Christopher's Reviews > Mountain of Black Glass

** spoiler alert ** Mountain of Black Glass is the next book and continues the adventures of the very disparate gang from the previous book in which we see them start to come closer and closer together as they go through the various virtual world in an attempt to undo what the Grail Brotherhood are attempting to do and to healthy while doing it! :D

As in the previous book the characterisation is really great with all the characters feeling very different throughout!:D As the story progresses straight after the previous book we get to see some of the harder edges that we have seen in the previous books start to get knocked off our characters and the 'team' really starting to work together as they go through even more extremes than they have before which leads all of the disparate groups to eventually meet up at a Troy simulation which to their horror is right in the middle of the closing battles which put our characters in even more danger some of the on opposite sides which further complicates things! :D

The book is on an epic scale with each virtual world visited seeming to be a epic in itself though the irony is that many of the worlds visited are based on epics and this adds a little bit of dry humour to events which throughout can get very extreme with many of the characters really being put through the wringer! :D Though there is a lot of humour throughout which helps to put into context what some of the characters are up to! :D

For the first time in these books though we get to see all the characters and events coming together though and as this happens we get to see different perspectives on them and at the same time you also get to see how some of the characters in many of the simulations are actually becoming heroes as opposed to pretending to be ones which leads the books to a sense of building confrontation with the Grail Brotherhood throughout and it shows that Grail Brotherhood are about to meet there match but they simply do not know it yet! :D

There is also a great blending of cultures and different imaginings that go on throughout which means that anything can appear in any reality within the network that the characters are travelling throughout the book but at the same this also gives many of the scenes a very surreal feel and still adds to the mystery whether the action book has some fantasy elements in though all will no doubt be revealed in the next book no doubt! :D

The book is the third part in what is really a very large novel but it is a perfect setup for the next books with characters really realizing that they have arrived at their goal but things are not quite what they seem to be or was expected due to the inference of what has almost become their Nemesis! :D Though there are many secrets and mysteries still abounding which have to resolved so you are also kept guessing and throughout! :D

Brilliant and highly recommended! :D