Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Drawn out beginning to a satisfying end
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Much better if half the length
Review: Tad Williams is not exactly a great literary author. The Dragonbone Chair was an okay piece of fantasy for its genre, and, for what its worth, he makes here a good venture into science fiction. Given the pervasiveness of the Internet, who knows where it will lead in the next decade, and this book could perhaps be thought of as prophetic in some ways.
Nonetheless, in 800 pages, Williams really does not tell an 800-page story. With meandering plots that ramble on to the point of almost babbling at times, he could have tightened the story and made a much better book. Indeed, it is a good story, but it just never seems to end...even at the end, where I now see there are three other books that carry the story on. Will it end? Should it have even started?
This is not to say I did not enjoy reading it, I was just left with a vague feeling of dissatisfaction. The reader is made to feel he or she is reading the script for a TV series that never ends (a la X-Files) rather than a book. And I doubt this will be on the little screen anytime soon.
Rating:
Summary: Finally a Williams series I could get hooked on!
Review: It may have taken Tad Williams over a decade to perfect the art of writing volumes but here it is, a masterpiece I simply couldn't put down...or tear from the death-like grip of my boyfriend, who finished it before I did. Unlike Dragonbone Chair, Otherland doens't skip to endless boring passages in the middle of cliffhangers. It still skips around between his myriad characters but it all makes sense and it's all interesting. As interesting as Tailchaser's Song. And as a bonus, he has taken a sci-fi/fantasy theme and made it realistic enough that one could actually picture the world being like this in a hundred years or so. This, alone, is no small feat and has only been achieved by such authors as Anne Rice. Needless to say, after reading this series, I'm very impressed with Mr. Williams' current writing and look forward to reading more.
Rating:
Summary: Plodding through
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Needs an editor
Review: I have to say I'm delighted that I found this book in a bargain bin for £3 instead of the £16 cover price. If truth be told, I was attracted by the impressive cover. I know, I know.
So, what's wrong with this book? Here goes... at almost 1000 pages I was expecting a great swirling epic with sub-plots aplenty. Sub-plots? Hmm, I guess so. the problem is that the book is way too long, and suffers from a complete lack of editing. As an aspiring writer myself I'm continually being told to edit down my work, remove anything that isn't essential to the plot. How come Mr. Williams is allowed free reign then? Seriously, if the book was 300 pages long it would've been quite gripping, but instead we're forced to trawl through a lot if very unconvincing character background stuff which tries (and fails) to bring the characters a little depth. (In fact the characterisation is utterly appalling: unrealistic, two-dimensional and decidedly amateurish. It smacks of Asimov and Arthur C. Clark. If it weren't for differences in character dialogue/dialect you'd swear they were all the same person). Be advised, dear reader, that in this book you'll examine - in great detail - every thought that runs through each character's head, every facial expression, every little nuance and feature. If this had been a book solely about the interaction and development of characters then that might have been OK, but it's not, it's a fantasy/science fiction book with an ambitious plot. Such excessive 'characterisation', then, only slows down the pace of the story. In fact, one gets the impression that Mr. Williams was going out of his way to keep things slow. Case in point: the main character encounters a man who has key information about the main plot, and asks for an explanation. Instead of telling us over the course of a few paragraphs, the dialogue is stretched across page after page, while the character repeatedly says "hang on, I'll answer your quesion in a minute", "slow down", "I'm just getting to that", etc etc.
Just awful. In fact, the very first time the word 'Otherland' is mentioned is over two-thirds of the way through the book. Everything up to that point has been background - that's over 600 pages worth! Ok, aside from the length, other critiscisms are as follows:
Much of this book is concerned with Virtual Reality, where there are no bounds or limits to the imagination. Yet despite that, the author's ideas are sadly lacking. With no restraining factors the VR simulations should have been utterly wild - pure escapism. But no, the online environments are litlle more than enhanced visions of real life. Boring. Shouldn't a fantasy writer have a bit more imagination than this? I'd also criticise Mr. Williams ability to describe the technology itself. This book deals continually with Virtual Reality and internet-like technologies, yet whenever a technical explanation is required all we get is technobabble, some noddy half-baked explanation or complete cop-out. We're not children, Mr. Williams. The fact that we're reading this book at all is indicative of our desire for vividly-described scientific concepts and realistic explanations. Finally, without spoiling the ending for other prospective readers, I for one was incredulous at the way the novel ended. So many questions posed. Where were the answers? After trawling through so many pages I was expecting at least some sort of conclusion... Otherland has spawned three successors (so far), each around 1000 pages. If you want to spend the rest of your life reading about Otherland then this book is for you. Otherwise, don't bother. Perhaps the next volume of this saga should be titled: "Otherland Volume 5: Quest for the Delete Key"
Rating:
Summary: Enthralling despite slow character development
Review: This novel compelled me to read. The plots were engaging, drawing me deeper with each page. There are a buffet of persepectives, antagonist, protagonist, innocent bystander, etc. Character development was slow and in many cases shallow but was more than compensated for by the concepts that form the foundation of this novel. I can't judge it against other cyberpunk novels but this does stand on it's own weight. TW is great at conveying rich textures and steeping you in the plot. A great transcontinental read if you fly.
Rating:
Summary: Good but not his best work
Review: Tad Williams "Otherland" is a virtual reality scifi adventure set in the relatively near future, and involving a cast of characters who are brought together because of the strange goings on in cyberspace, especially the sudden increase in cases of children who spend a great deal of time there going comatose. It is a well written and engaging story, with a considerable amount of imagination being displayed in the choice of setting and characters thenselves. Alas, it has two serious problems: firstly, the sheer length, which serves to keep the narrative speed slow. Williams is telling a complex story about numerous characters who's lives and actions interweave, and so one can reasonably expect him to write a long work. However, the main plot line takes a long time to get underway, and it can be argued that this is really a simultaneous telling of several related stories rather than one. That will demand patience and effort from the reader. Worse is the fact that the big VR secret isn't that secret at all. If you have seen 'The Matrix' then you know the basis of what is going on here, although the actual details won't be spoiled because of that. As such, it is essentially a giant genre novel, a huge and well executed but not fundamentally fresh exercise in cyberpunk. If that is what you go for, then enjoy. Just bear in mind that it is not on par with, say, the "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" series in terms of overall creativity.
Rating:
Summary: Avoid if you're expecting fantasy fiction
Review: Very disappointing. A little about myself first - I read fantasy fiction, lots. I knew of Tad Williams from his Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series and Tailchaser's Song. I met an avid fantasy fiction fan on a flight to Hong Kong, who also mentioned Tad Williams, and highly recommended the Otherland Series. Maybe it was a mistake not to read more about it before snatching it from the bookstore. Chapter 1, "Uhm... this isn't the same author is it?" I remember checking the cover multiple times to see if it was indeed Tad Williams. It will get better...Chapter 5... Chapters 10... It has some interesting ideas, the future impact of the internet on society... but that was about it. The characters were boring, the storyline slow, nothing AT ALL like any of this previous work. I kept on right until the end, and even thought of buying the rest of the series - I'm still in disbelief that it could be THIS BAD.. something must happen for people to recommend it so highly. Nothing HAPPENED during the whole book, yes it might be the groundwork for the following books in the series, but do it in 100 pages, not a whole book. If you're into cyberpunk, maybe this might interest you. But if you're looking for something similar to Tad William's fantasy fiction - avoid this series like the plague.
Rating:
Summary: Boring, slow and long-winded for the most part
Review: I managed to plod through this book to the end, listening to persistent and vivacious promises from a friend that first, it was something I "HAD to read", and second, when I found myself not liking it, that it would get "MUCH better"; first it was only the first half of the book that I would find boring, then it was the first three quarters, then it was most of it until the end - basically the same thing I'm told every time I wade through a Tad Williams series. Needless to say I was extremely let down. Why? Simple - Tad Williams not only has a consistent problem with plot slowness, but he just can't make the reader care about his characters. I don't know how or why, the nice ideas he manages to place just fine, but there's something of the heart missing. The only one I managed to feel anything for in this novel was Orlando, and most of that came when I found out the little surprise about his condition. There were a couple of exciting moments in this book, but they weren't worth anything close to the chore of reading nearly 800 typical TW pages. Now I'll say this as I've said it to many others - this book and its lot contribute to the reason why elitist literary snobs look down on sci fi/fantasy; because too often, the genre gets wrapped up in its ornaments, forgets that the most important part of any major story are the not the magic or technology or complexity of conspiracies but the characters, and just flat out neglects them or half-heartedly gives them one dimensional personalities. The other stuff can be fun, but if a novel has poor, weak "idea"-based characters, there is ABSO-*beep*-LUTELY no way I'm going to give a rat's flea about the world around them or anything else.
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