Rating: 
Summary: Very Very Good But Long
Review: It kind of started off a little slow for me but it got alot better. U do become anxious as to what will happen next. At times u almost feel u are in the story itself. I've actually been having a hard time putting down.The only reason people might not like it is due to him putting alot of cyberspace stuff in it and also ancient myths that some people may not have read up on. If u read Alice in Wonderland and 1984 it will also help as well.And it is long. For the most u are to use ur imagination.Very Very Good book.
Rating:
Summary: This is not a book, it's a beginning...
Review: The main thing you must understand is that City of Golden Shadow is not a long book...it's a long beginning to a more than 3000 page book. Don't even think about picking it up unless you're willing to go all the way through it. At the end of the City of Golden Shadow, I was a little confused but still curious. By the middle of the next book, I was hooked. Williams is creating a HUGE world and taking his time doing it. I can only say that if you have the patience to fully explore Williams' creation, it is worth it.
Rating:
Summary: Great start but be prepared for a long, long haul
Review: Unlike Mr. Williams, I will be brief. The first book was great. He started some really interesting ideas, introduced a lot of interesting characters and kept me reading. Some 4,000 pages later, I have to say that Mr. Williams is a great author who needs a good EDITOR! I am very disappointed with how much time it took to wrap up this tale. For hundreds of pages, I was able to skim by just reading the first sentence in each paragraph and still follow the rambling story. This 4000-page story was at least 1000 pages too long and he just keeps piling on new material. Twist, twist, twist. New book. Repeat. Much like Robert Jordan, I felt that this story started off great but was seriously hurt by its length. I had to force myself to finish. The final book was the worst. It just when on and on and the ending (say 200 pages) introduces completely new plot twists, several of which I thought were rather unrelated to the rest of the 4000 page tale and could have been the premise for their own books. Tad Williams is a great writer. But if you are looking for a good story to read, forget about the Otherland and read Memory, Thorn and Sorrow. Three long books but a much tighter and complete tale.
Rating: 
Summary: To Your scattered bodies go
Review: Many many years ago I read book by Phillip Jose Farmer called "To Your Scattered Bodies Go". This book has several similarities and is fascinating. I have to admit that it took me two tries to get into this book. I wanted to like this series because I really enjoyed Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. On my second try through this bulky text I discovered that Tad Williams has to be one of the best authors with regards to creativity and character development to come around in years. The way he takes you through the different sim worlds is wonderful and the characters are so very believable. He also has a great dialogue that keeps the pace of the book. So many authors in fantasy or Sci-fi are too much into the same ol' thing when it comes to dialogue and this book gives williams a way to be different, because in Otherland, anything goes. This book is very complex and sometimes you need to write down a timeline to keep track of where the characters are as you might forget. It is a novel that jumps between scenes which at times is difficult, but you catch on to the style. Williams, at times, may be verbose in his descriptions of scenes and it may slow things down at times, but overall this is a wonderful book and something that I think should place him way at the head of this genre. RECOMMENDATION: CLASSIC - SHOULD BE IN YOUR COLLECTION
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing & Desultary
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Oh no! Not another world! Not again!
Review: You're able to read all about the plot & the story in other reviews. Everything that's positive has also been mentioned earlier, so what is wrong with this book, this series?
Most here say 'nothing at all, it's the best ever.' Not me. I read 3 of the 4 books, and can't yet bring myself to pick up the final volume. I thought I'd write a warning as a review for book 1, as you're bound to start there. In short: the books are too long. By far. The thought that keeps popping into my head is: Williams decided early this was going to be a 4-novel series, and when he found out the idea is only good enough for two novels of this size, he decided to drag it out. Instead of 4 or 5 different worlds, you get over a dozen (haven't counted them) and though some are great & others are not, the general feeling when the characters cross into another world is: not again! It's description after description, instead of focusing on plot development & character interaction. Not that he doesn't do that (although not by far as I had heard, most characters seem to be made of cardboard instead flesh), but there is just too much static in between. You start to feel as if Williams is actually plotting against his characters to make them mess up just enough to keep them from finding out what they must, just so he can add another few chapters.
This series would have been a lot more readable if someone had taken a pair of scissors and cut out half of it. The end result: I just don't care about what happens to most of these characters anymore. Which is a pity, because the idea and the story *are* good.
Rating:
Summary: "Wicked Tribe, Rooling Tribe!"
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful book
Review: This book should probably captivate you within the first four chapters. This book starts off by introducing three strong plots dealing with several people who are trying to solve seemingly personal problems. One man questions the reality of being in a WWI trench. Another wants to know the details of her brothers coma. A little girl only wants to help a poor, old (and very strange) man. These plots are developed separately for most of the book yet are connected. The characters in the book try to solve their separate problems which are connected in a far reaching conspiracy to end all conspiracies. This book switches from one plot thread to another, usually on a cliffhanger. These plot threads shows the reader the problem from multiple perspectives, and gives the feeling of what is happening at multiple places during a time period. The characters in this book are not your stereotypical cast of super computer hackers. They are ordinary people pushed to extraordinatry tasks. During this book you will come to really love some characters, despise others, and loathe a few more. The characters are *not* one dimensional with each having multiple agendas apart from the main plot, and personal weaknesses that they must deal with. These characters will grow on you, by the end of the book you will know them well. I will give fair warning, this book is almost 800 pages ... The book will detail the grand problem and show the characters starting on their respective journeys. As a last note, this book was worth every penny and more. I'm planning on buying the hardcover editions to replace my parerbacks, its that good. If you value the journey as well as the destination, with frequent oh's and ah's at the colorful landmarks you are passing, buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: 780 pages and I would have read 1600.
Review: A lot of great things have been said about this series, but it couldn't get enough praise as far as I'm concerned. I was intimidated by the size of the first book, but by halfway through it, I was wishing it was twice the length. I really did not want this one to end.
The intersection of reality and virtual-reality is a common theme in sci-fi, but Tad Williams made it more exciting and more real than anyone has before. The books are long, but they're well worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: Do NOT buy this book unless...
Review: 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!
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