Reading the thread anent the Wheel of Time series reminded me of Tad Williams in general and his Otherland books in particular. My question, to those of you who have had the determination to make it through the series is: Is it worth it? I bought the first one, and read it from cover to cover (which puts me in something of an elite club among my acquaintances). My reaction was mixed between being truly impressed with the depth of characterization and intrigued with the first little hints of the plot–and being rather daunted by the fact that I could look forward to -four- more books of similar length.
I don’t want to invest -that- much time and effort if I’m going to feel like I did at the end of Cryptonomicon (with apologies to fans of that work)–vaguely cheated…
I’m interested, too. I read about half way through the first one before getting bored and giving up. If the series improves, I might trudge through the first one and move on to the next. Which is good, 'cause a half-price bookstore in town has the rest of 'em in hardback for cheap.
Huh. That’s interesting. I only got a hundred or so pages into it before I decided I just didn’t care about anyone. It’s one of only a small handful of books I’ve started then didn’t finish. At the time, I thought I was just burnt out on the genre. I really didn’t think it was all that bad - it just didn’t grab me. Now this is making me think it wasn’t just me.
I finished the series and have mixed feelings about it. I thought it borrowed too heavily from books like Snow Crash in places, and most of the virtual worlds the protagonists visit in the books will be familiar to most readers. Williams has a knack for characterization but in a sort of predictable way. The plot itself is the series’ strong point, but the final resolution was sort of bizarre and unsatisfying.
I’d say that if you care about the characters now, it’s worth the journey just to unravel all of the mysteries set up in the first book. If you’re ambivalent, you should probably move on.
Hmm. I liked it, but I didn’t think it was as good as the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series. I’m not too big on cyberpunkish books in general. The things that stick out in my mind are the little details-
the Wicked Tribe, Paul’s constant hopelessness and pursuit by the Twins, the world that was all a big house. That, plus the netfeeds. I particularly liked the ongoing saga of the band My Family and Other Horrible, Horrible Animals. I thought the slang was fun, and mostly convincing.
It didn’t have the emotional depth of some of his other stuff, but I enjoyed it. It’s been a while since I read Snow Crash, can anyone point out specifically derivative things, or is it just feel? Snow Crash felt much… er… well, harder. More flashing lights. Otherland felt a bit more fantasy and character-driven.
I also read most of the first book and then gave up. Just entirely too much detail, and got pretty weird, too, and went further and further away from my interests as it went on. If some people come in here saying it ends up great I may go back, but doesn’t seem likely.
I read the whole series, and while I liked it, it did drag a bunch. I think it depends on what kind of story you enjoy the most. These books are way more character driven, then story driven. If you enjoy reading about flawed people, more than story, you will LOVE the rest of this. Me, I like a nice even blend, or a lean toward story more so than people.
Thinking back, I think the first book is mostly set-up for the other three. The story he’s building is so complex that it takes a while to get all the characters in place. If you would like a faster-paced series, I strongly recommend reading MSaT instead.
Does anyone want to answer me about how it seems derived from Snow Crash? I am genuinely interested.
Many aspects of the virtual reality/virtual world stuff seem lifted from Snow Crash, which perhaps Stephenson borrowed from someone else. I read Otherland almost immediately prior to reading Snow Crash, and the VR in Snow Crash seemed very familiar. The publication dates indicate who might’ve influenced whom.
Mr. Lissar is reading me Shadowmarch right now, and we’re really enjoying it. My only complaint is that it’s a bit difficult to keep all the kingdoms and politics straight in my head when I’m hearing them. Good story. The Dragonbone Chair et al is still my favourite, though.