false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166113929m/10084.jpg 10084 16 Tad Williams began his Otherland series with the massive <I>City of Golden Shadow</I> and continues it with the equally hefty <I>River of Blue Fire</I>. Williams says it will require four (big) books to tell his complex, multithreaded tale, and at the rate that the plot of this second novel moves, readers will see what he means. Not that the book is a slow read; in fact, <I>River</I> is as much a suspenseful page-turner as the first book. <p> As <I>River</I> opens, we join up again with the ragtag bunch of searchers trapped in an astoundingly detailed and frightfully dangerous virtual world known as Otherland. Lurking in disguise among the group is the brutally vicious serial killer Dread, trying to find information that will help him overthrow his Grail Brotherhood masters. The group follows a ubiquitous river through world after world, unable to go offline, and subject to the increasingly terrifying certainty that things in this supposedly virtual place are all too real. Meanwhile, Paul Jonas, an amnesic (but somehow pivotal) character fleeing from two sinister beings, finds more and more of his memory as he does his own Huck Finn river trip. As in the first novel, each new world that the characters enter, from Paleolithic Ice Age to something suspiciously like Oz, is fully realized and completely unpredictable. <p> Williams is a master at parceling out information to the reader in dribs and drabs, which is frustrating yet tantalizing, like a particularly good computer game. When the group is split up and the adventure divides further, the reader senses the author as a puppet master, following some incredibly complex flows of information. The best course is just to hang on and enjoy Williams's deft characterizations, lush descriptions, and wildly divergent plot. If you've ever been white-water rafting, you'll recognize the feeling. <I>--Therese Littleton</I> 1003667 1998 River of Blue Fire (Otherland, #2) total:1739|5:30|4:30|3:20|2:5|1:3| 1739 6794 2205 57 2 1 false false Thu Aug 23 05:26:21 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 23 05:37:56 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false true Tue Aug 25 00:00:00 -0700 1998 Mon Jul 06 16:39:07 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 06 16:45:23 -0700 2009
One of my favorite modern speculative fiction writ...more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2003 Sun Sep 02 22:14:44 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 02 22:14:44 -0700 2007 5 0 false false Sat Nov 18 00:00:00 -0800 2000 Tue May 19 05:21:23 -0700 2009 Tue May 19 05:23:35 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Sep 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 17 11:23:11 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 17 11:26:43 -0700 2009
This book was once again, like the 1st in the series, absolutely fantastic. It incorporated everything I like; history, imagination, deception, government conspiracy, you name it this series has it. I...more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Mar 19 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jan 31 06:54:34 -0800 2008 Tue Mar 18 18:50:33 -0700 2008
Oh yes - back before Neo got his clock punched by S...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 10 15:58:01 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 10 16:09:05 -0700 2007 I enjoyed the journey, but I did take heed of t...more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 06 08:37:22 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 06 08:40:55 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Jul 07 08:59:25 -0700 2007 Sat Jul 14 06:32:04 -0700 2007 more...]]> 0 0 false false Wed May 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed May 20 10:27:54 -0700 2009 Wed May 27 07:49:44 -0700 2009 finished today may 27 2009
good book! the team's willingness to wor...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Jun 06 21:23:30 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 06 21:23:30 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Wed Jun 17 02:40:39 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 17 02:40:39 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Mon Dec 22 20:16:01 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 08 14:59:55 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2000 Mon Jan 21 18:30:49 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 21 18:51:58 -0800 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Tue May 12 20:33:31 -0700 2009 Tue May 12 20:33:51 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Feb 15 08:40:04 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 15 08:40:46 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Tue May 12 07:59:55 -0700 2009 Tue May 12 07:59:59 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Jul 30 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 31 14:11:27 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 31 14:12:07 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Aug 28 00:00:00 -0700 2001 Sat Oct 24 15:54:07 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 24 15:56:18 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Tue Oct 17 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Fri Aug 07 20:13:01 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 07 20:13:37 -0700 2009 October 17, 2006]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=10084