Homer's classics.

Well, the first half of this was really a continuation of the 2nd volume, with nothing happening other than a description of inconsequential adventures in a new scenario.In the latter part, it took off and in many ways, the main story came to a conclusion. It was good to have meaningful stuff happening again.And I am pleased to say Mr Williams confounded my expectations and did not kill Sam / Patroclus, so for that, I'll be reading the next one.

Ahhhhhh....the deep sigh that comes from plugging away at a series because you hope it will pay off. The pages start to weigh several pounds each and the effort required to keep turning them becomes a force of will.

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...

What if the Matrix isn´t run by evil machines, but by the corpocracy? This business model with certainly be a hard nut to crack for the public relation, corporate responsibility, and code of conduct departments, but maybe they could let it more seem like a great opportunity for everyone from kids to grandparents to have loads of immersive, forever fun. The options, by switching between a corpocracy controlled, neoliberal nightmare world, and the fantastic VR, open so many plot possibilities that...

Fantastic!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

While book three rated the same stars as book two in the series, it is worlds better to read. And the reason for that is there are fewer worlds. Rather than just throwing as much of his imagination at us as he can, in this book Mr. Williams actually only presents a few worlds, and time is left for some really decent character development and for plot formation. It was really refreshing to have "story" once again become part of the, well, story...Three minor notations:*dispersed character and plo...

Oh man, everything is heating up. I feel really sad that, before I restarted this series, I had absolutely no memories of T4b, Martine, Florimel, Sweet William, or Quan Li. There is so much in this series. I continue to love the intricate worlds and wide range of strong characters. And though I remember a few main shreds of the ending, I am still impatient to get there. Especially with those cliff-hangers!(view spoiler)[I did remember that they ended up in the Odyssey, though I didn't remember t...

Executive Summary: Things are really picking up in the 3rd of this 4 volume doorstopper.Audio book: Another excellent job by George Newbern. With books as long as these, it's important to have a good narrator, and thankfully they've made a good choice. Clear, good volume, good inflections and a variety of voices making the audio a good choice. Full Review Both the previous two books in this series suffer from slower parts, and this one was no different. However, I found this one to have the fe...

Audiobook from Penguin AudioNarrated by George NewbernLength: 27.25 hoursThe sequel to City of Golden Shadow and River of Blue Fire, this is the third installment (of 4) in the Otherland series. As with River of Blue Fire, Mountain of Black Glass picks up where the last one left off. Where I rated River of Blue Fire 3 stars (it was a solid "middle book" in a series), this one gets 4 because of the time spent in Greek mythology, something I've always loved. As a "middle book" in a series, it's ha...

I have no problem with multivolume doorstop epics; however Williams doesn't know where he's going and it shows. Characters stumble aimlessly through worlds, Williams kills off the metaphysical side of the story, and substitutes imagery for substance.

This one was a pretty good installment of the Otherland series. There were no more numerous random simulations that plagued the second book so much and the plot seem to strengthen somewhat. It was a bit long winded in the last 100 pages or so but still enjoyable. Though it probably brought it down from 5 to 4 stars for me. This was a thoroughly entertaining read. I'm looking forward to the next one.