Product Description

The first volume in this mesmerizing story takes readers to the near-future, when a global conspiracy threatens to sacrifice the Earth for the promise of a far more exclusive place--Otherland, a universe where any fantasy can be made real. BOMC alternate selection. Ads in "Locus".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #110768 in Books
• Published on: 1998-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 792 pages

Amazon.com Review
Best-selling fantasy author Tad Williams (Tailchaser's Song, the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series) begins a far-reaching cyberpunk saga with Renie Sulaweyo, a teacher in the South Africa of tomorrow, realizing something is wrong on the network. Some of the younger kids, including her brother Stephen, have logged into the net, but they can't get back out. The clues point to a mysterious golden city called Otherland, but everyone who tries to find out what's going on ends up dead. Settle in for a long, enjoyable ride, because this 770-page monster is just the first of four projected novels.

From Publishers Weekly
When Renie Sulaweyo's younger brother, Stephen, returns from the Net after visiting Mister J's, a virtual reality equivalent of the Hellfire Club, she's worried about him. When his next Net trip leaves him in a coma, Renie is terrified and angry. Soon she discovers evidence that other children have lapsed into comas under similar circumstances. A professor of computer science and an adept user of the Net, Renie retraces Stephen's trail and enters Mister J's but barely escapes with her own mind intact. After her adventure, she discovers that someone has downloaded into her computer the impossibly complex image of a fantastic golden city. Then her apartment is fire-bombed, she loses her job and another professor whom she has recruited to help her decipher the mystery is murdered. It's clear that Renie has angered someone with almost unlimited power, but she remains determined to save her brother. In the first book in what is projected to be, in effect, a single, enormous four-volume novel, Williams (Memory, Sorrow and Thorn) proves himself as adept at writing science fiction as he is at writing fantasy. His 21st-century South Africa, where blacks run the government and pursue careers but where whites control most economic power, rings true. His version of the Net, although obviously indebted to Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash and other novels, is detailed and fascinating. Best of all, however, are Williams's well-drawn, sympathetic characters, including Renie and her family, her student !Xabbu, the mysterious invalid Mister Sellars and a host of other folk, all of whom hope to solve the mystery of the terrifying VR environment called Otherland.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
The first book in a planned tetralogy features Renie Sulaweyo, a black South African professor; her Bushman student; and dozens of other characters enmeshed in the intricately plotted international adventure and suspense thriller set in the near future in which the seductiveness of the net and virtual reality can be extremely dangerous. An exciting addition to the growing virtual reality literature from the author of Caliban's Hour (LJ 11/15/94). Highly recommended for sf collections.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Great Writing filled with Mystery, Suspense, and Wonder
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.

Loved it!
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.

Chapters slow to a crawl...
The book has enough "a-ha!" moments throughout its chapters to keep you trudging through. Unfortunately, this was literally the only book I've ever seen where reading 400 pages yielded about a paragraph of information. The titular "Otherland" isn't even mentioned until after the halfway point of the book.

The book as a whole is just a dense block of text - all mass and no volume.