Light (and nearly) Fantastic (Sea of Silver Light - Tad Williams)

Member Name: nlingwood

Product:	Sea of Silver Light - Tad Williams
Date:	10/01/02 (101 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Concludes the saga, At last an explanation

Disadvantages: See the op

This is the concluding part of Tad Williams' Otherland series. To use what seems to be the standard measurement, this series has consumed enough wood-pulp to deforest an area the size of Wales. Probably. And, without harping on about numbers of pages, I'm afraid that it all seems to have gone a little too far.

I don't want to spoil things for those who have yet to read the three preceding books, so avoiding spoilers is especially difficult. In fact, its only because of the quality of what went before that this conclusion has a tinge of disappointment. By less demanding standards, this is a thoroughly good read. But on with the book itself. After the (brilliant) Mountain of Black Glass, the surviving characters have learned a lot more about the Virtual Reality network where they are trapped. But of course, the biggest thing they learn is that there are even more questions. The dramatic events have also thrown them into strange company, and it is with new allies and enemies that they seek a resolution.

To give a little background, Otherland is the network, a system of immense complexity and expense. It is the middle of the twenty-first century, and this system has been created by an uneasy conspiracy of magnates and tycoons for a nefarious purpose. This much is almost text-book stuff, but what kept me reading this far are constantly twisting plot, and a wealth of characters and situations. Renie and the bushman !Xabbu are already familiar, but others gain more prominence and finally tell their stories. Paul Jonas, a humble tutor who was imprisoned in this digital existence, begins to remember his past. Other characters have their own ties to the conspiracy, including the recluse Sellars and haunted Olga Pirofsky.

Virtual Reality is the perfect excuse to throw the diverse cast into fantastical simulation worlds. Tad Williams earlier books were fantasy rather than sci-fi and this is a blend of the genres. Now, after we have seen ma
ny of these worlds, they and the mysterious 'Other' at the centre of the network are being twisted and damaged by a new influence.
Perhaps I preferred the stunning worlds in the earlier books, or maybe things have gone too far. But I felt the journey here was starting to drag. After the drama of re-enacting the siege of Troy, a world based on children's rhymes can't match up. There are also parallel plot-lines from Real Life, where a similar struggle is going on. Unlikely Nemesis figures are finally catching up with the villains. This placed the biggest strain of my suspension of disbelief. Williams is too eager to resolve the many plot-lines, and things fall into place suspiciously neatly. There is blood, sweat and tears, but almost everyone seems to get their just deserts. After everything I've followed them through, the characters have all earned this, but such fairness could only be fiction.

Without giving away the conclusion, it is a case of Deus Ex Machina. The nature of the Other is finally revealed, together with an explanation of the nature of the Otherland system. What grated slightly for me was the author's resort to the unique and unusual. No fewer than three characters are endowed with abilities beyond normal humans. I was intrigued in the ideas about the evolution of intelligence, but it all got rather too X-files. And while the references to Lord of the Rings were in character, they invite a comparison that isn't favourable.

So I end up damning Sea of Silver Light with faint praise. It is certainly a page-turner, and I reached the end in less than a week. If the previous volumes had been merely good, there would have been no tinge of disappointment to spoil this. And if you've followed those intriguing characters and stories, you'll be eager for more. Maybe I'm just irritated that it ever had to end. And a little curious about what Tad Williams will fill his next three thousand pages with.

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