Mountain of Black Glass – Tad Williams

Category: Fantasy

Once again I would strongly advise reading the ‘previously’ section at the start to refresh your mind about the events in City of Golden Shadow and River of Blue Fire.

Paul Jonas is now Odysseus in a simworld based on the Iliad. Receiving a message to make for the walls of Troy he sets out on his journey.

Orlando and Fredericks find themselves in Anubis’s Egypt. On the way to the capital they have a vision and receive the same message although neither of them is sure what it means.

Renie, !Xabbu and the others are stuck in an unfinished simworld. The lighter device has been stolen and there seems to be no way out.

This is the third book in the series. It follows the travels of all the parties trapped in the simworlds as they make their respective ways through searching for a way into the correct simulation for Troy.

Outside, Sellars manages to finally make his escape from the military base. The detectives searching for the killer in the Merapauni case discover more information about the person known as John Dread. John himself continues to hunt the people trapped in the simworlds, and the members of the Grail Brotherhood prepare for The Ceremony.

Many questions are answered, but many more are raised in this book. Gradually tantalising snippets of information are parcelled out to the reader. Just enough to keep you interested while at the same time not providing quite enough to allow you to figure out just what is going on.

With a very dramatic ending you will find you have to read the last book in the series just to find out what it’s really all about.

Rating: 6/10

The Otherland Series:
1. City of Golden Shadow
2. River of Blue Fire
3. Mountain of Black Glass
4. Sea of Silver Light