A review by erikars
Mountain of Black Glass by Tad Williams

This is the third book in the massive story that is Otherland. This was my favorite of the three books. Unlike the first two books, this book had a plot that felt like it was going somewhere and then got there. However, it was still frustrating at times. It is amusing but true that the longer a book is, the more frustrating it is when the author goes off on useless tangents. I enjoy the contemplations on reality within a realistic network and on how alive the simulated people can be considered to be, but I really do not need to have Williams go on about it for pages and pages each time the characters enter a new world. I also dislike the number of plotlines the author has going. I am sure they will all weave together in the end, but 3000 pages is a long time to wait for all these diverse threads to come together. At least, in this book they start coming together. Despite all this, Williams does an excellent job of painting his worlds, and I look forward to the reading the last book.