![]() They find themselves searching for answers on Otherland, enlisting the help of some others who have also found out about the mysterious world, all seeking answers for what it is and why it’s harming kids. In parallel, a kid named Orlando is exposed to “Otherland” in a part of his online video game. Setting out to try to figure out what left him in the coma, she comes across a hint of a world called “Otherland,” a world within the VR world. One day she comes home to find her little brother, Steven, comatose after spending some time in the VR world. Main character Reny (a nickname for Irene) is a teacher of computer science/VR manipulation at a university. At least, the younger people seem to do this. Many people, instead of congregating/living in cities with malls and town centers and such, live good parts of their lives in the virtual world. In a future-world setting (the book was written in 1996), virtual reality (VR) in the form of using an avatar to explore the “net,” is fairly commonplace. There are 4 books in the Otherland series in total ( City of Golden Shadow, River of Blue Fire, Mountain of Black Glass, and Sea of Silver Light, the first two of which are available in audio so far). I say “at least” because I have only just started that book (and it’s 24.3 hours long!), and I have no idea if it resolves any of the story. The book ends with no plot lines resolved and more questions than answers…so, if you read this book, be prepared to read at least the next book in the series ( River of Blue Fire. There was only one downside to the book, which I may as well get out of the way now: it’s not a complete story. This is actually a cyberpunk book, a quite good one at that. I saw a fantastical-looking image on the cover and, knowing that Tad Williams typically writes fantasy novels/series, I just assumed it was a fantasy novel. I knew nothing about the book when I started listening, I hadn’t even read the blurb in the description. I hate to admit this, but I judged this book by the cover at first. And somehow, bit by bit, it is claiming the Earth’s most valuable resource – its children. The best minds of two generations have labored to build it. Incredible amounts of money have been lavished on it. ![]() Surrounded by secrecy, it is home to the wildest dreams and darkest nightmares. Themes: / cyberpunk / virtual reality / science fiction / I'm not sure why that is, but it may have something to do with the fact that Williams normally writes fantasy (as far as I understand – I haven't read anything else by him), and his usual fans are fairly new to the ideas that he presents, while "normal" SF fans will have seen a lot of it before.By Tad Williams Narrated by George Newbern Since finishing the review I've read other reviews of Otherland and people tend to be a lot more enthusiastic about it than I am (to put it mildly). Irene's little brother goes into a coma after some weird experiences on the net and Irene starts to investigate – suddenly she is followed and people are trying to kill her, maybe things are just a bit more complicated than a young boy overdosing on net-usage. Otherland takes place half in South Africa and half in some kind of virtual space (and the word cyber isn't used once which is a big plus). I better stop with this metaphor before I get in to deep.Īnyway Otherland is interesting enough and well written enough that I'll look around for Volume II (River of Blue Fire) when it comes out in paperback next year. It's like long foreplay, which can be good, but when you have to wait several months before getting to the really steamy parts, the foreplay has to be a bit more than just good to keep the memory alive or the steamy parts (that's volume II) have to be really, really hot. The really hard question is whether the book is worth reading or not, I'm really not sure because the book has one more problem the plot never really takes off until the very end. I guess that you are getting the picture here. The background milieu is fairly detailed and interesting, but not interesting in and of itself. The plot is interesting, but not gripping. The characters are nice and deep enough that I care about them, but I couldn't really identify with them. While I can't put my finger on any real faults in the book, I can't point to anything really fantastic or amazing in it either. It's so easy when a series is so clearly good (like Nights Dawn by Hamilton) or when it's clearly bad (and I luckily can't think of any real stinkers off the top of my head). This somewhat ups the stakes when one has to decide whether to recommend a book or not. City of Golden Shadow is the first volume in Tad Williams Otherland series.Įight hundred pages in a rather small font and only the first in a series.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |