Rating: 
Summary: Great Book
Review: One of the greatest science-fiction books I have ever read. If you are looking for a book which will bring you into a different world then you have found it. Otherland will make you dream off into a world of virtual reality with vivid and creative characters! Take the next few days off and sit back. Have fun reading this well written book.
Rating:
Summary: Tad Willams is brilliant
Review: I started reading this series form the begginning and was almost instantly hooked. Never have I read a book so expertly put together. Although one may be intimidated by the length or number of story lines, once you enter Willam's world you will never want to leave. Not once did I get lost among the many story lines; each one was distinct and unique in it self, however; they all related to one another. As a budding writer I find Willam's work absoultly brilliant! You find youself thrust into one world after another. From a land of giant bugs to the land of Oz gone bad you are more than just an observer, you are a traveler as well. The characters ranging from a dieing boy to an african pgmy are so well developed you can almost see into their souls. His ability to build such complex characters is the obvous mark of a true genius. I dare anyone out there who may be shaking their head, to pick up these books. I promise you will be totaly amaized by what you find.
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Summary: MoBG: The best of the series
Review: Yikes! When I picked up this book, I was expecting another story like the previous one- drawn out, flat, ending off pretty much where it started at. This book was different. It WENT somewhere. The imagery was vivid enough to make these virtual locations seem real, and the plot was, while not intense, enough to keep my interest up. The real meat of this book, however, was the ending. From the HEAVY amount of action, the well-written drama, the substantial locale, this part kept me reading well into the wee hours of the morning. All in all, a long book, a good read, and an excellent lead into the final book in the series.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book, but not as good as the rest...
Review: Usually, I don't read sci-fi. But I picked up the first book in the series on the recommendation of many people, and loved it. My family loves it - my brother still hasn't given this one back to me yet. However, I cannot say it's the best book in the series. I have to agree with the one gentleman who said it was "drawn out"...it was. There were parts that would actually put me to sleep at night (and since I'm a known insomniac, I guess that could be a good thing). But, in places - and in many places - it was exciting enough to keep me reading to see what happened next. Although - and I reiterate - it was not the best in the series, it hasn't put me off of these books on a whole. I can't wait for the next to come out and see what happens.
Rating: 
Summary: Drawn out and boring, boring, boring
Review: The series began well with the first volume, but as it progressed it became obvious that it was simply a cynical moneymaking exercise by Tad Williams -- why settle for one book when you can draw the story out over numerous volumes and really cash in! I was getting tired of the draw-out storyline by the end of the second book and I really expected and hoped that this volume was going to be the last in the series. And I believe it would have been far better if it was the last book. One aspect of the story that really bored me was that most of the story seemed to be people's thoughts or tedious accounts of the group's discussions and relationships -- who cares -- get on with the story for goodness sake. But it's too late for me. This is the last Tad Williams story I intend to read...
Rating:
Summary: Best book in the series
Review: I have thoroughly enjoyed every book in this series, but "Mountain of Black Glass" really blew me away. The mere fact that Williams' can keep me up into the night after more than 1500 pages speaks volumes about the quality of this series. In particular, the human emotions and frailty we encounter as the characters are pushed to the limits of endurance and sanity are astounding. There are moments in this book that are truly gut-wrenching. The settings continue to amaze; both with Williams' imagination, and with his ability to incorporate familiar places from other literature into his novel. Where this novel really shines is the final 200 pages or so. The reader is catapulted into a maelstrom of intrigue and adventure. Enough story lines are wrapped up to keep the series from bogging down, but enough are left open, or created, to drive the series into its final act. If you are new to the series, make sure you start with "Otherland: City of Golden Shadow". This series is far to expansive to pick up midstream. By way of a one line synopisis: Williams uses virtual reality to combine fantasy and science fiction in a host of fantastic digital worlds. Other than Tolkien, I consider it the best, most original, series in the genre
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Summary: I want some answers!
Review: Renie and the others escape from the Patchwork Land and come into the labyrinthine House, seemingly a universe of itself; Orlando and Fredericks reach Abydos-That-Was, and survive a brush-in with the Gods. Lastly, Paul faces a disappointing setback at Ithaca (Penelope was a dud) and sets sail for Troy. At last, after two thousand pages of character development and dead-end subplots, all of the heroes meet at Priam's Walls and discuss their utter bewilderment. The third volume combines the journeys across Otherland of the second volume and the urgent plot development of the first, to no specific effect. "Mountain of Black Glass", the third volume of the Otherland saga, is the sort of book where the reader realizes that the plot does not move at all. I am in favor of large works, but everything present here could most likely be condensed, along with volume two, into a smaller book. I looked towards the lauded "climax" with great expectations of old secrets revealed and new ones posed. No dice. The Other's true nature, the missing children, Mr. Sellars and Ramsey's quest, Paul's mysterious mission, and Otherland's frightening realism all remain unexplained. What the reader gets is a mystifying glimpse of the Other's online representation and a chaotic showdown. I enjoy enigmas, but not ones that lead seemingly nowhere (after all, what have our heroes accomplished so far?), and especially not ones that go on for two thousand pages. If Mr. Williams is planning to explain away the mysteries that baffled readers for many, many pages, he certainly is facing a Herculean task.
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Summary: a good book, but not for those with short attention spans
Review: What a pity that so many of those who have reviewed this book have felt the need to complain about the length of it. If you would just read it instead of thinking about the lenghth you would see that it was worth the time and effort. It really makes you think about the direction we are heading in. the Otherland series is one of the best I have read in a long time. For some one who is not computer literate the technical discriptions can be a little confusing, but that is ignorable. A very rewarding read. I could not put it down, and I'm warning you, as a sentimental person I cried a little at the end. I know, I'm such a scanbox.
Rating:
Summary: Very good series, not for everyone.
Review: There are plenty of cyber punk books out there, but few of them have been able to do much to fuel the vision. Tad Williams does a great job in offering yet another vision of the dark future so often portrayed in these stories. As a computer engineer and multimedia developer, one disturbing quote from the character Renie will stay with me for sometime. "Is this what the future will be like? We'll make worlds where anything is possible, see real, breathing, sweating people killed before our eyes every day--even murder them ourselves--and then sit down to dinner afterward as though nothing has happend? What kind of future were human beings creating? How could the human mind, an organ millions of years old, sort through such mad, science-fictional riddles?" Play a few games of Quake or Unreal and check out the drive to even more realisitc graphics, and ya gotta think wow, where are we going? Williams has captured the vision rather well. Although long, and at times frustrating this is a wonderful series. I look forward to how he will end it. DCF
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Summary: the "place" where dreams come true?
Review: The tale of the sophisticated virtual reality world continues and is yet more exciting than the last one. If you thought it couldn't get any better, well you were wrong. It does, in this one. It is packed with excitement and several new simulations in which the company enters. This book is full of character, suspense, and many loose ends getting tied together. It is fantastic how Tad Williams is weaving his plot to make this remarcable book. The first book for me was a bit of a slow read, but with such an open ending, that I had to read on. After the second book it became clear to me that this was a superb story. I enjoy the jumping senarios, that all have something to do with each other, and only gradually do we realize what it is. It keeps the reader alert and trying to figure out what is happening and who all these people are. The only grudge I holde is that Tad Williams is keeping us waiting for the next book, leaving us again with an ending that is not an ending. I await the follow-up eagerly, seeing the tendency of his books, getting better, each one, it will be his finest to come... Tad Williams has a fantastic way of writing, keeping the readers attention and giving him always only bits and pieces of information, to lure them on. The idea of otherland, the grail brotherhood and the mysterious mister Sellars, is inovative and frightening, and yet it seems a powerful dream of the future. I often wish we had virtual reality! Tad Williams though portrais the bad side, the consuming side of the computer/virtual reality. Within this well concieved plot he asks one question, that to me is the most important one in the novels: "how can we tell the difference, between what is real and what is simulation? Where is the line being drawn?" And around that much of this story is built. The system that is so real you don't realize you are in vr. the kids that spend most their lives on the net... what is real? what is only virtually real? how can we differentiate?
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