- Mass Market Paperback: 704 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc; Reprint edition (26 Aug 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0886778441
- ISBN-13: 978-0886778446
- Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 10.6 x 4.1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 618,610 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Tad Williams began his Otherland series with the massive City of Golden Shadow and continues it with the equally hefty River of Blue Fire. Williams says it will require four (big) books to tell his complex, multifaceted tale, and at the rate that the plot of this second novel moves, readers will see what he means. Not that the book is a slow read; in fact, River of Blue Fire is as much a suspenseful page-turner as the first book.
As it opens, we join up again with the ragtag bunch of searchers trapped in an astoundingly detailed and frightfully dangerous virtual world known as Otherland. Lurking in disguise among the group is the brutally vicious serial killer Dread, trying to find information that will help him overthrow his Grail Brotherhood masters. The group follows a ubiquitous river through world after world, unable to go offline, and subject to the increasingly terrifying certainty that things in this supposedly virtual place are all too real. Meanwhile, Paul Jonas, an amnesiac (but somehow pivotal) character fleeing from two sinister beings, finds more and more of his memory as he does his own Huck Finn river trip. As in the first novel, each new world that the characters enter, from Palaeolithic Ice Age to something suspiciously like Oz, is fully realized and completely unpredictable.
Williams is a master at parcelling out information to the reader in dribs and drabs, which is frustrating yet tantalizing, like a particularly good computer game. When the group is split up and the adventure divides further, the reader senses the author as a puppet master, following some incredibly complex flows of information. The best course is just to hang on and enjoy Williams's deft characterizations, lush descriptions and wildly divergent plot. If you've ever been white-water rafting, you'll recognize the feeling. --Therese Littleton --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
TIME OUT
Praise for OTHERLAND: 'True speculative grandeur'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Part two of many books turns out to be the best of the 2 published so far. The way in which Tad makes each of his characters stand out from all that's happening in the scenes (which are more and more bazaar as the story progresses. I was never a fan of this genre of books until I picked up Tad Williams'
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I may have had to wait two years for this book, but it was certainly worth it. I have never been disappointed by a Tad Williams book yet (with the exception of the ending of To Green Angel Tower). It mayhave taken awhile for me to get into it but once there I was utterly hooked by this books complexity and charm. The entire futuristic world that he has created seems so realistic it is scary. I find myself wishing that I could live in that time sometimes.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Tad Williams is, simply, one of the greatest (if not the greatest) among the writers currently toiling in the genre of fantasy/science fiction. In fact, I am hesitant to even think of the OTHERLAND books as part of the genre; in no way can it be compared to the usual tripe: Eddings, Goodkind, or the run of the mill Dragonlance filler. Having this opinion, I approached River of Blue Fire with some hesitancy, remembering what I disliked most about his previous series Memory, Sorrow and Thorn--while the first volumn was captivating, the pace and structural backbone of the following two books slowed to a crawl and became, at times, needlessly complicated. Happily, the second volumn of OTHERLAND does not suffer these (small) fallicies; in fact, though enormous and complex, the above review by Kirkus is astonishing. I found my time and attention consumed by this book--at times I forgoed sustience and rest to explore deeper the bewitching qualities and hidden beauties burried within. One scene I will use for an example is where Dread finds the 'dreamtime.' Though the actions are horrific, Tad portrays the charicters psyche so well that I found myself in collaberation with this sick serial killer, lusting, feeling, tingling with the rush of ardrenilene... This book is a marvel, full of vivid imagination and clever prose. On the surface River of Blue Fire is a deliciously overwhelming adventure that is threaded with the subtle themes of humankind, of how we interact with the world around us and winthin us; themes interwoven in any great novel. At completion I wondered how Tad planed to finish this monster in simply four books...
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Otherland: Again
I was so excited waiting for the second book in this series to be published. The first one was compelling, intricate, fantastic but had a great sense of place - both RL and... Read more
Published on 25 Jun 1999
Stunning! Tas Williams has done an amazing job.
Tad Williams, Continuing the Otherland series masterfully, has painted a picture that leads readers to feel caught up in the reading. A real page turner. Five Stars.
Published on 23 Mar 1999
blows all the other cyber space books away
I am a great fan of Tad's and have all of the books he has written, I have tried to get as many as I can in hardback to keep as a collection. Read more
Published on 19 Mar 1999
An excellent continuation of a wonderful fantastic story!
All sci-fi/Fantasy fans should read this series!!! I'm impressed with this series; Willians seems to be doing his homework! Read more
Published on 1 Dec 1998
The saga continues...
The Otherland epic continues quite nicely with this volume. Williams has upped the stakes with several of the numerous plotlines and manages to tie up one or two of them. Read more
Published on 27 Nov 1998
Excellent continuation of the 'Otherland' series.
An excellent read. Many plot twists and turns, lots of innovative ideas. The storyline is strong and the characterisation gets you involved. Read more
Published on 21 Nov 1998
Ontologically scintillating
There are few authors in the SF/Fantasy genres who do more than entertain. Jordan, Feist et al may churn out volume after volume of harmless entertainment, but they scarcely can... Read more
Published on 20 Nov 1998
A worthy sequel that maintains the edge of the first book.
This book held me spellbound like few others have in recent years. After devouring the first book (and waiting very impatiently for this one) I was afraid there would be a... Read more
Published on 1 July 1998
"River of Blue Fire" is a fantastic continutation.
"River of Blue Fire" picks right up where "City of Golden Shadow" left off...which is to say, on the edge of your seat! Read more
Published on 30 Jun 1998
Good book-Many pages
Why does this book get a nine? It is a good book. The problem comes that you must plunge into a 600+ page book. And you already had you already had to read an even bigger book. Read more
Published on 5 Jun 1998
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