This is a series written by Tad Williams, consisting of 'City of Golden Shadow', 'River of Blue Fire', 'Mountain of Black Glass' and 'Sea of Silver Light'. Once again this is a situation where I enjoyed the books immensely but have not warmed to his other work. Possibly, this is due to the subject matter rather than his writing as the story of "Otherland" is very intriguing.
All four novels are incredibly long so, even for a fast reader like myself, it is quite a mission to get through them. Nevertheless, it is worth the effort if you can stick with it.
The story is set some time in the early 22nd century and revolves around a virtual reality network called the Net. The people of this time log on to this as often as we log on to the internet. This concept is partly why I decided to read this series in the first place.
We live our lives online, thinking nothing of emailing, tweeting, banking etc whenever the mood takes us. Therefore, virtual worlds such as Otherland are not as futuristic as they seem!
As with our internet, people use the Otherland for both work and play, with various simulations. Themes include 'through the looking glass', 'war of the worlds' and 'the wizard of oz', the majority of which are for the purposes of entertainment.
The plot itself is fairly complex so it is difficult ti keep track of who is who and what is what. However, the more you read the more sense you can make of it.
Bizarrely it all starts in the trenches during the second world war, with a soldier named Paul Jonas. Of course, at this point, you are not aware that he is within a simulation. By all accounts, he isn't aware either, until his friends (Finch and Mullet) turn on him. Throughout the novels they are constantly in pursuit as he flees from one world to the next.
Once we are acquainted with Mr Jonas, the tale moves in to the 'real' world and we meet Irene Sulaweyo (Renie). I would say she is the lead character in the saga. Renie is a Virtual Engineering Instructor whose younger brother, Stephen, falls victim to Tangadore Syndrome. It seems that, whilst using the net, something is occurring, causing children everywhere to fall into a coma. Unable to disconnect Stephen, Renie seeks help in the form of French woman Martine, who was involved in the early development of Otherland.
Along with Renie's assistant, !Xabbu, they discover strange goings on and set about investigating.
Meanwhile, Orlando and Sam are competing in the middle country simulation. Orlando joins with the others when Sam is killed in middle country and it is felt in the real world. As a leading contestant he knows that this should not affect the physical body.
Soon enough they all realise that they cannot log off and are effectively trapped moving from world to world. An assassin, John Dread, is sent after them by the Grail Brotherhood (creators/owners of Otherland). They are clearly involved in something sinister and refuse to be exposed.
The mysterious Sellars gathers the characters together and sends them to find, Jonas, in order to set things right. As the search progresses, adventures ensue!
The plot has numerous twists and turns and confusion but I think this actually makes you want to continue reading and solve the puzzle.
What I found fascinating was how many parallels you can draw between their existence and ours. All right, so we aren't chased around by kitchen utensils on a daily basis! What I mean is the technological side. They have virtual engineers, we have web designers. When our children go online or play computer games they turn in to non-responsive zombies, in the books they are in a coma.
So, in short, the internet is bad! I am only joking, of course, as I am online all the time. However, I do think it is wise to spend more time interacting with people face to face. Social media is wonderful and all but actual physical contact is important. Strike a balance between the two. :)
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