finally!!

[slackerboy]

Tad williams has finally finished his Otherland series. i'll tell a little about it later.
here are the four books:

(click on the images for larger pics)
below are links to reviews
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0886777100/qid=990160299/sr=1-8/re f=sc_b_8/104-7636315-1963946
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0886777771/qid=990160299/sr=1-6/re f=sc_b_6/104-7636315-1963946
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0886778492/qid=990160299/sr=1-5/re f=sc_b_5/104-7636315-1963946
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0886779774/qid=990160299/sr=1-1/re f=sc_b_1/104-7636315-1963946
i have been anxiously waiting for this 4th book. finaly i'll get to read it

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[This message has been edited by slackerboy (edited 05-18-2001).]

[slackerboy]

since i'm not much on writing here is a review that gives some insite into the stories:

<font color=limegreen> OTHERLAND - Somewhat of a departure, November 18, 1998 Reviewer: woodhogj@aston.ac.uk from Coventry, England I was first introduced to Tad Williams by my brother Will about 6 years ago. Will was reading this rather large book, which intrigued me, as I didn't know he could read. Anyway, I decided that if Will was reading it, it must be worth reading. This first book was 'The Dragonbone Chair', the first book of the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy. The trio of books treaded a similar path to Tolkiens epic 'Lord of the Rings'. With the main character searching for an important artifact, with which to save the world from domination by an evil lord. Meeting various monsters and loyal companions along the way. I have since read the whole trilogy twice, and can honestly say that I enjoyed it more than Lord of the Rings. I was rather hoping that the next book from Tad would be a continuation of the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy, perhaps following the hapless 'Simon' through the next stage of his life. When Otherland was released I was surprised to find that it couldn't be more different from the historic, fanatsy world of Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. For a start Otherland is based in the future, dealing with the Internet and Virtual Reality (many have described Otherland as 'cyber-punk'), rather than caves and monsters. Otherland is also based in the 'real world' in contrast to the fantasy world created by Williams in MS&T. So I embarked upon discovering Otherland with some degree of scepticism, doubting Williams ability to tell a 'real' story as opposed to a fantasy one. However, Williams' genius soon shone through. By basing the story around VR he was still able to build in the elements of fantasy so prevalent in the MS&T trilogy, letting his imagination run away with him, and exploting his talent for truly magical fiction. In the second book in the trilogy, (to be reviewed when I finish it!) the characters find themselves in a virtual world, where they have been shrunk to the size of ants, and the fiercesome monsters are simply insects and birds. Whilst in this first book the characters exlore an anarchic corner of the VR net called the 'treehouse' complete with its various hacker inhabitants, taking on simulated appearances (sims) ranging from walking fry-ups to spinning golden monkeys! Aside from the the world of VR which Tad explores, the real world part of the story is set in Durban, focussing on a young black woman, Renie, her 'bushmam' friend, Xabbu and Renies younger brother, Stephen, who has mysteriously fallen into a coma. Renie discovers a connection between Stephens net activities and his mysterious coma, and soon finds herself dragged into a dark underground part of the net. Several sub-plots run concurrently with the main story, having little connection with the main plot, and these can prove rather annoying as you try to guess at their significance to the story as a whole. These plots all come together towards the end of the book, but up until that point it's best to treat them seperately than try to find any connection. Renie and Xabbu find themselves faced with all kinds of danger as they attempt to find the cause behind Stephens illness. Even the apparently 'safe' world of VR begins to become dangerous as Renie suffers a collapse of some sort whilst on the net. Eventually they discover the mysterious Otherland network, a VR network far more sophisticated than anything any of them have seen before, and it appears to be the reason for Stephens mystery coma. They break into the Otherland network and meet with other people, apparently looking for answers to similar questions as Renie's. Panic sets in as they realise that they are unable to go off-line, and the possibility of 'dying' on-line becomes a reality. For those of you familiar with Williams work, this new story may lack appeal, but I would urge you to give it a try, as it has more than enough of Williams magical imagination to keep you intrigued. However, the 'to-ing and fro-ing' between plots may annoy some people, but all becomes clear towards the end of the book. To those of you not familiar with Williams work, firstly I would recommend that you read Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, as I consider it to be one of the great works of fiction, weaving a world as rich and complex as Tolkiens' Middle Earth. It is still a mystery to me that Tad Williams has not received the acclaim he so rightly deserves. I must warn you though, that MS&T is an 'epic' in the true sense of the word, detailed and complex, by no means a 'short story'! The Otherland trilogy is promising to develop into another 'epic'. However Otherland is worlds apart from MS&T, but is still instinctively the work of Tad Williams. Intrigue and mystery, danger and destruction, happiness and despair, all the hallmarks of a classic Williams novel. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition. </font>

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[Memnoch]

Thanks, dude!

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[slackerboy]

two of the characters play the most awsome crpg ever!!
its a virtual reality fantasy role playing game.

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