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amanda_serenity's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
erikars's review against another edition
This book, volume two of the Otherland series, is set almost exclusively in the Otherland network. It would probably be a great book for someone who likes to read descriptions about different worlds where characters have interesting, but largely non-plot-moving or character-developing adventures, and I did enjoy it. However, I eventually started to get a little tired of it (the book is 675 pages). If you divide fiction into the four rough categories of character developing, plot developing, idea developing, and place developing I tend to prefer them in that order. That said, the end of the book started getting good; there was character development and plot!
ablotial's review against another edition
3.0
This is a tough one to review. I'm wavering between 3 and 4 stars, but I guess I'll round down, even though I did like it and definitely plan to continue through the rest of the series. Why round down? Mainly, due to pace. This book is really long, but not a lot happens. Or well, a lot happens but it doesn't feel like it's really important stuff. The whole book is a series of move to one land, get attacked by something, move to the next land, get attacked by something, move to the next land... it's like, I GET IT ALREADY, THIS PLACE IS FREAKING HUGE! But I have to wonder how many of these lands, or the people/puppets they meet will actually come to matter in the end. There are four books in this series. I have to wonder if it could have made due as a trilogy. I guess I'll find out.
Also- characters. So far, Renie and !Xabbu are being treated as the main characters, I think. But their whole thread kind of annoys me. Renie is too... I guess stereotypical heroine. I'm not a fan. And most of the rest of their crew doesn't interest me either, most of them just seem thrown in so there are more people. One is already dead, and he wasn't really useful. I think he just served to make it harder to tell which sim the bad guys were inhabiting. Meh. Orlando's storyline though <3*sigh*. I look forward to his sections, including the ones now with Catur. He and Fredericks are great, and Beezle. And I also like Christabel's sections, though I think the author doesn't do so well with the 5 year old point of view.
Wow, I hadn't realized just how many characters there are! It's like Game of Thrones... except most of these ones matter less to the plot.
Anyway. I'll continue to read the series. The world that [a:Tad Williams|6587|Tad Williams|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1191183065p2/6587.jpg] has created is pretty interesting, and I want to know what the Brotherhood's plans are, and what the coma kids and the circle have to do with it. I'm hooked!
Also- characters. So far, Renie and !Xabbu are being treated as the main characters, I think. But their whole thread kind of annoys me. Renie is too... I guess stereotypical heroine. I'm not a fan. And most of the rest of their crew doesn't interest me either, most of them just seem thrown in so there are more people. One is already dead, and he wasn't really useful. I think he just served to make it harder to tell which sim the bad guys were inhabiting. Meh. Orlando's storyline though <3*sigh*. I look forward to his sections, including the ones now with Catur. He and Fredericks are great, and Beezle. And I also like Christabel's sections, though I think the author doesn't do so well with the 5 year old point of view.
Wow, I hadn't realized just how many characters there are! It's like Game of Thrones... except most of these ones matter less to the plot.
Anyway. I'll continue to read the series. The world that [a:Tad Williams|6587|Tad Williams|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1191183065p2/6587.jpg] has created is pretty interesting, and I want to know what the Brotherhood's plans are, and what the coma kids and the circle have to do with it. I'm hooked!
yak_attak's review against another edition
3.0
Listen, Tad warned me, and I listened, but just a warning isn't quite enough. This is once again a long, slow book - one with a vague beginning, and only slightly a better ending than the previous entry. It's chock full of characters, wild situations, bizarre worlds, and wondrous magic...
... what it is not full of is things happening. I'm not even sure that there's much that we learned, or many major plot developments we go through here - even compared to City of Golden Shadow, it's damn sparse. And it makes sense - if we take Tad's word for it and count these four books as 1, the 2nd quarter in a book wouldn't necessarily be full of all the plot, so much as exploring the realms and consequences of what happened in the first part. That's exactly what happens here, it really is exactly what he says in the foreword.
It's just... this is still a whole 700+ page book, in which very little happens. That's not Tad's focus, I get it. His characters are interesting, and there are a couple moments here where he switches up the writing style (for diary entry style chapters) that are particularly well done. The imagination is off the charts, multiple times I just looked up from my book incredulous about what I was reading. He's done it, it's an impressive vision of a twisted, strange, alternate reality computer world where you could do *anything*. And he sells it! And it's still kinda boring.
It really is just me, my preferences and what I'd like out of these books vs. Tad's intentions. And they're not cooperating. If you liked the first book, this is even better (if again, more aimless). If you didn't like the first book, don't continue on, because it's very much the same thing (though the imagination is cooler).
Here's hoping quarter 3 brings the big guns.
... what it is not full of is things happening. I'm not even sure that there's much that we learned, or many major plot developments we go through here - even compared to City of Golden Shadow, it's damn sparse. And it makes sense - if we take Tad's word for it and count these four books as 1, the 2nd quarter in a book wouldn't necessarily be full of all the plot, so much as exploring the realms and consequences of what happened in the first part. That's exactly what happens here, it really is exactly what he says in the foreword.
It's just... this is still a whole 700+ page book, in which very little happens. That's not Tad's focus, I get it. His characters are interesting, and there are a couple moments here where he switches up the writing style (for diary entry style chapters) that are particularly well done. The imagination is off the charts, multiple times I just looked up from my book incredulous about what I was reading. He's done it, it's an impressive vision of a twisted, strange, alternate reality computer world where you could do *anything*. And he sells it! And it's still kinda boring.
It really is just me, my preferences and what I'd like out of these books vs. Tad's intentions. And they're not cooperating. If you liked the first book, this is even better (if again, more aimless). If you didn't like the first book, don't continue on, because it's very much the same thing (though the imagination is cooler).
Here's hoping quarter 3 brings the big guns.
ainsleym's review against another edition
3.0
Here’s the thing: nothing happens in this book? I mean, I enjoyed it, but the plot and worldbuilding were hardly advanced from what happened in the first book. The characters remain interesting but with few exceptions they don’t change much. Most of the book is spent visiting different parts of Otherland, interacting with the people there, and trying to find a path to the next sim. If the first book didn’t have such an interesting plot/world/characters and Tad Williams’s writing wasn’t as easy to read, this probably would’ve been hard to finish. That said, I do like the series setup and Williams’s writing style, and I’ll continue the series hoping that this is the worst one.
circlecast's review against another edition
5.0
The second part of this quadillogy picks up with a small review and just goes the tempo never really slows and you will finish this monster befor you know it