River of Blue Fire

This is now my second book, not counting novellas, by Tad Williams and while I finished it, I will in fact not be continuing on with the series. Book 1 in the Otherland series was just interesting enough to continue and finally the ending ramps things up and I was actually entertained. I get that this series is one long book to the author, but it's so absolutely boring I need something to happen and I start to expect it to at least be at the end of the book. Spoiler alert: (view spoiler)[the end [...]

So, this one goes straight onto the favourites shelf becuase this continuation turned this series from one I really liked into one I loved. The story picks up straight after the ending of the previous book, and I really loved seeing the instant re-immersion.Some of the elements of this series which I most enjoy: - The blend of Sci-Fi & Fantasy elements into a convincing, bizarre and fun world filled with exciting scenes.- The characters - there are SO MANY great characters within this series [...]

Executive Summary: Slow start, and many slow places throughout. The good parts make up for a lot of it, but for that reason I'm rounding my 3.5 stars down.Audio book: Another great job by George Newbern. He definitely Full ReviewI really enjoyed the first book. Not so much for the characters, but for the setting and the cool ideas. I've always loved the idea of virtual worlds, and Mr. Williams made an excellent blend of Fantasy and Sci-Fi that seemed to hit my buttons in the right way.Unfortunat [...]

Filler.The first novel was long, but it was unraveling a mystery. This is just the main characters being herded through sim after sim, with a few character in the real world having enough screen time to be reminded that they exist. It gets old, because it's not necessary to the plot.1. A character (Paul Jonas) or team of them (Rennie, !Xabbu) land in a sim word reminding us of something, sometimes blatantly.2. They get captured or chased.3. They leave to the next.This is the bulk of the book. Wh [...]

When last we left Our Heroes, they were caught in the Otherland - an immense virtual reality program built by people with more money than God - with no idea where to go and no idea what to do. They were lost, confused and had no way out.Oh yes - back before Neo got his clock punched by Agent Smith, Renie, !Xabbu, Orlando, Fredericks and all the other Otherland explorers discover that they are in more danger than they realize - if they die on the network, then they'll die in real life. And, almos [...]

8/10In the second book of the series Tad Williams continues to impress as he has added more characters than the previous book, more worlds and much more incredible ideas combining them all into a complex, and weirder, story where only himself could have made.The story continues right where the previous one left of with Williams expanding his world-building, making it even greater than what he showed in the first book, and with the protagonists going through incredible, and unbelievable, adventur [...]

This is a great series and the second book does not disappoint. I can't recommend this series highly enough.

I think I'll try to write a review for every book I read from now on. I know not many read this probably, but it's good to put my thoughts somewhere. I will also keep every review as spoiler free as possible, so don't worry about anything major being said here. With all this said: here is my first daily review, Otherland: River of Blue FirePROS: Similar to the first book, Otherland has managed to make me use my imagination is ways that I never have before. The idea of the Net has allowed William [...]

I had a difficult getting into the first book of this series because of the incredible amount of detail and world building. I was also disappointed by the number of questions left unanswered. Well, the second book reaps the rewards of all the hard work in the first. This book flew by, and while it didn't answer all the questions put forth by the first (and raised several more), it answered enough to keep me interested.

Band 2 hat mir nicht ganz so gut wie der erste gefallen, das liegt aber vor allem daran, dass der Leser hier mehr Hintergrundinformationen erhält und die Handlungen langsam voran kommen. Spannend ist das Buch allerdings auch, und es hat auch einige Wendungen.Ich gebe 08/10 Punkte und freue mich auf Band 3sunsys-blog/2017/0

Audiobook from Penguin AudioNarrated by George NewbernLength: 24.5 hoursThe sequel to City of Golden Shadow and the 2nd book (of 4) in the Otherland series, River of Blue Fire is a solid "middle book" in the series.Picking up where City of Golden Shadow left off, this book moved the pieces of all the players in the story without seeming to progress the plot too much. This is a common feature of "middle books" so was expected, though made the reading (listening) slow sometimes. At the point that [...]

Das geniale SF- Epos Otherland #2 von Tad Williams Das ist wirklich das erste Mal, dass sich ein Autor bei mir im Vorwort treffgenau für einen kleinen Kritikpunkt, den ich am ersten Teil auszusetzen hatte, entschuldigt. So was ist mir auch noch nie passiert :-) Williams erklärt ziemlich detailliert die Gründe, warum er keine runde Geschichte zwischen 2 Buchdeckeln abliefern konnte und quasi mitten im Satz als Cliffhanger aufgehört hat, und ich habe ihm sofort verziehen.Zum zweiten Teil der O [...]

The second book in the Otherland series again makes clear that Tad Williams is in no hurry. He will spin his tale out in his good time, so if you are heading for the beach for a week, I recommend this series. Williams does many surprising things in this novel, which keeps it interesting. For one thing, he adds to his already immense cast of characters and story lines, pulling in peripheral characters and developing them in a workman-like way, adding perspectives and really having fun with the wo [...]

This book was a tough one to settle on a star rating for me. I will admit that in the beginning there where some elements of it that I enjoyed more than others. However, as the story continued it came together in a really wonderful way. Which made me feel silly for not enjoying some of the earlier bits as much. Plus, all of the book was a very cool wild ride, and I found myself really enjoying listening to the audiobook of this book while reading along in my physical copy. The audio book of is p [...]

I struggled with this. I finished it, then started the next one. I'm halfway through that, and you know what? I just don't care anymore- I'm going to stop without reading the last book and a half. The thing I like about sci fi is internally consistent worlds that the reader has to work out. This is just page after page of "wouldn't it be cool if" "and then they woke up" rambling.Over it.

2nd Otherland book. Great read, better than the first. The meat of the story, and what a story. This man has one of the most vivid, reaching imaginations I have ever encountered. Let's hope he sees into the future again.

These books take me forever to read in between the hustle and bustle of life. I often read lots of online material and currently working my way through the Sandman graphic novel so I have plenty of distractions to keep from completing a book if it isn't grabbing me. Although I can't say that I didn't enjoy following through with characters' journey through all the virtual worlds, it just didn't seem to grab me. There was never a moment where I simply couldn't put it down which means I was never [...]

The Good, the Bad, and the UglyThe Good -if you read my review for book one in the series, you know that one major flaw in an otherwise excellent presentation, was excessive editing errors. This book fixes that problem, and is what you would expect of high caliber literature.The Bad -5 stars; 4.8 stars; 4.3 stars - the rating continues to drop (modestly; it’s still a very good book)…Mr. Williams has a very fertile imagination, and it is exciting to see what he can think up. However, travelin [...]

Otherland, a massive virtual reality network, is composed of an unknown number of worlds. It's funded by a mysterious group of the wealthy and powerful who call themselves Grail Brotherhood; and, though nothing is clear, the primary purpose of the Brotherhood seems to be the maintenance of their own long lives even at the expense of countless other. Across the globe children are going into medically inexplicable comas, including Renie Sulaweyo's little brother Stephen. Renie suspects that Stephe [...]

River of Blue Fire is another sci-fi/fantasy beast. Two books into the Otherland series and nearly 1,500 pages total. The things I enjoyed about the first book are still fun in book 2, particularly the continuing intrigue of the Dread story line, and the fun of the VR worlds in the Otherland network. Williams presents us with I believe 11 new virtual worlds that the characters stumble through, seeking escape from the system, and answers to the mystery of the Otherland network and the Grail Broth [...]

Well, the journey continues for the several groups who are loose in the system. Fantasy worlds collide with realism and trap the travelers in bizarre and fantastic worlds. The story goes further and deeper into the characters - good and sinister.I enjoyed the journey, but I did take heed of the author saying that the series is really one BIG book - but publishers wouldn't let him publish the story as such a big book - and we wouldn't be able to carry it around he said also.We did find out more i [...]

By the end of the first Otherland volume, the main characters found themselves lost in a huge, uncharted world - one could even say universe. The second volume sees them exploring their surroundings in search of answers. Most of the time, however, they are preoccupied with evading pursuers, whether they be giant insects or crafty assassins.This is essentially a chase novel, and Williams' prose keeps it moving along. Half-way through the book I started to wonder if a greater plot was going to sur [...]

I'm giving up on this series. The author is way too long winded.

I liked the Volume One: City of Golden Shadow, but this one was hard to finish, I found it too long and boring. I will not read the next volumes.

It's gearing up, and I am hooked! What an epic story!

Weer een geweldig deel in deze fijne serie. Heerlijk om te lezen. Ik zou eigenlijk zo door willen in deel 3, maar die moet even wachten. Maar niet lang.

This is the second Otherland book. You need to have read or listened to the previous book in the series, City of Golden Shadow before starting this book, or you will not understand most of it.Aside from that, it is difficult to know how to characterize this book. The characters who were gathered by the disruptive Sellars in City of Golden Shadow get separated again into three smaller groups, and each of these groups winds up transported into a different sim-world, where they have some dangerous [...]

I enjoyed this book, but much less than the previous. I think this book runs into a very difficult place when telling this story.Because we now have about a dozen characters in VR, it makes sense for them to split up, and so they're flung through very different worlds with very different rules. And while it's fun and interesting and sometimes even exciting, there's a sense of meaninglessness to it. Like, as funny and fun and interesting as these worlds are, I know they're just a brief roadstop o [...]

My rating: 3.5 starsSo the author's introduction mentions that these Otherland books are all one, which is broken up into four books. Thus not really having a real beginning or ending. Which sort of reminds me of a quote that has been re-said many times in history: “Life is a journey, not a destination.” - Ralph Waldo EmersonOk then, I'm a big fan of journey's. However, this book not only lacked any sense of destination, the journey was lacking also. There was a bug world in the beginning th [...]

Was für eine verrückte Reise durch die Fantasien anderer Menschen. Es klingt wie ein Albtraum. Ein Crossover verschiedener Stile, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Utopia, Real. So etwas habe ich noch nie gelesen. Man sich kaum vorstellen, wie die veschiedenen Handlungsstränge einmal zusammen laufen sollen. Ein Meisterwerk.