Sea of Silver Light

I had not read a sci-fi/fantasy book in a long time, and the first book in the Otherland series by Tad Williams was an impulse buy for me. I quickly became enthralled with the story, and let the author's imagination sweep me along. With most books I find myself impatient for the author to "just get on with it". With the Otherland series, there are beginnings and endings happening all the time, and dramatic tension is tightened and relieved over and over again. While books 2 and 3 had some storylines that didn't move the main story forward very much, those detours were just so darn imaginative that I didn't mind at all.Having waited over a year for Sea Of Silver Light to be published, I wondered whether I would find it easy to become immersed in the story again. Not to worry - it quickly seemed like the climax from book 3 happened only yesterday, and off we went.Considering how many subplots the author had been juggling, perhaps the most amazing thing is that he brought virtually all of them in for a plausible landing. Of course, "plausable" in Otherland requires the reader to not look very critically at the science of the thing, but, if you aren't able to go with the flow in that regard, you probably would have hopped off the ride back in book 1.All in all, this is a series that I highly recommend. There is just something extra special about the writing, and I bet every reader would have a slightly different take on just what it is that makes it work so well.

The Otherland series really amounts to about a 4,000 page novel and with Sea of Silver Light we out with a BANG! SoSL is a very satisfying and well written denouement. This is by far the best book of the series, as it should be given that it's the concluding volume. SoSL is especially rewarding because we continue to learn more about all the characters' character. Williams has done an especially good job of fully exploring the motivations and personalities of all the major players and a few minor ones as well. And despite the over 900 pages of text, the story moves along at a brisk pace as it builds toward the reader's understanding of the /big picture/ which is the background of the novel. It does not suffer from long, meandering, somewhat meaningless wandering around in the plot as some of the previous volumes did (especially River of Blue Fire). In previous volumes Williams got a bit carried away at times with playing around in the little virtual worlds he creates. Here the writing is, for the most part, much tighter and engaging.If you haven't read the previous novels DO NOT START here. The series is definitely worth wading through and much of the depth of SoSL relies on the groundwork laid before. And if you get through River of Blue Fire and feel disappointed -- don't stop! It's the weakest of the four books and suffers from the "middle book in a series." It also is the book that could have lost about 300 pages with no damage to the plot.

I had a terrific time reading SOSL, the last book in Tad Williams' "Otherland" fantasy epic! The last 100 pages of the third book -- Mountain of Black Glass -- were gripping and powerful, and I spent the last eighteen months waiting anxiously for the arrival of this book. When I started reading three weeks ago, I had my doubts on whether Williams could really come through with a conclusion that this series deserved, but he completely delivered on all levels.The most telling sign of how much I liked this final book was the number of chapters in the last 250 pages for which I found myself stunned and surprised by new developments or sudden revelations. I also found myself smiling at the end of the 922-page epic, knowing that I'd read something that I would remember for a long time and recommend strongly to friends and family.I agree with most of the other reviewers -- I was a little sad that I had finally reached the end because I wanted to know more about these characters and what will happen to them next. I also look forward to waiting a few years and then rereading this series from start to finish again. Those are the marks of a great writer and a great series.I'll stop right here because I don't want to accidentally spoil anything. Just get yourself a copy of "City of Golden Shadow," the first book in the series, and belt yourself in for a long, great ride. You'll love it!

A lot of times, you'll come to the end of a series, and you'll be let down. It's almost inevitable; series like Williams' "Otherland", are so detailed, and involve so many characters, any satisfying resolution seems to exceed the author's grasp. Not so in this case. "Sea of Silver Light", wraps everything up nicely, but not hurriedly, and not without enough twists to keep you guessing right up until the end. In my case, a few of my pet hunches panned out, but many others were way off the mark, and in most instances, I didn't even hazard a guess. That's the beauty of this series, since Williams' operates outside of the world as we know it, the only constraint is his imagination, which is top notch. I would go on, but the risk of spoliers is just to great. Furthermore, his writing has just gotten better and better as the series has progressed. His character development is light-years beyond where it was at the beginning of the series, let alone his earlier works; and it was pretty good then. For those of you who have stumbled across this book, find "Otherland: City of Golden Shadow" and order it now! The whole series is predicated on a virtual reality network so realistic that it is seemless with the real world, to the point where if you die on the network, you die in real life. As you might guess, this network contains a near infinite number of "worlds", each populated by a host of bizarre, fun, frightening characters. Furthermore, William's pays tribute to many of his own literary influences by borrowing from Tolkien, Wells and Burroughs, to name a few. At the same time, he carries on a subtle debate about what "life" really is. Not only is this a well written, original adventure, but it's also a serious consideration of where technology is taking us as a species. Jake Mohlman

The conclusion to Tad William's _Otherland_ saga, _Sea of Silver Light_, is a massive, sprawling, complex, sometimes confusing, but ultimately satisfying journey. The plot turn that closed Volume 3, _Mountain of Black Glass_, has left Our Heroes divided once again, and with some peculiar choices in travelling companions.Though their separations, combinations, and ultimate reunion do drag on, there is little of the aimless feel that plagued the previous two books, especially the second, _River of Blue Fire_. There is definitely momentum here, and the momentum picks up as the companions come closer to the dark heart of the entity known as the Other. The various plot threads finally rush together in a thrilling and well-plotted conclusion that resolves the mysteries of Paul Jonas, Ava, the man Sellars, and the nature of the Other itself. The ending does get a bit warm and fuzzy; after the apocalyptic tone of most of the book, it seems a bit disconcerting for so many things to turn out so well, but as I said before, the book and series make a satisfying whole.The ultimate fate of Renie, !Xabbu, and their friends, as well as when and whether the nefarious Jongleur and his monstrous servant Dread get their well-deserved comeuppance, is certainly worth reading for, and the descriptions of some the virtual worlds through which they trek to reach that fate are, as in the previous books, breathtaking.