City of Golden Shadow: Otherland Book 1

The vision this book projected nearly blinded me. The book opens spectacularly and keeps hitting you with a brilliantly protrayed world and facenating characters. This is the best sci-fi fatasy blend that I have ever read. Williams weaves in and out of sub-plots, building up suspence with remakable effectiveness(I bought the sequal the day I finshed it).
Children are collasing into unexplianable comas after trips on the net. People are finding mysterious keys, and visions of a golden city. A dreaded serial killer is attacking a secret society, to protect his employers. All these events lead to the golden city where some answers are held. This story is a fun ride through a world that is a remarakable feat of imagination. Anyone can think up of a story like this, but it takes real talent to make it work.
This book is really the first part of four, of what is one book. Williams comments on this, saying he wrote the outline as just one story, but he obviously cannot publish one 3,000 + page book.

Otherland Vol. I is an excellent and highly imaginative blending of SF and Fantasy which can proved a great deal of enjoyment for readers who don't have the wrong expectations. This is not actually a complete book but merely the first fourth of a gigantic story being published in 4 parts. Unlike some other massive sf adventures on this scale (David Wingrove's Chung Kuo for instance), Otherland does not cover the lives of dozens of characters over the course of several years, but only a handful of characters over a span of time measured in days. Needless to say the story is extremely detailed and progresses slowly toward its goal. Reader's expecting a speedy resolution to the story's plot will be disappointed. Rather, enjoy each moment for what it itself contains. Even as the main story thread procedes slowly forward, interesting events occur on the charcters lives. This story is a long road, but the real joy in it is the journey.

770 pages? Yeah right. See, for unliterary types like me, any book more than 200 pages is a nightmare. I've been forced lately to read these blasted Wheel of Time novels. Still struggling (i.e. sleeping) thru the boring Shadow Rising. My friend assured me Shadow Rising was the greatest book ever written. But I couldn't make it past the halfway point it was so stupid. I was about to give up reading these nonsense fantasyfiction books. My friend had also mentioned Otherland was a good book, and since I thought "What the hell, I'll blow some cash on it and give reading fiction one last chance", I bought this book. Well, within 4 days I read it. INCREDIBLE, let me tell you. It's not perfect, but any book that holds my attention that well deserves 5 stars! Well written and imaginative, unlike Jordans im-the-best-writer-in-the-world-so-im-allowed-to-be-boring-bla-bla-bla books, and still leaving me in suspense even after the book is done. I desperately want the second book but all the local bookstores are sold out (?) so, the store.com to the rescue! ;) One thing you may want to be warned about: this book is so good, you *must* have the second one on hand after you're finished the first. The ending isn't really an ending... it's more like: "oops we ran out of space, stay tuned for the next book"

This is the first book in what will be ( according to Tad Williams himself ) a four book cycle. This book is mostly set up for the series. READ IT! After you finish it get the next volume and sit back and keep the phone handy. Your going to be calling to cancel engagements and tell your boss you won't be in until you finish the book. I am a huge fan of the sci-fi fantasy genre and find the growing pseudo-cyberpunk subgenre to be very compelling. Telling a story based entirely in a computer system is a difficult undertaking, but Tad Williams makes it seem like the easiest thing in the world to do. His characters are fresh and exciting and not at all what you would expect in any novel let alone a sci-fi epic. The story itself will keep you wondering what's next, and the variety and originality of the virtual worlds is unbelievable! I guarantee you will not be disappointed! BUY THIS BOOK!!! AND THEN BUY ALL THE SEQUELS!!!

This being the first novel I've read from Williams, I wasn't sure what to expect. I'll be blunt. This is a masterpice and an instant classic. The huge, sprawling storyling take a bit to come full circle, but it's worth the wait as you need the time to meet the characters (and there's a bunch!). !Xabbu, Paul, and Dread are easily some of the most interesting characters I've ever "met". You truly begin to feel for these people in their times of need. While !Xabbu (pronounced a bit like "Kssaboo"...) is about as kind and pure as they come, Dread is a real psychotic. The way Williams allows us into their heads really adds to the depth of this beautiful book. He really paints out th elandscapes for the reader. All these factor into a wonderful book worthy of any SF award! When are we blessed with book two?? Better clear ANOTHER month on the ole day planner....

Patrick Bas

This has to be the finest work of science fiction I have ever read. I can't understand why it's getting so many mediocre reviews. The whole Otherland series made Tad Williams jump from a completely obscure author to one of my favorite authors. This first novel is a beautiful book -- well-written enough to make series such as Dragonlance seem on a third-grade level -- with characters that might be cliched, but still are wonderful. I was terrified by Dread, was inspired by Renie, and completely identified with Orlando.
This isn't the average science fiction novel. Space is basically forgotten -- one of the characters feels embarassed by having a room decorated with space stuff. Instead, the technology of the era centers around virtual reality technology. Most of the virtual reality network can be compared to today's Internet -- there's advertising, a hacker's hangout (Treehouse), "adult" areas, personal hangouts (cots), etc. The plot, which shall not be mentioned now, is absolutely incredible. And the story takes place both in the private VR network of Otherland, the public 'net, and all over the world. The "heroine" lives in South Africa, and all of the other characters are from as diverse backgrounds.
A wonderful read. This has to be the best of the four books, but all of them are great. Bonuses: at the beginning each unit (and there are four), there is a brief bit of literature, starting with an e. e. cummings poem. And at the begnning of each chapter, there is Netfeed/News -- actual news from the 21st century setting of the series, some of it using references to concepts used in the plot. I loved this book. I gave it to a friend, and he loved it. It's just that good.

Tad Williams wrote an unconventional fantasy series with the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn titles.
He obviously attempts to do so again with a sci - fi / fantasy blend through Virtual Reality.
He may be onto something here, but unfortunately, like the first book in his other series, this book is downright painful to slog through sometimes...slow plot, and character development.
When it's good, it's really good. when it's bad, it's merely methodical and sluggish.
You may need a bit of patience to read through the first book. If you can sit and read a couple hundred pages in a sitting then the book will probably move along fairly quickly.
Overall, I will definetly recommend this book in softcover since it doesn't cost much.
Honestly, the plot is so sublime, in all truth, I'm still not really sure what the book is about !
I am reading the second book more out of curiousity to see what happens than because of any great love of the story or characters....
I think that says it all.

Williams evolves the cyberspace genre nicely in this first novel in the series. From the first scene, the depth of his world demands that you enter it. You won't find here the neon Tokyo of Gibson, or the jouvenile toys of Stephenson. The cyberspace environment, and the stories played out within it have a more considered, grown-up texture. That said, I found the villains far more interesting than the heros. Williams over-compartmentalized the personality traits of his heros, and they lack depth and an intangible degree of internal inconsistencies which make characters more believable. In fairness the villains probably suffer the same type of development. It is easier to forgive this of the villains, though, as we more often expect the bad guys to be mysteriously faceless. Overall it is an entertaining read, with characters that leave you a bit wanting.

I aprroached CGS with mixed feelings, I was excited because I had just finished Mr. William's superb Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series. I was apprehensive because of the theme of this new series, cyberpunk, something that I had never been much into.
The exciting moments in this book are few and far between. we can see Mr. Williams weaving some grand plot, but unfortunately he takes the entire first volume to do it.
As for the characters, Mr. Williams seems to be vacillitating between giving them more depth, and keeping them framed in the two dimensionality of the caricature Sci Fi characaters. An example would be !Xabbu, whenever there is an interaction beween him and Renee (the main character) that seems to give them both some emotional depth, Mr. Williams seems to feel the need to balance it by having !Xabbu spout obsecure aphorisms and describe so called 'dreams' that put him squarely back in the 'Gandalf' fold. I found Renee's father to be downright irritating.
I was frightfully bored halfway through this book, the only reason I forced myself to finish it was because I hate not finishing I book that I have started. The ending seems to promise more for the future installments, but the prospect of reading another 2400 pages of an already tired story is just too daunting for me. Pick this bookup only if you love long tedious tales, or are a huge cyberpunk fan.

With Otherland, Tad Williams has created a believable, and in fact highly likely future of the internet. A future in which we will experience everything on the net not while looking at a screen, but while being in a completely virtual world. The only thing unrealistic I would point out is that Williams envisions this to happen some 50 or more years in the future, while it might well be reality only 20 years from now. On this virtual & highly sophisticated net the very rich have created their own private virtual worlds, in which they hope to achieve immortality. With one little snag: they need childrens' lives to keep them going. Obviously there are people trying to uncover this secret & so their hunt for what is known, or rather not known, as the Grail Brotherhood is pretty much what the story is about.
The basic idea gives Williams endless possibilities for merging SF, fantasy & classic (childrens) tales into one amazing story. Trying to figure out each time in which old story you have arrived is only one of the attractions in each chapter. Each chapter is also headed by a 'snapshot' from the real world, sometimes giving an unexpected interconnection with the story. And then there are the people in the real world helping or obstructing the protagonists in the Otherland network. Enough storylines to keep your mind working, certainly because the connections between certain characters are at first totally unclear.
Williams is a master of cliffhangers, but even more: a master storyteller. I would have given this one five stars, except volume two gets even better & I needed the extra star to rate that.

Tad Williams writes in the introduction that this book was not an easy effort. It's not easy to read either! I bought it because the storyline intrigued me: Virtual Reality threating Real Life, Conspiracy, etc. Unfortunately reading it was less intriguing: The story is broken down into little pieces, jumping between a confusingly large number of narratives, often seemingly unconnected. At times the story stalled, meandering around, without discernable direction, indulging in (admittedly colourful) descriptions.
Two positive points about the book were characterization and vision. Orlando, !Xabbu and Renie are unique and beautifully realized. The descriptions of future VR technology is captivating, I was espcecially fascinated by the Beezle character, the Gel-Vaults and the concept of VR alternative world-building.
Will I read the second installment? If only I knew.

A short synopsis (without giving too much away): A woman cyber-researcher stumbles onto a 'virtual world' within the virtual world of the 'near future' internet. This 'Otherland' is something magnitudes greater than the prosaic virtual worlds on the net. And it is deeply secret. She begins to attempt to determine its possibly nefarious purpose with the help of a cast of other 'stumblers'. Much of the series takes place within both the public virtual worlds of the net and this otherland.
First, allow me to give this caveat: I have read all four books in this series and this is the first time I've read something by Tad Williams.
From my reading of the reviews of this book so far, I believe these two things strongly influence what kind of review someone will give this book.
If you have read Tad Williams' fantasy books before, you might be expecting something similar here. Though there are aspects of fantasy, they are tangential to the plot (though fun reading). If you go into reading the book thinking of another Williams fantasy you will be disappointed.
Also, I must agree with many of the reviews here. This first book is very difficult to get through. The characters and the plot take a long time in developing and sometimes it feels if you are wading through too much without gaining much in understanding of the characters or the plot. I put down the book twice after reading the first chapters, it did not catch my interest. I had finally read the book on a vacation with nothing else to do, it wasn't till the end that my interest was peaked.
When Williams gets to the second and third books, he starts to shine in this series. The plot starts making sense and most of the characters start to gain some substance. I absolutely loved going through some of the virtual worlds (cartoon kitchen, I loved it) and some of the characters were great (I need the beetle!). Once I got into the second book in the series, I was hooked and read the the next 2 immediately after. They were very enjoyable and well worth the time.
Perhaps this series would have been better as a trilogy with large portions taken out of the first book, but..if you decide to buy this book, you should do so realizing you are making a commitment to get through 4 books and the first one will be difficult to get through. If you do so, it will be worth the time. I still smile with the memory of some of the characters and events in the book.
I would give the first book a 3 and the next 2 a 5 and the last a 4, since they are a series and should be read and reviewed as one book (these 4 books are not stand alone, but I don't see much 'demarcation' between them, more like one very large book that could have been cut in various combinations with equal results), I give the whole series a 4.

Richly textured with a cast of wholly believable chracters this work is classical Williams. It is a far-reaching story of a not so paranoid future both on and off the net, with enough mystery to keep the reader driving to the end and enough sense of comradeship with the characters to make the reader sorry it has to end. The book is laced with allusions to classics and other parts of the SF/adventure genre; one has often the sense of an "in joke" among friends. This is not a book that leaves one feeling "This could happen." but rather that "This is too real; it has already happened"--Williams' imagination has given us a window on another world. As others have observed, the hanging plot at the end frustrates, but it has also whet the appetite for the next installment

Don't even think about buying Otherland, Volume 1 unless
a. You buy all four volumes at the same time and
b. You have unlimited, uninterrupted reading time and
c. You don't mind wandering around in your real life using obscure 21st century slang words that cause your co-workers and friends concern for your sanity!
Like many reviewers, I was dismayed at the size of the first book and when I realized it was only the first book of FOUR I was more than a bit overwhelmed! But unlike some reviewers, I had no trouble relating to all of the characters instantly. Tad Williams' habit of jumping around to spend some pages in everybody's shoes caused me a moment's pang of disappointment at the end of every chapter (ie. "we're leaving Renie, but she's my favorite"..."we're leaving Orlando, but he's my favorite"...etc)
This book just builds and builds on itself and yes, there are a lot of characters to keep track of but, each one is worth getting to know. Even the secondary characters are well developed and touching (Treehouse's swarm of tiny yellow monkeys...love 'em!) and the netfeeds that begin each segment ask the reader to consider the fascinating and disturbing question of which "reality" is really better than the other.
So back to my point c. This book is "chizz", no "fenfen"! There's nothing "scanny" about it so what are you waiting for? Buy this series and get started!

Although this book is very huge, I found myself interested through-out. Don't expect an action-packed novel full of twist and turns and cliff-hangers. This epic is a strraight forward sci-fi mystery that gets it's complexity from the content of the virtual reality world that is a part of the plot.
The plot is simple. A brother of one of the main characters falls into a coma after being in this virtual reality world. The main character then teams up with other people to find out what happened. Their journey takes them into the vr world that claimed her brother. This is where the complexity lies. The vr world in so intruiging that you keep reading just to find out more about it. There's also other side plots that will tie in to the main plot later in the other books.
The reason i gave it 3 and not more is because i'm more of a horror book fan and use to more action. But i was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed this huge novel even though it has very little horror content. I will read the second,,well actually you have to read the whole series because this book purposefully ends with no resolution. So if you want to find out the true mysteries behind Otherland, then you have 3000 some odd pages left to read.
Enjoy.

Williams weaves a compelling (and lengthy) tale that is at times gripping and at other times in danger of but never quite actuallly being boring. I found his use of language to be quite skillful, and his characters have sufficient depth and complexity to be interesting. In addition there are some interesting themes woven through the book at many levels that took me some time to discover: the many obscure and never explicit Lewis Carrol references among several other fairy tale themes. I'm sure I didn't catch them all.

At times, however, especially with Renie and !Xabbu, I got the feeling of being preached at. We are obviously expected to identify with Renie, but I sometimes got the feeling that her character growth and realizations were contrived to bring us to the same conclusions. A little ironic, given her own aversion to the preachiness of "her religious friends." At the same time !Xabbu's aboriginal wisdom was a little /too/ wise and infallible. His faults and his own personal shame, which Williams expressed very articulately in spite of !Xabbu's own claims of not being able to express them, were a little too good. You have to like !Xabbu, but in his own way, he seemed to me to be Pollyanna with 1990's sensibilities.

Many of the other characters are quite compelling. I cringed through the chapters with Dread (I'm sure many readers will hold him as their favorite) and Orlando was always interesting. It took me a long time to understand Paul (maybe I still don't), but his story also kept me coming back.

All in all, this book was well written. I could wish it were a little shorter, but it has been a fun and interesting read.

Some books you read and set aside, rarely giving it another thought. Not so here!

4 book series you will NOT regret and will never forget. Don't let the "sci-fi" tag fool you, there's no aliens or strange planets, but hits all the wonderful sci-fi feels we all still look for. Intelligent, though a tad (hehe) wordy, if you don't like wordy you'll still be glad you made it through. Nothing predictable about this story, and oh what a story!

Before you jump into this almost 800-page book, know that you are in for a long ride. City of Golden Shadow is not a stand-alone book; you must read all four to have any closure whatsoever.

With that said, this is one of the best series' I've read. Just like the characters in the book, it was the picture of the "golden city" that caught my eye and propelled me to read the book (I know what they say about judging a book by it's cover, but you've got to admit - the city is amazing!)

However, it was the story that kept me going. I was expecting something totally different than what I got. The story is actually so close to today's society that it's scary and fascinating. This is not your typical fantasy or science fiction story. It is a mixture of both, interwoven with characters and technology and a story that could happen to us within a matter of a few years.

On the surface, this story is about the internet and the problems we may encounter when the technology gets too advanced for our own good. It also shows how wonderful the experience can be.

On a deeper lever, the series shows our inner desires and wishes, from our fear of death to our dreams of immersing ourselves in other worlds and cultures that we may not have ever imagined - of being someone else and doing things we would never have the courage to do in real life. All from our own living rooms and at any time we wish.

This first book in the series, City of Golden Shadow, is just the beginning. It is essentially a mystery novel in which many characters become involved. The latter books go more into the other worlds, but the first book is intriguing, leaving you constantly wondering what is going on, perhaps causing you to jump back many pages to see if you read correctly the first time. It is confusing yet engaging, and the only advice I have is to read each episode and take it as it is; don't try to figure it out just yet. Just know that it will all become clear later on.

The criticisms I've read about the series are, in part, true. There is much detail, description, and some slow parts. However, I enjoyed every last word. This is not a quick read. Expect to spend much time with the characters. Expect to read 100 pages at a time and then another day just read 5 or 10. What's great about this series is that however long you choose to spend, you'll know that Renie, !Xabbu, Fredricks, Orlando, Paul, etc. are waiting for you to join them anytime on their exciting adventure.

(This review encompasses all four books)

Otherland will have its fans. However, its mechanical endings, its ridiculous length, and similar themes having been better executed by superior authors will make its influence and popularity extremely short-lived. Yet a lot of people like Williams... it's because he's not a bad author and if you have the stamina to get through him you'll find bits and pieces worthwhile. But bits and pieces are not a genre-shaping event nor will they exert much influence on other authors.

WHO SHOULD READ THIS:

Williams writes convincingly and well; his works, while mechanical, do not lack a sort of charm. Fans of Williams' other works should indulge themselves in Otherland. They're prepared for the absurdly long. Similarly, those particularly impressed with cyberspace and its future applications will find large sections very appealing-but read Snow Crash first.

WHO SHOULD PASS:

Unless you are one of those die-hard Williams fans or a complete techno-geek, read something else. Life is too short to read such a long work that has such little reward. Our site is built so that you can avoid such wastes of your time when you get can equal or better satisfaction with other, shorter books.

READ THE ENTIRE REVIEW AT INCHOATUS.COM

The first, and most important thing to realize about this book is that it is in no ways a stand-alone novel. The four-book Otherworld series is one continuous story; if you don't plan on reading all of its nearly 4000 pages over the four volumes you better not start at all. It is, however, a good, solid, story, with a large cast of intersting characters - but still not so large as to be unmanangable - and a consistent plot. City of Golden Shadow itself is devoted mostly to exposition and to getting the characters into the mess that they later have to get themselves out of. A such, it is the least interesting of the books - partly because a lot happens, but very little is explained (this is left for the later books), and partly because a lot of what, at this point, is surprising to the characters is very obvious to the readers (after all, if everything that the characters are taking for granted early on was true, then they wouldn't be much point for a story about them). Nevertheless, City of Golden Shadows does manage to grab the reader's interest with its huge scope and likeable and competant characters. It is a succesful start to a series that goes on to improve in the later volumes, and as such I definitely recommend it to anyone that can spare the time to read the whole thing.

When I finally discovered Tad Williams' books, I was pleasantly surprised. I thought I had exhausted what I found to be "good scifi" a list which includes books like Ender's Game. I was entertained immensely by the author's intelligent handling of a subject that could have quickly become overwhelmed with "tech" details. He takes a human approach to an inhuman subject, earning this book a right to be referred to more as "futurism" than as old-fashioned sci-fi. I find the friendship between !Xabbu and Renie to be a little bit mystifying, in that !Xabbu (from what I know only from the first volume) seems a little to good to be true as far as people go. He seems almost inhuman. However, I suspect there is a reason for this treatment of a character by Williams, who otherwise developes and maintains his characters masterfully. It is a quick easy read and will maintain the avid reader's attention as well as it will help the odd airplane-only variety of reader pass the time. Thumbs up as far as a good sci fi goes. However, keep in mind that volume 1 ends seemingly in the middle of the story. A good technique. I just bought the second volume.

I really enjoy Tad Williams' writing. In Memory, Sorrow, & Thorn he rang fresh changes on stale old fantasy tropes. In Otherland, he uses virtual reality as a springboard for his characters to leap into many different fantasy worlds. The story is huge, detailed, fascinting, & confusing. I loved it. I can't wait to read more. I want to know where the story is going. However, at the rate Mr. Williams produces books, I really hope I live long enough to read the final volume of the series. When I realized (toward the end of this book) that there are *4* projected volumes, I was dismayed. Waiting is tedious, especially in this situation.

But it's still a good read.

Okay, first off, why the hell are people complaining about its size. Like were suposed to congratulate people on reading it. Guess what, if it was to big, then why in the hell did you pick it up in the first place? That out of the way I would like to say how incredibly awsome this book was. Every sentence seemed to be a story in itself and was there for good reason. I can't wait to read Vol.2 of Otherland, and I will definetly pick up Williams other fantasy novels to read. All these books should hold me over until THE GOD of fantasy, lord Robert Jordan gives his faithful fans book 8 of the Wheel of Time. A series that contains quite possibly the greatest books ever written....

I always thought JRR Tolkien eas the best but then came Tad Williams. After I read the Osten Ard Saga (in German and English,twice) I knew i was wrong.When I herad about Otherland I was Anxious to read it , but i was some how disappointed to read it. I know that Tad needs a long time to unfold the story but in Otherland th true story unfolds on the last 100 pages,I always thought Osten Ard was more Gripping and was told in a faster pace,but still the mixture of Cyber-Punk and Fantasy is quite interesting. Maybe Otherland will be "better"(9 out of 10 is still extremly good) in the next 3 Books (I hope so,because i have to spend almost 70 Dollars for the next Books.

Tad Williams' story is enthralling from the start. As the reader is given a brief glance into the world of Williams' Otherland, he artfully controls the amount of information that is given out, making this book a page turner not because of it's suspense, but because of the incredible complexity and beauty of its universe. The novel continues in this fashion; the world Williams' creates is so vivid that merely learning more about it is incentive enough to go on. Luckily, there is a multithreaded storyline that intertwines the real and virtual worlds of Otherland, lending further impetus. A great read, and indicative of more good things to come in the series.

Tad Williams decided to try something epic, yet again. Four volumes of
this time science fiction, but throwing in epic fantasy quest elements
by way of virtual reality environments to keep the rest of his fanbase
somewhat happy, at least.

A disparate group of people set out to find out why a whole lot of
children are getting sick and falling into comas. These people come
from all over the globe, an African student, a native bushman, a young
sick computer game geek, a French researcher, etc.

In the real world, the police also begin to suspect something after an odd series of murders.

I must admit I bought this book because I thought the cover was stunning; however, I was relying on the fact that Tad Williams's storytelling talent that grabbed me in his Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy would once again capture my attention and leave me begging for more at the end of this monster. He did it. Despite its all together different story, set in a futuristic technologically endangered planet Earth, Williams's characters are so alive I talk to them. A sure sign that an author has done his job and done it well. It might be different from what you expected, but hang in there guys because the inside more than lives up to its cover

My sister works for the company that publishes this book, and she was kind enough to send me a copy of it before it hit the stands... This is good and bad. It was great because I read it before most everyone else, but bad because I had to wait even longer for the next one :(
On with it. Williams has taken a concept and explored it to a huge degree in this book, the use of virtual reality. We currently have some VR abilities in the real world, and they show great promise, here in this book the promise is realised to a degree that most of us hadn't even considered. Keyboard??? that is so archaic.
The promise of VR is that it will make our lives so much better in so many ways, but as the old mantra goes.. 'Too much of a good thing....'
The reality of most people is the world around them that they actually interact with, and that has an impact on them. Tad Williams has created a virtual world, or rather a large number of virtual worlds, all with their own unique laws and traps to overcome. The series becomes more and more speculative and intense with each book, and the danger becomes far from virtual. Altogether an impressive journey through one mans vision of a future world in which technology is <almost> magic.

I picked this book up because I enjoyed Tad Williams fantasy books (the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series). That was another weighty four-volume series but moved along at a better pace.
The concept and the premise of the book pulled me in. The characters are interesting and there are some philosophical questions that arise in the book that are thought-provoking. The book succeeds in raising these issues and remaining entertaining at the same time. If you are interested in Sci-Fi, Virtual Reality, and the nature of man's existence, I would recommend the book to you.
However, I had a hard time moving through this book and the next (just started the third). I normally read at 60-100 pages per hour depending on the writer, but I found I went much slower with this book. The plot is intricate enough that you need to keep it fresh to follow along. If you are a slow reader, I might suggest you pass on this one until you have significant amounts of time.

OTHERLAND. Tad Williams' four chunky looking but fantastic books, starting with the City of the Golden Shadow, will seek to catapult you forwards in time, into the near future. Complex, intriguing and never ceasing to amaze, this series will launch you into an adventure of high-level global conspiracy. Otherland is a playground for the rich and influential, a multifaceted, virtual reality simulation where fantasies are made terrifyingly real. Only the Earth's wealthiest and most powerful preside over it and huge amounts of money have been lavished on it. But for all its glamour, Otherland also houses a terrible secret - it is feeding on a valuable resource that the Earth has to offer - it's children. Against the huge odds, some ordinary people become heroes in their fight to reveal the blatant truth about Otherland. The characters in these books are full of personality and are definitely worth caring for.
Renie Sulaweyo is a South African university teacher. She is the breadwinner of her family and has always strived hard just to get by. When her young brother is suddenly and mysteriously struck down by a bizarre illness, Renie sets out on a mission to bring him back. Through her investigations, Renie stumbles on a secret that she is not meant to know...
!Xabbu is a Bushman from a disappearing African tribe. A student of Renie, he journeys with her as they forage deeper into the dark secrets of Otherland...
Paul Jonas is an infantry from the trenches of WWI who is lost in both time and space. He flees from his pursuers to a castle in the sky. Through countless frustrations and riddles, he tries to find out his true identity although it does not come easily to him...
Orlando is a young teenage boy who is living with a life-threatening disease. In the virtual reality world, he is Thargor, a barbarian and famed fighter. But being frail does not mean that he can exclude himself from solving the mystery of Otherland...
Mister Sellars is an odd, crippled man who is held prisoner in his own home by the government. By being one of the most mysterious characters in the book makes the reader wonder who he really is and what connection he has with Otherland...
Getting through these books takes time and a whole lot of determination. As abovementioned, this series is incredibly complex and will not be everybody's taste in reading material. City of the Golden Shadow has a seemingly slow moving plot at the beginning, but for those who love fantasy and science fiction, the Otherland series will soon get you glued reading until you reach the last full stop.

Otherland is one giant story broken into 4 books so you can lift it to read it. Each book does not stand alone, so don't start unless you're in for the long haul.
The VR worlds are well described and each has its own distinct feel. But sometimes the book became a travelog, with the characters jumping to the next world for no purpose but to have it described. In fact, the characters themselves sometimes share this feeling.
The characters are also well fleshed out with their own sets of strengths and weaknesses. The author lets us into the heads of many of them, granting further insight into their feelings and motivation. By the fourth book, you know them almost too well, and they do very little additional growing.
So while I enjoyed the story enough to read all 3000 pages, and found large parts of it to be excellent, there where enough slow and /or annoying part to bring it to 3 stars over all.

Tad Williams spins an incredibly deep, rich story in this book which is masterful in its complexity. Layer upon layer of detail, many threads of plot all interweaving, so that just as you THINK you've figured it out, you're thrown for a loop again. I found it hard to put down, because it was so fascinating, but at the same time, had to read it it slow chunks to give my mind time to process it all. People who like to read fast and get it done with -- this is not for you. This book is like a glass of fine wine, you sip slowly and appreciate all of the flavors over time. Unfortunately this can lead to losing a portion of the audience if you have a short attention span. Sometimes it's a bit too complex, but overall, it's another great book from a very talented author.

I read this book and aside from finding bits interesting that it was set in Africa which is quite foreign to my knowledge having not traveled outside the US I found it quite mediocre.

Then a week later I found I continued thinking back about the ways the net was represented in this book and have since continued finding similarities and wondering what it all meant. The Otherland seems to be drawing me back more now that I have finished it than it did at the time I was reading it.

Because this book is obviously more thought provoking than I realized at the time I must give it 4 stars and I'm now looking forward to reading the next book in the series even though while I was reading the first I put it for sale (lucky for me it didn't sale).

I hope this book has the same thought provoking result once you finish reading it.

From the opening line to last scene, Otherland: Golden Shadow is great, well-done book. Having read merely the forward gave me just cause buy the whole series, it reminded me of Saving Private Ryan with Catch-22 overtone, then...it morphs into something else. I caught onto a few things first off about Paul Jonas, but otherwise the plot was a step ahead of me. True the book is long, but it's never really dull, at least to me, since I'm easily amused and who cares about books that you can finish in a weekend? They suck most of the time. We've too accustomed to swift-pageturns, which this book has moments of. It's quite visual and coherent at all time (no matter what others have said the plot threads fit perfectly together). As for the 'ending', well, I had "River.." right next to me with it's own little refresher on what had gone on, so no big deal. One main thing that worked real great for a while was setting Renie up as a sympathetic character. But at the end, that casual compassion has been waning for me because I feel paranoid of which 'sim' is actually a spy for Dread (please excuse my spoiler)....anyway, all in all a fine, albeit not standalone, work.

Otherland is one of those books you fall head over heels in love with, and then go about to all your friends exclaiming that this time you've done it, you've truly done it, and have found the best fantasy book out there that you've been waiting for all these years so-go-read-it-now!
... And then they ask you to explain what it's about and you're at a loss for words.
"It's, um, about a virtual reality world... No wait, no, that's not describing it at all. It /is/ virtual reality, but it's not some silly SF book like you're thinking... Where's it take place? In Africa. Um. In the Otherland system. Err-- in Australia. Wait. Oh, just go read the bloody thing!"
There is a lot to this book. You've got bushmen, evil aboriginals, net friends, a mesterious AI, a quest for immortality... It goes on. There's no concise explanation I can give. Yes, it's a massive tome, and there are four more just as big, but you'll just wish you could spend more time in this world by the end.

The good:

- Tad Williams juggles an enormous cast of characters, side-characters, and side-side-characters, with surprising ease. Each one, no matter how significant or insignificant is vivid, original, and well characterized. Despite a cast of dozens of plot-centric characters, not one of them is forgetable and lost in the juggle of the gargantuan plot.

- The Otherland series excells in adventure telling. Much of this long story, is about the characters landing from a frying pan into an even hotter frying pan, and so on and so on and so on. But it never feels old, it never feels predictable (well almost), and the sense of danger is always immediate. I was astounded at scene after scene, as I really worried what would happen, unsure of the outcome, even knowing there were volumes left. (this is particularly evidident in the last three books). As someone who is not really used to reading adventure type fiction, I really felt excited by the constant travails of the characters, which was extremely important because...

The Bad:

- Don't plan on finding anything out until you're near the end of book four. There were somethings (like the secret behind the O.S.) that I did not mind being kept from me, and in fact I thought was handled very well. But much of this four book saga felt like an unnecessary sludge through horrific situations, without much of a chance to figure out what the hell was going on.

- Speaking of the ending, I don't want to spoil things, but let's just say that after some of the truly harrowing things almost all of the characters go through throughout the series, Mr. Williams ends things in an almost disturbingly pat manner. It's not that there are no loose ends, there aren't really any muddied or soiled ends either. In fact, one of the most truly horrible, but sadly appropriate things to happen throughout the series, the author magically "undoes" near the end. Such deus-ex-machina intervention is tolerated elsewhere, but the use of such treacly gimmicks at the end seemed to cheapen much of my emotional involvement to that point.

Conclusion:

It was an enjoyable ride, and so much of it was so fun and expertly plotted that the few dissapointments seem well worth the journey. However, it's as long as it is gripping, and if you're someone like me who doesn't like to wait for his endings, I hope you have a long three day weekend to get through it. Just remember to eat and sleep.

-

I'll be honest; I really thought that Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn were going to be Tad William's life work, if not his last. I mean, Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn were great (see my review), but I honestly thought that William's would never top what he had already written. Now I am proved wrong (hmm...go figure). I truthfully am not usually into this techno-world, science fiction based kind of writing, but Otherland has completely sucked me in. The reason I bought the book is because I thought it would be more "fantasy-based" (for lack of a better term), but I was in no way disapointed. Read it, it's great!

Tad Williams is an amazing writer. I loved his Dragonbone fantasy series, but I love his Otherland series even more! Creative writing is a hobby of mine, and I can truly appreciate Williams' writing style and the amazing amount of time he must have put into the Otherland series. His characters have a great deal of depth, but perhaps even more impressive is the way in which he weaves the various threads of the story together. I don't know how Williams managed to keep all the details straight, but his creation is exceptional! I highly recommend this book. Excellent, excellent, excellent! Thank you, Tad Williams, for the wonderful read.

For those of us addicted to being online, Tad Williams has woven a story that will make you wonder where we are all heading with this technology. Set in the coming century, a mysterious ailment seems to be affecting children who use the NET as our children use television today. When a university instructor's brother succumbs to this affliction and lapses into a coma, his stubborn, brilliant sister decides to investigate what could have caused his illness. Aided by her unassuming, bush-country student, she bravely charges into the fray, unaware of the power of the creators of the Otherland project. At the same time, two adolescent friends, using the NET for fantasy role playing, stumble onto a a "hole" in the system that momentarily distracts one of the intrepid heroes, causing his alter-ego to be slain by a creature he would easily have defeated. The boy's unwillingness to let his character's death become record leads the two friends on a journey in search of a fantastic, golden city where they are sure they will learn the answer to their frustrations. Williams wanders back and forth between these separate groups of pilgrims as their destiny seems to call them to the quest for answers as the Crusaders themselves quested for the Holy Grail. Ironically, the bad guys are called "The Grail Brotherhood" and one of their employees is a particularly evil predator. It is a huge volume, but you will not be bored at any turn. At the end, I could hardly wait to get my hands on the second of the four volumes that complete this tale. Williams paints vivid images of the various worlds our protagonists visit and all the while makes us realize we may not be far away from such an outrageous fantasy becoming reality. Not since "The Stand" has such a long volume been consumed so quickly by me. Give it a try. It doesn't cause carpal-tunnel and your brain could use the stimulation.

Tad Williams is at his best creating fantasy out of modern reality. Here he creates a virtual world, an internet run amok, that draws the reader in. It seems a very long story at first glance, but it is really a series of tales linked into a common thread. Each story can almost stand on it's on -- this would make a great TV series. As in The War of the Flowers, Williams seems to have a dark view of the future, and he writes well enough to put you in that mood if you forget that it's just a story. This is not a quick read, but it is worth your time.

Picking up this book should have been the first hint when I decdied to buy it. The binding is two freakin' inches. But no, I decided I didn't care about length, after finishing a few Terry Goodkind books, an 800-page book just doesn't matter.

Boy, was I wrong. I tried, I really tried to read it. I gave it a valient effort, but I just died in the process and trying to read this book nearly killed my interest in fantasy epics (my only saving grace was the prospect of reading Song of Fire and Ice). I only got 350pgs into it. NOTH-ING HAPPENS. Nothing, end of story. Yes I know it had great description and the characters are deep and blah, blah. But honestly don't waste your precious life trying to read something that needs 500 pgs or so to get into the real plot line.

I recommend Robin Hobb's works, but that's just me :)

I have never read a book quite like this.
Williams has created worlds and plots that are almost too vivid and vast in their scope and believability. For the first 400-500 pages, I couldn't stop reading, and was spellbound by Williams' futuristic world where the line between reality and virtual reality is no longer clear. His imagination is staggering, the outcomes of simulated technology are not only conceivable but entirely believable, and his frequent homages to literary classics convinced me that Williams knew where he was going with these 700+ pages of twists and turns.
This book remains with me long after I've closed its final pages, and I miss the characters in a way that surprises me. And yet, around page 600, I started not only to lose focus, but to feel the sense of disappointment that I wasn't going to get the answers I had put in so much time to find.
I was right - this book ends at a beginning. And I am not sure that I have the patience to pick up another three volumes of this magnitude.
I am glad, glad, glad I picked up Otherland. It will remain on my "favorite books of all-time" list. And yet, my only critique is that I may never know the end of the story.

With Otherland, Williams has truly created an amazing world. Set sometime in the next century where the internet has merged with virtual reality, people have formed true virtual communities and worlds. But for some reason children are slipping into comas all over the world, and it's being caused by something on the net. This is where our heroes come into play, trying to figure out what the cause of all this is. This first book, as with Williams' other series starter The Dragonbone Chair, is a bit of a slow starter. But once it gets going you are sucked into this world where anything can happen. In just this one book, Williams takes you on a journey through World War I, Alice's Through the Looking Glass land, a castle in the clouds reminiscent of Jack and the Beanstalk, a 19th century Mars, a Medieval land of wizards and warriors, ancient Egypt, and even a demonic night club. The plot is classic Williams, with an endless list of seemingly unrelated threads coming together. Despite this, you never feel lost. The characters in the book are especially refreshing. These are not your standard heroes, and they are not from the standard hero producing real world settings. There is Renie Sulaweyo, a black woman from South Africa, !Xabbu, a small Bushman, Orlando Gardiner, a crippled and chronically ill American teenager, and Paul Jonas, who is in the fantasy land and doesn't remember how he got there. Whether you like Fantasy, Science Fiction, or really any genre, this is definitely a must read. And the next one is even better!

800 pages. The first of four volumes. Imagine four books that are 800 pages each. That is 3200 pages. This is longer than the Bible. This is longer than the Koran. For the love of God, what story do you need to tell that cannot be told in under 3200 pages?

First things first, the positives. I very much appreciated the book's African center. Very clever, very interesting. Had the main story been placed in the United Stated, I probably would have lost interest much sooner. Do not get me wrong, I still lost interest, but not as soon as may have happened. The main characters are strong. I enjoyed the Rene and Xabbu characters. They are very well written. I enjoyed the cyber barbarian. Very good. Another positive is the techno aspects. Great imagineering of where the internet could be. I loved the concept of a virtual reality being molded by our class distinctions. Quite cool. I liked the plot. Mysterious. What is happening to the children? What is this strange club? Many more little questions that I foung intriguing and wondered what would happen.

Characters are well done. Plot is well done. "World building" (setting) is well done. What is the problem? Simple. After 800 PAGES I would expect that the central story of this novel had been solved and that the elements for the following volumes would be in place. Wrong. After 800 pages, not much has really happened. Not much of the plot has been moved forward. It is like a bad soap opera where things keep happening but nothing is really moving. This is not the first volume of a series. This is the first fourth of a 3200 page novel. There is a major difference and I just do not want to read through another 2400 pages to see how this ends up.

Edit this down to two volumes and you could have had a winner. As it is, I started it, I just do not want to finish it.

City of Golden Shadow (Otherland, Volume 1) is an extremely well written book written for the indulgent, imaginative reader. This book is not for the impatient or action-addicted. Though this book is not devoid of fast paces and action, it mostly goes at its own pace. The book is written to mystify and use imagination as a tool of entertainment.

Tad Williams is a great writer. He uses vivid, powerful descriptions and he never over explains anything. Skeptical readers or impatient readers will not enjoy this book. It is excellent world building, excellent description, and well made, distinct characters. I would recommend this to any reader who is looking for what I previously mentioned.

I first saw this book sitting on the shelf several years ago. The city on the cover beckoned me to read the book. Though, I never got around to reading it until this past summer.
I blew right through this book as if it wasn't even 780 pages. It really does not seem that long at all.
The pacing is amazing. I love the transition as Renie & Co. go from living their normal lives to unraveling a global conspiracy.
And Paul Jonas' cryptic journey is also very intriguing, but my favorite character is Orlando. I can relate so well with him. The characters are all great, but he stands out.
Dread is a very scary person. Though his motives are not quite clear, there does seem to be something more to this psychotic person (besides the "twist") I hope he's developed more in the later volumes.
My biggest gripe is that a certain plot twist involving Orlando's friend was just a sudden surprise. It's not alluded to or foreshadowed like other twists in the book, at least I didn't notice if it was. It's just kind of annoying to have a fast one pulled over us like that.
But that is a very minor gripe that does not hurt the overall score. I don't mind the cliffhanger, but perhaps that's due to how I don't have to wait years for the next book to be released like some had to. And even after almost 800 pages, this book is almost entirely introduction.

Last summer, I bought this book in late May, intending to read it over the entire course of the summer after school let out. Bored the next day, I began the first chapter in the early morning.
Two days later, I had finished the book.
I've always been a big fantasy fan, but I've never read anything of Tad Williams' before this--I began the Dragonsbone Chair last year, but I had a new Mercedes Lackey book to work on and never got around to finishing it. This series so far is amazing. Having read this book and River of Blue Ice, I can say that the characters are well-crafted, the plot is exhilarating, and the writing is amazing. I especially love the character of Thangor--he's a nice touch, and after I had the book finished, I'd skip back the chapters involving him and just reread them.
This book is definitely worth as long as it takes for you to finish it.