Book
Mountain of black glass
Record details
- ISBN: 9780886778491
- ISBN: 0886778492
-
Physical Description:
print
xxvii, 689 p. ; 24 cm. - Publisher: New York, NY : DAW Books, c1999.
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| Subject: | Otherland (Imaginary place) -- Fiction |
| Genre: | Fantasy fiction. Fantastic Fiction. |
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Available copies
- 0 of 2 copies available at BC Interlibrary Connect.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 2 total copies.
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| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castlegar Public Library | SF WIL (Text) | 35146001129840 | Science Fiction | Volume hold | In transit | - |
| Fernie Heritage Library | FIC WIL (Text) | 35136000221094 | Adult Fiction | Volume hold | Checked out | 2024-05-08 |
- Booklist Reviews : Booklist Monthly Selections - #1 August 1999
The third volume of the massive Otherland saga focuses (insofar as a book this size can be said to focus at all) on the young, ailing Orlando Gardiner and the World War I soldier Paul Jonas. Jonas has another encounter with the winged woman named Vaala, in which she summons him to seek the legendary mountain of black glass, which is said to reach to the stars and hold all the answers he seeks. At the same time Gardiner, enmeshed in the virtual Egypt of Felix Jongleur, wealthy leader of the Grail Brotherhood that created the colossal virtual simulation known as Otherland, is summoned to adopt the persona of a warrior in the Trojan War. He will find his answers "before Priam's Walls," or so he is told. In addition to these two personal quests, readers will learn a good deal more about the Circle, the Brotherhood's opponents, and their increasingly deadly duel in the real world, as well as encounter many of the surviving characters they have come to know from the previous volumes. The sheer breadth of Williams' knowledge and the richness of his imagination make this book, like its predecessors, a complex and slow-paced feast. Otherland still remains the state of the art in integrating virtual reality and folklore into a single comprehensive narrative, and with a fourth volume in the works, one hopes that the mysteries will be resolved and that a number of the characters one has come to either love or loathe will receive their just deserts. ((Reviewed August 1999)) Copyright 2000 Booklist Reviews - Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 1999 August #1
Third chunk of Williams's enormous four-part doorstopper (City of Golden Shadow, 1996; River of Blue Fire, 1998) about the eponymous virtual reality. Otherland was created by the rich, powerful, and ruthless Brotherhood, who have plans to rule the real world too. After various children enter VR, only to become ensnared, assorted good guys a WWI soldier, a teacher, a blind researcher, a mysterious renegade, etc. have hacked into the supposedly impregnable Otherworld in search of the children. But they too end up trapped. Worse, they're being stalked by the Brotherhood's assassin, Dread, not to mention another mysterious entity known as the Other, possibly Otherland's sentient operating system. Williams's synopses are as abstruse and overcomplicated as the yarn itself. So if by this point you have even the vaguest idea of what's happening, why, and who's involved, then keep reading and good luck. Newcomers: try something anything less absurdly overblown, labyrinthine and inconsequential. (Author tour) Copyright 1999 Kirkus Reviews - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 1999 September #2
Trapped in the exotic virtual simulation known as Otherland, Paul Jonas, Orlando Gardner, and Renie Sulaweyo continue their separate explorations into the heart of the reality that surrounds them. As they confront puzzles and obstacles in re-creations of ancient Egypt and Homeric Greece, they come closer to the black glass mountain that may offer them the key to the mysterious Grail Brotherhood that controls the passages to and from Otherland. Synopses of the previous volumes (City of Golden Shadow; River of Blue Fire) of Williams's ambitious epic provide enough information for newcomers to the series, but the entire story is best read in sequence. Filled with complex plot threads, a wide variety of virtual and "real" characters and vivid descriptions of numerous worlds, this series belongs in most sf collections. Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information. - Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 1999 August #5
Epic in scope and size, this near-future cyberspace adventure has likable characters, heinous villains, a plethora of classical references and a slew of powerful action sequences that propel its many-tiered plot forward. Paul Jonas, a mysterious man with no clear memory of his past, is trapped and hunted inside the Grail Project, an artificial intelligence network run by the ultra-wealthy Grail Brotherhood. This third installment of the Otherland series (City of Golden Shadow; River of Blue Fire) reveals that the Project has been designed to provide cyber-immortality to its rich owners: it does this, at least in part, by stealing essential elements from children's psyches and leaving them comatose. Renie Sulaweyo has lost a sibling to the Grail Brotherhood's machinations. While Renie's body is watched over in the real world, her consciousness has been transferred inside the network, where she works with a motley band of reluctant adventurers trying to save the children and themselves. Stalking them is the brilliant psychopath Johnny Dark, who knows secrets about the Project and has his own evil mental twist that can hurt it. While Williams has a rather conventional take on power and prejudice in his "real" world, he lets rip inside the network, working with environments that include Homer's Odyssey, an ancient Egypt where the gods are somewhat less than omnipotent and a gigantic House in which Linen Closet Sisters are kidnapped by boys from Cutlery. As his "real" characters encounter computer-generated simulacrums who express compassion and have their own dreams and desires, the line between reality and fantasy blurs. Though the sheer weight of the series is daunting, Williams fills his pages with the sort of stories and characters that readers of epic fantasy are sure to love. (Sept.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
