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Summary: a spectacular web of complex plots and characters
Review: amazing tale wrought beautifully..
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Summary: Bradbury of the new millenium, but distinctly Tad Williams.
Review: Having read William's other amazing piece of work: "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn" I was a little reluctant to pick up this copy for two reasons: I wasn't sure if Tad could handle pure science-fiction having proven himself a master of fantasy; and also, if the book did indeed prove to be good, I would have to wait for the other (three!) books to be released. Nevertheless, I picked up a copy from the library and started reading it. A brilliant and original piece of work, that makes one appreciate the language as well as the content. As other William's work, it takes a little time to get started but once it does, it leaps you into wondrous, terrifying places that are strangely familiar, yet new. Otherland will definitely be a part of my personal collection.
Rating: 
Summary: Reasonably good read
Review: It took a long time to get going, about 300 pages, but then took off. I was angry when I got thru 770 pages and found there was a part 2.
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Summary: Read this series if you have absolutely nothing else to do.
Review: Williams, although obviously a talented writer, seems like the kind of person who probably talks merely to hear himself talk. If they were 1/4 their present length, the first two volumes of the Otherland series might be worthwhile. As they are, much of the story is boring, superfluous, irrelevent, tedious, and ultimately, a waste of time. I read these books on a beach, with nothing else to do, and still mostly hated them.
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Summary: Excellent weave of virtual reality tech and fantasy gaming.
Review: Tad Williams takes the hints at plotlines of Neil Stephensons 'Snow Crash' and mixes them with equal parts of high techno philosophy, virtual reality, human mythos, personal tragedy and dungeons and dragons fantasty. A multilayered plotline with complicated subplots that wrap around each other with grace and finesse that keep the reader returning to the book time and time again until they can no longer put it down.
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Summary: Incredible! The start of another epic work by Williams
Review: 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.
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Summary: It was his best yet...
Review: if you liked any other of Tad Williams' books,you'll definately like this...however you might want to wait a while or suffer the same fate as i ...you know...the "i can't wait until that next darn book comes out" delema...yes well...i got the paperback,but am having to suffer until the next paperback comes out...but BELIEVE ME!!!It's DEFINATELY his best book yet...i like where this guy's going in his style and depth of writing...
Rating: 
Summary: OTHERLAND - Somewhat of a departure
Review: I was first introduced to Tad Williams by my brother Will about 6 years ago. Will was reading this rather large book, which intrigued me, as I didn't know he could read. Anyway, I decided that if Will was reading it, it must be worth reading. This first book was 'The Dragonbone Chair', the first book of the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy. The trio of books treaded a similar path to Tolkiens epic 'Lord of the Rings'. With the main character searching for an important artifact, with which to save the world from domination by an evil lord. Meeting various monsters and loyal companions along the way. I have since read the whole trilogy twice, and can honestly say that I enjoyed it more than Lord of the Rings. I was rather hoping that the next book from Tad would be a continuation of the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy, perhaps following the hapless 'Simon' through the next stage of his life. When Otherland was released I was surprised to find that it couldn't be more different from the historic, fanatsy world of Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. For a start Otherland is based in the future, dealing with the Internet and Virtual Reality (many have described Otherland as 'cyber-punk'), rather than caves and monsters. Otherland is also based in the 'real world' in contrast to the fantasy world created by Williams in MS&T. So I embarked upon discovering Otherland with some degree of scepticism, doubting Williams ability to tell a 'real' story as opposed to a fantasy one. However, Williams' genius soon shone through. By basing the story around VR he was still able to build in the elements of fantasy so prevalent in the MS&T trilogy, letting his imagination run away with him, and exploting his talent for truly magical fiction. In the second book in the trilogy, (to be reviewed when I finish it!) the characters find themselves in a virtual world, where they have been shrunk to the size of ants, and the fiercesome monsters are simply insects and birds. Whilst in this first book the characters exlore an anarchic corner of the VR net called the 'treehouse' complete with its various hacker inhabitants, taking on simulated appearances (sims) ranging from walking fry-ups to spinning golden monkeys! Aside from the the world of VR which Tad explores, the real world part of the story is set in Durban, focussing on a young black woman, Renie, her 'bushmam' friend, Xabbu and Renies younger brother, Stephen, who has mysteriously fallen into a coma. Renie discovers a connection between Stephens net activities and his mysterious coma, and soon finds herself dragged into a dark underground part of the net. Several sub-plots run concurrently with the main story, having little connection with the main plot, and these can prove rather annoying as you try to guess at their significance to the story as a whole. These plots all come together towards the end of the book, but up until that point it's best to treat them seperately than try to find any connection. Renie and Xabbu find themselves faced with all kinds of danger as they attempt to find the cause behind Stephens illness. Even the apparently 'safe' world of VR begins to become dangerous as Renie suffers a collapse of some sort whilst on the net. Eventually they discover the mysterious Otherland network, a VR network far more sophisticated than anything any of them have seen before, and it appears to be the reason for Stephens mystery coma. They break into the Otherland network and meet with other people, apparently looking for answers to similar questions as Renie's. Panic sets in as they realise that they are unable to go off-line, and the possibility of 'dying' on-line becomes a reality. For those of you familiar with Williams work, this new story may lack appeal, but I would urge you to give it a try, as it has more than enough of Williams magical imagination to keep you intrigued. However, the 'to-ing and fro-ing' between plots may annoy some people, but all becomes clear towards the end of the book. To those of you not familiar with Williams work, firstly I would recommend that you read Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, as I consider it to be one of the great works of fiction, weaving a world as rich and complex as Tolkiens' Middle Earth. It is still a mystery to me that Tad Williams has not received the acclaim he so rightly deserves. I must warn you though, that MS&T is an 'epic' in the true sense of the word, detailed and complex, by no means a 'short story'! The Otherland trilogy is promising to develop into another 'epic'. However Otherland is worlds apart from MS&T, but is still instinctively the work of Tad Williams. Intrigue and mystery, danger and destruction, happiness and despair, all the hallmarks of a classic Williams novel.
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Summary: A Good Start
Review: Although not Williams' best, Otherland: City of Golden Shadow is a very good read. As in his Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy, the reader has to follow a multi-threaded story about a bunch of "normal" people who rise to the challenge of a seemingly omnipotent foe. Most of the characters are interesting enough that one wants to know what happens to them next; the only exception is (for me) the bushman !Xabbu who could just drop dead as far as I am concerned. Now that the characters are immersed in Otherland, I hope that Williams will make more use of fantasy elements and thereby top this first volume.
Rating:
Summary: Good read if you have nothing else
Review: I was quite disappointed with the publisher. This book was filled with glaring typos and grammatical errors. I often found the story itself thin at times, and hard to follow. It took all of the book just to get to the point. On the up side, it was a remarkable display of the future of on-line computer use in society. Thought provoking. Overall, a B+.
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