River of Blue Fire (Otherland, Volume 2) (Paperback)

by Tad Williams (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com 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, multithreaded 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 is as much a suspenseful page-turner as the first book.

As River 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 amnesic (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 Paleolithic Ice Age to something suspiciously like Oz, is fully realized and completely unpredictable.

Williams is a master at parceling 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 an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
In his first work of SF, Otherland: City of Golden Shadow (1997), bestselling fantasist Williams (To Green Angel Tower) introduced one of the most impressive virtual-reality landscapes ever created. Otherland, a gigantic realm consisting of untold numbers of virtual universes, is the creation of the mysterious and evil Grail Brotherhood, a cabal of billionaire capitalists, ruthless gangsters and corrupt government officials. Bent on discovering the secret of eternal life, they will stop at nothing to achieve their goal, even the deaths of hundreds of children whose minds have been trapped on the Net. City of Golden Shadow told the story of a small band of virtual explorers who dared to enter Otherland without permission, some for adventure, others to save the children ensnared on the Net. In this second volume of a projected four-book series, the quest continues. As often happens with middle entries in a series, there are a few problems. Despite a six-page summary, readers unfamiliar with City of Golden Shadow may have trouble figuring out the complex backstory. Further, with little to tie the various plot threads together at either end, the book lacks an obvious structure. Still, Williams is an exciting and endlessly inventive writer whose character development is particularly strong, and his fans should roundly enjoy this volume while looking forward to the remaining installments. Editors: Betsy Wollheim and Sheila Gilbert.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 704 pages
• Publisher: DAW (September 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0886778441
• ISBN-13: 978-0886778446
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (104 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #106,647 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #8 in

  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > ( W ) > Williams, Tad

• This is item 2 in The Otherland Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Difficulty buying into some of these other reviews, June 6, 2005

By	efg "efg" (LV, NV) - See all my reviews

This review is from: River of Blue Fire (Otherland, Volume 2) (Hardcover)

I don't tend to rate extremes very often. It's pretty rare to see ones and fives. In my opinion this series is worth reading and I am disappointed by other reviews. So here's mine...

I'll keep it short, simple and to the point. This series has been the surprise of the spring for me. I bought it and sat on it for several months before breaking down in a moment of desperation while looking for new reading material.

You will enjoy these books if the following characteristics are descriptive of yourself:
a) You like tech and futures...think Cyber Punk, Gibson, Sterling, Snow Crash, Diamond Age, etc.
b) You're willing to work a little for a good story. This series is long (4 deep) and the books are long too.

I'm into technology and think a lot about the world of tomorrow with tech as a very real and visceral part of it. The series sometimes (as criticized) tends to meander. At the end of the day, the story has been worth it. Be prepared for some slow points. They are there, but if you can make it up that trail the views are worth the effort.

I've enjoyed it immensely. Book II is almost done and books III and IV have been purchased.

Happy Trails!
efg

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Too much story, February 24, 2005

By	Hugh Bird (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have nearly finished the third book in this series and I must say I have found it hard going. I really enjoyed the first book and I'm quite sure the last book will be good. But there is one book too many in this series. Volumes 2 and 3 should have been edited down to one volume as there are just too many environments the characters, and therefore the readers, are taken through, and as a result I feel the story bogs down. Limited to three volumes this would have been a much better paced story. But I suppose the publishers are getting richer making us buy an extra book.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Without a doubt..., July 5, 1998

By	Ian Vance (pagosa springs CO.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: River of Blue Fire (Otherland, Volume 2) (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...