Sea of Silver Light

Mass Market Paperback, 1066 pages

English language

Published April 15, 2002 by DAW.

ISBN:: 978-0-7564-0030-9

(1 review)

Otherland—the private, multidimensional universe created and controlled by The Grail Brotherhood, an organization made up of the world's most powerful and ruthless individuals—was crumbling. The Brotherhood's plans for immortality within the network had been shattered by the monstrous intelligence that ran the network, a presence known only as the Other, and by the even more monstrous human being who called himself John Dread. Seizing control of the network from his employer, Felix Jongleur, Dread had now made himself the god of this virtual universe and was systematically turning the network's worlds into killing grounds.

As helplessly trapped as Renie Sulaweyo, !Xabbu, Sam Fredericks, Martine, Paul Jonas, and the rest of the small band who had entered Otherland in an attempt to save the many children held captive within this virtual reality, Jongleur was now forced to make common cause with his enemies. Yet even as they struggled through the maze …

Otherland—the private, multidimensional universe created and controlled by The Grail Brotherhood, an organization made up of the world's most powerful and ruthless individuals—was crumbling. The Brotherhood's plans for immortality within the network had been shattered by the monstrous intelligence that ran the network, a presence known only as the Other, and by the even more monstrous human being who called himself John Dread. Seizing control of the network from his employer, Felix Jongleur, Dread had now made himself the god of this virtual universe and was systematically turning the network's worlds into killing grounds.

As helplessly trapped as Renie Sulaweyo, !Xabbu, Sam Fredericks, Martine, Paul Jonas, and the rest of the small band who had entered Otherland in an attempt to save the many children held captive within this virtual reality, Jongleur was now forced to make common cause with his enemies. Yet even as they struggled through the maze of inverted worlds, striving to reach the true heart of Otherland, time was growing short.

Caught in the surreal and deadly landscapes of the failing network, the desperate band battled against the increasing odds to save the children, solve the bizarre mysteries of Otherland, and escape back to reality.

But before long there might not be a "real" world to return to for any of them. For destroying Jongleur's playground was merely a dress rehearsal for Johnny Dread. Dread's ultimate plan was to gain control of Jongleur's massive corporate holdings and spread apocalyptic destruction throughout the entire Earth. . . .

9 editions

LemmiSchmoeker reviewed Sea of Silver Light by Tad Williams

Not bad at all, but could have been much better

3 stars

After a rather perfunctory first book and two carefully constructed middle books, this last one is much less stringent. Williams really likes to talk, and can fill hundreds of pages with branches that serve no real purpose other than establishing (or maintaining) atmosphere. For the first three books, this was very apparent, but worked fairly well, especially in his long and empathic descriptions of fascinating worlds.

Here, however, he apparently found out during writing that he didn't have much story left, so a large part feels empty, with people wandering from one world to the next, only to find that they need to go somewhere else entirely. He starts inventing more obstacles that are sluggishly resolved, just to present more of less the same situation in the final quarter as in the beginning of this volume.

Strangely, that last quarter – starting around chapter forty, in the middle of the …

After a rather perfunctory first book and two carefully constructed middle books, this last one is much less stringent. Williams really likes to talk, and can fill hundreds of pages with branches that serve no real purpose other than establishing (or maintaining) atmosphere. For the first three books, this was very apparent, but worked fairly well, especially in his long and empathic descriptions of fascinating worlds.

Here, however, he apparently found out during writing that he didn't have much story left, so a large part feels empty, with people wandering from one world to the next, only to find that they need to go somewhere else entirely. He starts inventing more obstacles that are sluggishly resolved, just to present more of less the same situation in the final quarter as in the beginning of this volume.

Strangely, that last quarter – starting around chapter forty, in the middle of the third part of the book – has a completely different narrative style than anything before. There are now sensationalist cliffhangers for almost every section along the lines of̈́ "he couldn't believe what he saw next". This makes for a reasonably entertaining read, but feels a bit out of place after the 2000 pages that came before.

After the resolution there are still 80 pages left that are spent with a sprawling monologue to explain everything that hadn't been explained before, and finally an unending series of treacly "perfect" happy-end scenes that feel a lot like the ending of the Lord of the Rings movies.

In the end, it's a disappointing conclusion to a well-written, if too long by half, saga that manages to hold everything together just enough to avoid being irritating. Not bad at all, but it could have been much better.

Subjects

Science Fiction
Fiction
Fiction - Fantasy
Fantasy - Series
Fiction / Science Fiction / General
Science Fiction - General